Why seniors should have a drink: Benefits of alcohol

Studies suggest seniors in America have a bit of a drinking problem.

They’re not chugging nearly enough alcohol.

“In reality, older people tend not to drink that much alcohol,” said sociologist David J. Hanson, Ph.D. “Only a little over a half have had an alcoholic drink in the previous month. Now, that’s not going to do them any good.”

That’s right, there are a lot of health benefits in moderate drinking. And those perks seem specifically geared toward people over age 50, said Hanson, who is professor emeritus of sociology of the State University of New York at Potsdam

“I have to tell you that once I started reading the literature, I began making sure that I had a drink hopefully once a day. Because the evidence is just so very strong that drinking in moderation is beneficial for health.”

Hanson said moderate drinking helps people live longer and better lives in a variety of ways: It helps with heart health, cognition and even bone density.

Health benefits of alcohol for seniors

Heart health

“The major reason alcohol is associated with better health and greater longevity is cardiovascular benefits. That’s the big one,” Hanson said. “Older people are at increased risk of cardiovascular problems, and so it is especially valuable for … middle-aged and older people. It’s not particularly beneficial to young people in terms of heart health because they tend not to die of heart attacks and strokes.”

Alcohol helps the heart and blood vessels in several ways. Moderate drinking thins the blood and reduces clotting. It also surprisingly boosts desirable types of cholesterol and reduces undesirable cholesterol.

Better brains

Although heavy drinking often is associated with blacking out, disorientation and lapses in judgment, moderate drinking actually has been shown to help the brain in older adults.

“The evidence is really quite strong that drinking alcohol in moderation really does lead to better cognition and reduced dementia, including Alzheimer’s,” Hanson said. “The reason probably is that the brain really needs a good, ample supply of blood, and anything that is good for the heart … is good for the brain.”

Tougher bones

For many seniors, particularly women, osteoporosis is a serious concern. And, believe it or not, alcohol can help.

“My primary care physician said it’s very important for older people — and I’m an older person — to avoid getting bones broken,” Hanson said, “and he said that in about half of the cases when a person breaks their hip, that begins a downward spiral that ends up in death.”

To avoid broken bones, boosting bone density helps. And moderate drinking has been shown to do exactly that.

Cancer risk

But what about cancer?

Study after study has linked alcohol use to increased cancer risk, but Hanson said the good outweighs the bad.

“There’s some evidence that drinking in moderation reduces some cancers and increases some. It gets really complicated,” Hanson said. “For example, look at breast cancer. The proportion of women who will die from breast cancer is really pretty low. Let’s say it’s 5 percent. And there’s a fair amount of research that if a woman drinks two glasses of wine [per day] instead of one … her risk of breast cancer will go up … to 5.5 percent.

“On the other hand, about half of women will die of some cardiovascular disease. If a woman drinks a glass of beer, wine or spirits every day, she will reduce her risk of dying from some cardiovascular problem by … 35 percent. So when you look at the math, the trade-off is to drink your wine and be more concerned about the fact it’s going to provide some protection against cardiovascular disease, which is much more likely to get you, than it is going to create a very small increase in your breast cancer risk.”

How much is enough?

The key word to the benefits of alcohol is “moderation.” More booze doesn’t mean more health benefits. There is a definite balance.

“The guidelines for older people are the same as for younger people,” Hanson said, “which is for women no more than one drink a day, and for men no more than 2 drinks a day … a beer or a serving of dinner wine or a shot of whisky. They all have 6/10 of an ounce of alcohol.”

And timing is important. A bender a month isn’t going to make you live longer.

“Those amounts are per day. You can’t save them up and have 14 drinks Saturday night. It doesn’t work that way,” Hanson said. “The most desirable pattern is daily consumption of a moderate or small amount of alcohol.”

Stereotypes

Hanson said the stigma of the “old drunk” couldn’t be further from the truth. As a generation, today’s seniors and Baby Boomers drink less than any other adult age group. And that’s not a good thing.

“When you read popular literature, you read stories about older people who got lonely and are drinking too much. Or they retire and they’re bored or whatever. But I don’t really know of any evidence that that’s a problem,” Hanson said. “You might say, healthwise, it appears the bigger problem is that they aren’t drinking enough.

“Ironically, abstinence from alcohol is actually a risk factor. It increases your chances of health problems and dying earlier.”

Check out David J. Hanson, Ph.D.’s website dedicated to facts about alcohol’s impact and history at http://www2.potsdam.edu/alcohol/