Cocktails ward off the bulge
Large study links light to moderate drinking with less weight gain in middle-aged women
Cocktail chatter just got a little more interesting. Women who drink in moderation are more likely to keep the pounds at bay than their teetotaler counterparts, finds a study published March 8 in the Archives of Internal Medicine.
Because many alcoholic drinks are high in calories, drinking more might seem like a surefire way to gain weight. But researchers led by Lu Wang of Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston found the opposite — at least among healthy, middle-aged women working in health care professions.
The study examined the habits of 19,220 American women over age 38. All of the women began the study at a normal weight, but after almost 13 years about 41 percent of the women were overweight or obese. Women who reported drinking no alcohol — 38 percent of the entire sample — gained the most weight. A statistical analysis showed that women who did not drink could expect to gain 3.45 to 3.80 kg during the 13-year study. In contrast, women who drank moderately — about one to two glasses of wine a day — could expect to gain between 2.13 and 2.99 kg.
The trend held true up through moderate drinking levels, but researchers didn’t have enough heavy drinkers in their sample group to analyze. Only 3 percent of their sample group reported drinking two to three drinks per day or more.