Alcohol Keeping the Weight Off

I’m always looking for news that supports my guilty habits. While I’m still waiting on the “Afternoon Nacho Indulges Reduces Wrinkles,” a study published in the March 8 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine (Arch Intern Med. 2010;170[5]:453-461) has given one such headline: “Women Who Drink Moderately Appear to Gain Less Weight Than Non-Drinkers.”

Boston researchers found normal-weight women (that’s me) who drink a light to moderate amount of alcohol (me again!) appear to gain less weight and have a lower risk of becoming overweight and obese than non-drinkers (what I hope to be).

Lu Wang, M.D., Ph.D., of Brigham and Women’s Hospital and colleagues studied 19,220 U.S. women age 39 or older who had a body mass index (BMI) in the range classified as normal (18.5 to 25). On an initial questionnaire, participants reported how many alcoholic beverages they typically drank per day. A total of 7,346 (38.2 percent) reported drinking no alcohol; 6,312 (32.8 percent) drank less than 5 grams; 3,865 (20.1 percent) drank 5 to less than 15 grams; 1,129 (5.9 percent) drank 15 to less than 30 grams; and 568 (3 percent) drank 30 grams per day or more.

Over an average of 13 years of follow-up, women on average gained weight progressively. Women who did not drink alcohol at all gained the most weight, with weight gain decreasing as alcohol intake increased. A total of 7,942 (41.3 percent) women who initially had normal weight become overweight or obese (BMI of 25 or higher), including 732 (3.8 percent) who become obese (BMI of 30 or higher). Compared with women who did not drink at all, those who consumed some but less than 40 grams per day of alcohol were less likely to become overweight or obese. Women who drank 15 to less than 30 grams per day had the lowest risk, which was almost 30 percent lower than that of non-drinkers.

This is great news as I plan to moderately drink and socialize this upcoming weekend at Expo West. And, I’m also glad there is a study that shows drinking is good specifically for women. After all the research that shows alcohol is good for men’s hearts, bones and whatever else, it’s nice the ladies are getting some love.