Wine and Weightloss

photo: provided by Bloomberg

by Nalina Shapiro

Experts warn this is not a new diet. 

 A new study found that women who drink moderate amounts of alcohol do not gain as much weight as those who refrain.   On Tuesday, March 9, the Archives of Internal Medicine were the first to find that alcohol may curb weight gain in women.

 Unusual, is the word to describe the new findings. Typically alcohol consumption is not advised for people trying to lose weight. 

 Researchers at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston conducted a study over a period of 13 years. They examined 19,220 women who enrolled in the long-running Women’s Health Study.

 What they found was surprising.

 Women, who drank 15 to 30 grams a day, or a drink or two, were 30% less likely to be overweight or obese at the end of the study period. 

 A 5-ounce glass of wine contains about 125 calories, and a regular 12-ounce beer has about 150. 

 How could this have happened?

 The researchers are still unclear what accounted for the results, but did come to possible conclusions. Women burn more calories than men do after drinking, which provided researchers with a possible biological explanation.  Also, researchers found that women who drink have different lifestyle habits. They were more likely to consume fewer calories in a day, and chose less fating foods.  Women were also more likely to smoke, which lead health experts to advise the research should not translate into advice for women, rather new findings.

Beer, red wine, white wine and spirits were consumed for the study but in the end red wine had the biggest effect.