Drink more, weigh less?

In a study reported in the Archives of Internal Medicine (that was not sponsored by Bartles & Jaymes or Anheuser-Busch) findings were published that women who “regularly consume moderate amounts of alcohol are less likely to gain weight” than their non-drinking peers, and were at a lower risk of obesity.

The study followed nearly 20,000 women aged 39 or over, 60% of whom were light to “regular” drinkers and 40% classed as non-drinkers. At the start of the study, the women fell into the “normal” range of BMI. While it may seem intuitive that calories in alcohol could increase the instance of weight gained over the course of the study, the results were surprising:

Over the course of the study, 41 percent of the women became overweight or obese. Although alcohol is packed with calories (about 150 in a six-ounce glass of wine), the nondrinkers in the study actually gained more weight over time: nine pounds, on average, compared with an average gain of about three pounds among regular moderate drinkers. The risk of becoming overweight was almost 30 percent lower for women who consumed one or two alcohol beverages a day, compared with nondrinkers.

Previous studies have shown the converse to be true in a study of British men, but it is thought that men have less of a tendency to replace food with alcohol whereas women will account for alcohol related calories in daily caloric intake. And sadly, drinking isn’t a weight loss strategy yet- a woman who is overweight or obese may already metabolize alcohol more efficiently, causing her to be more likely to gain weight due to drinking.