Alcohol consumption in later life and reaching longevity: the Netherlands Cohort Study

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drinking and life expectancy

It should be noted that the regular drinkers in Table 1 includes the ex-drinker group because the portion of ex-drinker was very small (3%) but the hazard ratios were large and were comparable with regular drinkers. Modest drinkers were more educated, less obese, more active, less smoked, and had lower rates of hypertension, diabetes, and high triglycerides, proteinuria, high uric acid and high level of C-reactive protein when compared with regular drinkers. In addition, male and female demographics and clinical characteristics by drinking status presented separately in Table S3 and S4 as the difference of health risk in relation to alcohol between male and females does exist. A large proportion of the elderly consume alcohol in moderation (i.e., two to three drinks per day) 7. Alcohol consumption is known to increase the urine output, which could interfere with normal hydration 8. Therefore, some institutions recommend in their guidelines on hydration not to drink strong alcoholic beverages, especially in the case of elderly people 9,10.

Alcohol consumption in later life and reaching longevity: the Netherlands Cohort Study

drinking and life expectancy

And while heavy drinking and binge drinking explained the majority of these cancer cases, 14 percent were due to moderate drinking. There are numerous studies done on the health effects of alcohol and how it can change the life span of people. Just by typing “alcohol life expectancy study” into Google, we end up with around 11,000,000 results. Some may claim that moderate drinking can actually be beneficial to our health, while most studies suggest that Even one drink a day linked to lower life expectancy. The study described above examined how much alcohol consumption might be too much.

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  • Authors of the Lancet study said their findings backed up the new guidelines and also said they did not find an increased risk of death for light drinkers.
  • New research, which was presented at the American Association for the Advancement of Science’s annual conference, has found that moderate drinking is linked to a longer life.
  • Earlier this year, for example, researchers discovered a way to make cold brew in just three minutes.
  • Other studies show that the life expectancy of an alcoholic is years shorter than the average population.

Given that drinkers are prone to cross the line of drinking, clinicians should balance the risks and benefits of drinking, as well as the understanding of whether the patient is at risk for addiction. This large https://ecosoberhouse.com/ population-based cohort study is the first study to use the life expectancy to assess the absolute risk from the different levels of alcohol consumption. The mortality risks of various diseases in males were analyzed from the data of the National Cancer Registry and National Death File. To avoid the mixing effect of smoking and drinking, the subgroup analysis was conducted to make the results closer to real world because of the high co-use rate, 72.2% of males in our study.

  • There were 339,267 (78.8%) participants without drinking, 60,309 (14.0%) modest drinkers, and 30,440 (7.1%) regular drinkers.
  • Consistent with our results, other studies also revealed the reduced type 2 diabetes risk among modest drinkers in both Western and Asian populations by improving the insulin sensitivity7,9,29,39.
  • The criteria for excessive drinking is more strict for certain demographics.
  • One drink, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention notes, could be a 12-ounce (oz) beer, 8 oz of malt liquor, a 5-oz glass of wine, or a 1.5-oz shot of hard liquor like gin, rum, vodka, or whiskey.
  • More than 1 in 20 adults are heavy drinkers, which NIAAA defines as more than four drinks a day or 14 drinks a week for men, and more than three drinks a day or seven drinks a week for women.

Cancer Risk

At this point, doctors broadly agree that there’s no good medical reason for people who don’t drink to start drinking. “There are many reasons to drink, but the idea that it will improve your health is on far too shaky scientific ground,” Stockwell says. “The most important thing is that people are informed about the nature and scale of alcohol’s risks so they can make their own choices,” Stockwell says. In contrast, the global life expectancy for people suffering from alcoholism is believed to be years lower. There is little evidence on precisely how much might be harmful in this respect, but I suspect it mainly relates to heavy drinkers.

Drinking about two glasses of wine or beer a day was linked to an 18% drop in a person’s risk of early death—an even stronger effect than the life-preserving practice of exercise, according to the researchers. The results came from the 90+ Study, Substance abuse a research project out of the University of California Irvine’s Institute for Memory Impairments and Neurological Disorders that examines the habits of people who live to at least 90. The link between alcohol and cancer is strong enough that the American Society of Clinical Oncology came out with a new warning in November underscoring associations between drinking and at least seven types of cancer.

Alcoholic Beverages Reduce Inflammation

MNT also spoke with Scott Kaiser, MD, a board-certified geriatrician and director of Geriatric Cognitive Health for the Pacific Neuroscience Institute at Providence Saint John’s Health Center in Santa Monica, CA, about this review. Cunha explained that the molecular constituents of coffee affect mechanisms that are linked to aging processes, helping to slow them down. The review was funded by the Institute for Scientific Information on Coffee (ISIC), the collective nonprofit organisation set up by companies from the coffee industry, including illycaffè, JDE Peet’s, Lavazza, Nestlé, Paulig, and Tchibo. “We know that the world’s population is aging faster than ever, which is why it’s increasingly important to explore dietary interventions that may allow people to not only live longer but also healthier lives,” says Cunha.

drinking and life expectancy

To find out, Columbia Magazine spoke with Katherine Keyes ’10PH, a professor of epidemiology at the Mailman School of Public Health and an expert on the health risks of our new drinking habits. “The big unanswered question is whether consuming a standard drink of alcohol a day — meaning a glass of wine or a single 12-oz can or bottle of beer or one shot of spirits — is overall better or worse for your health,” Dr. Marcus says. There are decades of research to support this idea, at least as it applies broadly to society at large, Dr. Stockwell adds. But how this applies to each of us as individuals is much more nuanced, with the potential risks and benefits of alcohol consumption influenced in large part by drinking and life expectancy our distinct life circumstances and unique medical histories.

drinking and life expectancy

Other studies show that the life expectancy of an alcoholic is years shorter than the average population. The previous government often talked about reducing health inequalities and ‘levelling up’, but recent data from ONS shows that the gap in life expectancy between the best- and worst-off areas in England has risen. There is a strong relationship between rates of alcohol-specific deaths and overall life expectancy, meaning that effective policy action to tackle alcohol-related harms is likely to help to reduce these inequalities. The new government have made prevention a clear priority, but their actions are yet to match that rhetoric.

drinking and life expectancy

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According to the report, the life expectancy was 24 to 28 years shorter in people with alcohol use disorder than the general population. In this case, men hospitalized with alcohol use disorder were found to have an average life expectancy of 47 to 53 years, while women’s life expectancy was 50 to 58 years. While many of these people are occasional or moderate drinkers, about 1 in 4 adults binge drink in a typical month, which NIAAA defines as more than four drinks for women or more than five drinks for men within about two hours.

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