Toast to long life and prosperity — as well as protection from bacterial diarrhea, a healthy heart, increased sociability and a possible spare tire.
According to researchers, despite alcohol’s addictive tendency, impaired judgment and hangovers, imbibing in moderation has much to offer by way of health.
Mark Daeschel, an Oregon State University food microbiologist, found red and white wine effective in killing cultures of E. coli, salmonella and other harmful bacteria. According to an AP report, Daeshel synthesized human stomachs and filled them with baby food, harmful bacteria and red or white wine. Within an hour all bacteria were dead.
According to “The Doctors Book of Food Remedies,” by Selene Yeager, a 1995 study by researchers at the Tripler Army Medical Center in Honolulu discovered red and white wine killed colonies of harmful bacteria more effectively than the common over-the-counter bismuth salicylate (Pepto Bismol). The researchers concluded wine may protect against bacterial diarrhea.
Researchers, said Yeager, were in a quandary about how the French are able to indulge in “cigarettes, butter croissants and fat-laden pate’ — and are still two-and-a-half times less likely to develop heart disease” than Americans.
While researchers still are studying the “French Paradox,” according to Yeager, it seems France’s healthier hearts are (at least partially) because of higher wine consumption.
According to the FDA, alcohol provides few, if any, nutrients. Booze provides plenty of calories. If drinkers are looking to lose weight, the FDA advises considering reducing or eliminating alcohol intake.
Yeager said alcohol raises levels of heart-healthy, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol and prevents harmful low-density lipoprotein cholesterol from clinging to artery walls — which is a factor in heart disease — as well as preventing platelets from sticking together to form harmful blood clots.
According to a report prepared for the International Center for Alcohol Policies by John Saunders, alcohol offers drinkers benefits outside of the physiological.
A survey of alcohol-drinking respondents said relaxation is one of the most common effects of alcohol. The report said approximately half of the (non-problem drinkers) respondents in a U.S. study said drinking led to feeling “happy and cheerful.”
Saunders said the positive effects peak as blood alcohol content raises, but as it falls “dysphoria and malaise” replace happiness and relaxation, which is more common among problem drinkers.
According to Saunders, 82 percent of respondents in a different survey said sociability was among the benefits of drinking. In Saunders’ report, respondents said alcohol acts as a “social lubricant” and helps drinkers muster up courage to approach the opposite sex.