Key to successful aging in women: one drink a day?

By Deborah Kotz, Globe Staff

When women consider having a daily glass of wine for nutritional benefits, many have correctly seen alcohol as a double-edged sword: It can protect them from heart disease at the cost of raising their risk of breast cancer. But does drinking moderately provide a net benefit or risk?

Harvard researchers asked that question in an ongoing study involving nearly 14,000 nurses and found that women who imbibe one to two alcoholic beverages daily are more likely to age successfully -- free of cancer, chronic disease, physical disability, and cognitive impairment -- than those who drank more heavily or didn’t drink at all.

“The beneficial effects of successful aging overrides the risks of developing breast cancer,” said study author Qi Sun, a nutrition epidemiologist at Brigham and Women’s Hospital.

The study, published yesterday in the journal PLoS Medicine, asked healthy women in their late 50s about their drinking habits and followed them for more than a decade to see how well they had aged by the time they hit 70.

About 11.6 percent of the moderate drinkers met the definition of successful aging compared with 9.6 percent of teetotalers and heavier drinkers. Women who had developed breast cancer, heart disease, diabetes, or any other major health problem by middle-age were excluded from the study since they might have been told to alter their drinking habits due to these conditions; this means the results may not apply to such women.

Previous research has shown that moderate drinkers -- both men and women -- have a lower risk of developing heart disease and strokes, and a recent study suggested that alcohol plays a minor role in breast cancer risk. Still, Sun told me that women should stick with just one drink a day given that any amount in excess of that could contribute more significantly to breast cancer.

And alcohol shouldn’t be seen as a health food that we aim to consume. “I don’t recommend that nondrinkers start drinking to improve their health,” said Sun. Exercise and maintaining a healthy body weight play a far stronger role in healthy aging, he pointed out, so it’s better to focus on those lifestyle measures than using a daily margarita to slow the aging process.