Washington - A tiny, daily drink of alcohol, especially wine, may help prolong the life expectancy of men, according to the results of a four-decade Dutch study published on Wednesday.
The researchers conducted their study in the industrial town of Zutphen in the eastern part of the Netherlands on a group of 1 373 men born between 1900 and 1920.
The subjects were surveyed seven times in 40 years about their alcohol consumption, with the last survey taken in mid-2000.
"Our study showed that long-term, light alcohol intake among middle-aged men was associated not only with lower cardiovascular and all-cause death risk, but also with longer life expectancy at age 50," said Martinette Streppel, lead author of the study and a doctoral student at Wageningen University and National Institute for Public Health and the Environment in Bilthoven, the Netherlands.
"Furthermore, long-term light wine consumption is associated with a further protective effect when compared to that of light-to-moderate alcohol intake of other types," Streppel said in a statement.
The researchers discovered that the men who drank on average half a glass of wine every day had a life expectancy 3.8 years higher than those who did not drink alcoholic beverages.
By contrast, men with a long-term, light alcohol intake per day had a 1.6-year higher life expectancy than the teetotallers.
The researchers presented the findings of their study Wednesday at the American Heart Association's annual conference on cardiovascular disease and prevention, in Orlando, Florida.
The study took into account the subjects' drinking, dietary and smoking habits, their body mass index and the prevalence of heart attack, stroke, diabetes and cancer.
The researchers stressed further research was needed to assess how wine and alcohol might affect cardiovascular risk and recalled that the American Heart Association did not recommend beginning to drink wine or any other form of alcohol to gain the potential benefits, due to alcohol's addictive potential and other health risks.
"There is no scientific proof that drinking wine or any other alcoholic beverage can replace" conventional measures to reduce cardiovascular risks, such as lowering cholesterol and blood pressure, controlling weight and getting enough physical activity, they said. - Sapa-AFP