Well-being: Studies distill new health info about alcohol use

  There are some new findings about alcohol. Some are good, some not, but these new studies probably won't cause tipplers to stop or non-drinkers to start.

These findings are talking about men having one or two drinks per day, and women who have only one drink daily.

"One drink" means 1.5 ounces of 80 proof liquor, or 12 ounces of beer, or 5 ounces of wine. Each of these quantities has the same amount of alcohol. Because women have less of the stomach enzyme alcohol dehydrogenase than men, women may have up to 30 percent more of the alcohol go right into the bloodstream. This is why a woman, after only one drink, will have the same blood alcohol level as a man who has had two drinks.

The Journal of the National Cancer Institute lists the bad findings.

About 13 percent of cancers of the breast, liver, rectum, upper respiratory or gastrointestinal system in women may be related to alcohol use. More recent data suggest alcohol increases the risk for many other types of cancer for women.

On the positive side, Dr. Alison Moore, of the School of Medicine at UCLA, said drinking alcohol isn't all bad.

"For healthy older adults," she said, "data suggest one or two drinks per day may reduce the risk of death, cardiovascular disease, stroke, dementia, and disability."

The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition suggests drinking alcohol may increase bone strength. The researchers studied 2,700 men and women and found men who drank a glass or two of wine or beer daily had denser bones than non-drinkers. Using hard liquor, instead of wine or beer, did not help the bones.

One of the bones' benefits from wine and beer is due to the mineral silicon in these drinks. Beer and wine also contain other plant substances that are helpful. Hard liquor has been distilled and therefore many of the natural substances have been removed.

The alcohol from any kind of drink still provides a benefit for HDL (good) cholesterol and anti-clotting protection against heart disease.

Researchers noted the double-edged sword of alcohol for women. Drinking one beer or glass of wine each day will increase the estrogen level. The elevated estrogen level will provide bone strength, but it also has an increased risk for breast cancer.

The researchers are still debating if red wine is better for your health than white. Resveratrol, an important healthy substance in wine, is a polyphenol found in the seeds and skins of grape. They are crushed together with the pulp to make red wine. White wine is made with just the pulp, so it does not contain very much resveratrol. But the pulp does contain other polyphenols and does have the crushed seeds, so white wine has healthy products.

So, is drinking alcohol safe?

It depends. Drinking more than one or two drinks may increase the risk of many different cancers. Even one or two drinks may present a problem, by interacting negatively with medicines such as pain relievers, blood thinners or psychiatric drugs.

There are better ways to improve your heart health or increase your bone strength than trying alcohol. Your well-being will respond best by staying with the old tried and true methods of diet and exercise.