A group of Swedish researchers recently published findings that suggest alcohol may help lower a person’s risk of developing multiple sclerosis.
According to researchers, the two new studies suggest that moderate alcohol consumption may help lessen inflammatory effects inside the body. Since MS is an inflammatory condition, researchers sought to uncover the effects of alcohol in regards to disease development.
“MS patients often ask what their children can do to reduce their risk of developing their disease,” said Dr. Anna Karin Hedstrom, lead researcher on the study. ”Whilst we wouldn’t recommend them drinking large quantities of alcohol because of other negative consequences, we can probably say that alcohol in moderation will not increase risk and may reduce it somewhat. So I wouldn’t advise people to start drinking alcohol specifically to reduce their risk of developing MS, but I would say that you don’t need to avoid alcohol or stop drinking alcohol.”
Alcohol Study
For their study, researchers analyzed more than 6,000 individuals with MS and more than 7,000 control subjects. Participants were grouped into either low, moderate or high alcohol consumption per week groups. Women were placed in the low group if they drank roughly four or less drinks a week, moderate if they consumed between four and 10 drinks a week, and high if they had 10+ drinks a week. Men had higher classifications, with 0-8 being low, 8-14 being moderate and above 14 drinks a week as high.
Dr. Hedstrom noted that when analyzing drinking patterns and MS data, researchers noticed an inverse association between alcohol consumption and the risk of developing Multiple Sclerosis.
“In the current analyses, if we compare drinkers with nondrinkers there is a small increase in risk of developing MS in the nondrinkers, but there was a clear dose response, and those with the highest alcohol consumption had a reduction in risk of developing MS of about 50%, said Dr. Hedstrom. We also saw a reduction in risk in the low and moderate drinkers but this was not so pronounced.”
She concluded that the study was limited by the fact that it asked individuals to recall their consumption habits from many years prior, but she was still pleased by the findings.
“The greatest limitation with studies like this is that individuals are asked to recall their alcohol intake from several years previously. While this is obviously difficult to estimate completely accurately, people can generally remember whether they were light, moderate, or heavy drinkers, as there were quite large differences between the 3 groups,” Hedstorm said. “I do believe this is a real effect that we are seeing.”
Dr. Silverman comments
There have been numerous studies that tout the benefits of red wine, but this study is certainly unique. MS is a terrible disease and I hope we continue to find new ways to prevent its occurrence.
Related source: Medscape