Analysis of hundreds of studies delivers final verdict on whether a glass of red wine is healthy

Red wine good for the heart? Pour out another shiraz! Sadly the glass a day theory can quite definitively now be described as bad science thanks to an analysis of hundreds of studies.

A systematic review published this week in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that “low-volume alcohol drinking was not associated with protection against death from all causes”.

There’s nothing quite like a research finding that validates our sneakiest excesses. Red wine good for the heart? Pour out another shiraz! Oh and it makes you live longer? All the more reason to indulge in a glass every day.

The idea that a tipple a day was good for your health is one of those beliefs that tends to stick with people for life, mostly because we very much hope it’s true, not just because most people want to live a long life, but also because a lot of us don’t mind a drink.

Sadly the glass a day theory can quite definitively now be described as bad science. But the good news is that Australia is not about to go the way of Canada in adopting an abstemious stance on alcohol. While alcohol is not good for your body, and it’s probably better to drink nothing at all, there are things you can do to reduce the risk of disease if you do enjoy a drink in moderation.

A tipple a day, even of red wine, is not going to make you live longer.

A systematic review published this week in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that “low-volume alcohol drinking was not associated with protection against death from all causes”. That is, a tipple a day, even of red wine, is not going to make you live longer.

The finding was based on analysis of 107 cohort studies involving more than 4.8 million participants and is the latest a series of studies that have found pretty much the same thing.

“There has been a quite major shift over the last six to seven years in how we think about the supposed health benefits of moderate alcohol consumption,” says Professor Emmanuel Stamatakis from the Charles Perkins Centre in the University of Sydney’s faculty of health.

“In older studies dating from 10 years ago or older, we could see due to some suboptimal methodology, studies suggested there may be some cardiovascular benefits associated with low amounts of alcohol consumption. In the last 10 years this idea is fading away. This idea has been refuted in study after study now because we’re now able to do better quality studies.”

But what about all that stuff about how great polyphenols were for the heart, and the benefits of wine’s antioxidants and tannins? “I don’t think there is scientific evidence to back that up,” says Professor Emmanuel Stamatakis from the Charles Perkins Centre in the University of Sydney’s faculty of health.

Canada has recently moved to lower the recommended weekly number of standard drinks to two, amid growing evidence of alcohol’s harms including links with some cancers.

The JAMA study found those who didn’t drink lived longer.

In line with this, the JAMA study found alcohol consumption was associated with “a significantly increased risk of all-cause mortality” and that those who didn’t drink lived longer. The higher risk of mortality kicked in for women if consumption was two drinks a day or more, whereas for men three or four drinks a day was the threshold for harm.

Australia recommends no more than 10 drinks a week and no more than four in one session.

Canada’s guidelines are based on good evidence, but Professor Stamatakis says they’re unlikely to be replicated here.

“The Canadian guidelines have been criticised for being non-realistic,” he says. “We have to acknowledge that alcohol is a very big part of our … social life. We’re not talking about demonising alcohol and advising abstinence. There’s no doubt that this would alienate many people in terms of the health message.”

So if you do enjoy a drink but want to manage the risks that are associated with even moderate levels of drinking, Professor Stamatakis advises following a regime of 4 four to 5 five days of abstinence every week. And when you do pour one out, make sure it’s ideally just a one of or two, but no more than four drinks at once.