Men who drink less than half a glass of wine a day may live up to five years longer than teetotallers, and could have less chance of a heart attack, a study has found.

    An analysis of the impact of alcohol on men's health by a team at Wageningen University in the Netherlands found that long-term light consumption - less than 20 grams daily - is more beneficial than being teetotal. Although the findings are not the first to link a moderate intake of alcohol with certain health benefits, the study is the first to examine the effects of different drinks, claiming that wine is much healthier than beer or spirits.

    The research, reported in today's Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, was undertaken by a team led by Dr Marinette Streppel of the Division of Human Nutrition, which examined the lifestyle and alcohol consumption of 1,373 men born between 1900 and 1920 whose health had been examined regularly between 1960 and 2000.

    The men were studied to see how much alcohol they consumed, what type, and over what period of time, to find out if their risk of dying from a heart attack, stroke or other cause was affected.

    The researchers concluded that drinking up to 20 grams a day could extend men's lifespan by up to two years over those who avoided alcohol.

    They also found that men who drank only wine, and less than half a glass a day, lived for about two and a half years longer than those who drank beer or spirits, and almost five years more than teetotallers.

    The researchers say: "Long-term wine consumers had about five years longer life expectancy at age 50 compared with non-alcohol users. Of these five years, about two years can be attributed to an effect of alcohol intake. The remaining three years can be attributed to an effect of wine consumption." For the study, 70% of the wine consumed was red. The researchers add: "This suggests that the cardioprotective effect of wine could be due to a protective effect of polyphenolic compounds in red wine, but other explanations cannot be ruled out." In the UK, 720m bottles of red wine were consumed last year, compared with 764 million bottles of white and 150 million of rosé.

    The Wine and Spirit Trade Association, which represents wine producers, importers and wholesalers, welcomed the research. "This study reinforces the view taken by a government committee some years ago that moderate consumption of alcohol can have a positive impact on people's health, particularly in relation to heart disease," said a spokesman, Gavin Partington. "It's important to recognise the benefits of moderate consumption, while acknowledging the risks associated with alcohol misuse."

    But alcohol campaigners said any idea that drinking could promote good health was dangerous. Don Shenker, chief executive of Alcohol Concern, said: "Some evidence shows that very moderate alcohol intake can be beneficial, but this must be weighed up against the serious harms caused by drinking more than moderate amounts. For example, in men, drinking more than half a glass a day, there's a drop in life expectancy.

    "And individual risk must be taken into account. Research earlier this year found that drinking a small glass of wine per day increases the risk of cancer in women. The notion that we can somehow use alcohol for health benefit is a dangerous one. Swapping a healthy lifestyle for half a glass of wine a day would be counter-productive."

    一項研究表明，每天飲用少量酒的人比禁酒者的壽命至少延長五年以上，而且每天少量的飲酒可以減少心血管疾病的發病幾率。

    Wageningen 大學的一個研究團隊關于飲酒對人健康影響的分析研究發現，長期少量的飲酒——每天少于20g，與禁酒者想必對健康是有益的。盡管這發現并不是第一個關于酒精攝入與健康有益的研究，但這個研究首次檢測了不同種類酒的效率，認為葡萄酒比啤酒和酒精飲料更健康。

    人群營養學部門的Dr Marinette Streppel 帶領的一個團隊進行的這一研究結果發表在流行病與社區健康這一雜志上，他們對在1900到1920年出生的1373名男性進行了他們在1960到2000年之間生活方式和酒精消耗的調查。

    每個人被研究的內容包括：他們消耗了多少酒精，什么種類，持續多長時間，并找出他們是否是死于心血管疾病、中風或其他原因。

    研究者推斷，于不飲酒者相比，每天飲酒不超過20g可以延長其生命2年。

    他們也發現每天飲用半杯葡萄酒的人比飲用啤酒或其他酒精飲料的人的壽命延長2年半，比不飲酒者長5年。

    研究者說，長期的酒精消耗者在50歲時候可以比不喝酒的人延長5年的壽命預期。在這5年中，有兩年歸因于酒精的攝入，剩余3年歸因于紅酒的消耗。在這個研究中，70%的消耗為紅酒。研究者補充，這酒對心血管的有效主要是由于紅酒中有保護作用的多分化合物，但其他的因素也不能排除。在英國，去年共有 7.2億瓶紅酒的消費，與此同時有7.46億瓶白酒和1.5億的上升。

    代表著制造商，進口商和批發商的葡萄酒貿易協會對這一研究表示歡迎。##發言人說：“這一研究加強了政府多年前的一個觀點，即適量的酒消費對人們健康有正面的影響，特別是對心血管疾病。認識適度消費是十分重要的，同時也承認酒精濫用的危險。”

    但是，酒業聯合會的人說，任何關于飲酒可以促進健康的觀點都是危險的。Don Shenker，酒業行政長官十分擔憂的說，有些證據表明，十分適度的酒精攝入是有益的，但是這必須定量，從而避免因為因為超量飲用引起的嚴重危害。例如，對于人而言，每天超過半杯的飲酒量將引起預期壽命的下降。

    而且個人危險因素也應該被納入衡量。今年早些時候的研究表明，每天喝一小杯酒引起女性癌癥危險的增加。我們一某種方式使用酒精對健康有益的觀點是危險的。每天半杯酒的生活方式可能產生反作用。