Wine, Beer, and Mortality in Middle-aged Men From Eastern France

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Abstract
THE CONCLUSION of a recent meta-analysis1 on drinking and mortality was that the results were "inconsistent with the belief that daily consumption of a few glasses of wine has salutary effects." To conclude whether wine may have salutary effects, its influence on all-cause mortality should be precisely evaluated. Recent prospective studies2-6 observed that a moderate intake of alcohol was associated with a lower overall death rate. However, only 2 of these studies determined the respective role of the different alcohols. In Shanghai, China,5 the consumption of wine, mostly rice wine, was not more beneficial than that of beer or spirits. By contrast, in Denmark6 only the moderate intake of wine (grape wine) could lower mortality from cardiovascular and other causes. Grape wine appears to be the main alcoholic beverage that contains antioxidant phenolic substances, which are known to inhibit oxidation of low-density lipoprotein7 and affect platelet functions.8 Among these substances, resveratrol may even inhibit the 3 main stages of carcinogenesis.9