Wednesday, September 10, 2008

Wham: Women Wine Drinkers Less Likely to Suffer Dementia

I pulled this interesting health clip out of Wine Spectator, a different kind of journal for health news. In this case, the magazine was reporting upon research that took place earlier in 2008 in Sweden. The American Journal of Epidemiology reported the study initially.

Swedish researchers followed 1,458 women between the ages of 38 and 60 for a full thirty years. (This is possible because Sweden not only has an excellent healthcare system, they also were one of the first countries in the world to develop a fully electronic medical records system. Any doctor, in any location, can find the medical history of any patient simply and easily by logging into this system). In this case, the study examined female patients for their lifestyle and its effect on health.

During the 34 years, 162 of the women developed dementia. By eliminating mitigating factors (such as smoking, socioeconomic status,etc) and then examining lifestyles, they found that women who drank wine every week were a full 70 percent less likely to get dementia. Women who drank beer or spirits were 15 to 20 percent MORE likely to get dementia.

Dave

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

"A glass a day, whether white or red, may reduce the risk of developing the nation’s most common liver disorder, nonalcoholic fatty liver disease.

"Researchers studied 7,211 nondrinkers, and 3,598 people who drank a glass a day of wine, beer or liquor, testing them for elevated blood levels of alanine aminotransferase, or ALT, a finding that indicates liver damage."
NYT - Regimens: Wine May Help Keep Liver Healthy

Wine's good for heart disease too.