New Study Finds Differences Between Beer, Cider, Wine and Liquor Drinkers

A 16 year-long study involving 340,000 people found that all types of alcohol can be hazardous to your health. However, even at low to moderate levels beer, cider and liquor increase health risks due to behavior and lifestyle factors.

What You’ll Learn:

• What a newly released long-term study examining different types of alcohol included.

• The key findings on alcohol and health after a 16-year follow-up based on the amount of alcohol that’s consumed.

• Which type of alcohol had significantly higher risk even at low to moderate levels.

• What was concluded about drinking behaviors that are common for different types of alcoholic beverages.

One of the clear findings from a study that was just released from the American Academy of Cardiology (AAC) wasn’t unexpected.

The researchers concluded that drinking is bad for your health, and the more you drink the worse it is for your body and brain. That fact was proven long ago.

But the 16-year long study did provide some more specifics along with some other findings that were more novel because they are specific to certain types of alcohol.

How the Study Was Conducted: Strengths and Limitations

It’s important to understand how a study was conducted to better understand the validity of the findings and how researchers measured the results.

There are some acknowledged shortcomings to the AAC’s study, but there are also some strengths that help give the findings a lot of credibility.

The Strengths

The huge number of participants and length of the study are what make the AAC’s study noteworthy. In total there were 340,924 participants. Data was collected in 2006, and then researchers followed up in 2022.

On average, researchers examined health outcomes for participants over the course of 13 years. Examining outcomes after such a long time gives the study merit.

Also, unlike many other studies, this one looked specifically at different types of alcohol. It’s a factor that provides a more nuanced look at the long-term effects of alcohol use and drinking behaviors.

The researchers segmented the results based on beer, wine, cider and liquor.

Something else that works in the favor of the study is researchers made adjustments based on a lot of variables.

They controlled for socioeconomic status, cardiovascular disease and much more to isolate the outcomes so that they could be attributed to alcohol use.

The Limitations

It should be noted that this was an observational study. That means it wasn’t performed in a controlled lab setting and isn’t considered to be clinical.

One other big limitation is that information was self-reported. The participants filled out questionnaires. That means the validity of the findings is directly dependent on how honestly and accurately participants answered the questions.

And a major shortcoming is there was no data gathering between 2006 and 2022 to gauge how people’s drinking habits had changed.

It’s assumed that they remained relatively the same even though some people likely increased their drinking while others reduced it or quit entirely.

Lastly, it was acknowledged by the researchers that the participants were healthier than the general population. The participants were selected from the UK Biobank. That could actually skew the findings making them more positive.

More Evidence That Alcohol Use Increases Health Risks

When the AAC presented the findings at their Annual Scientific Session, there was a very clear takeaway from their study.

The study once again provided clear evidence that alcohol increases health risks, especially for people who partake in heavy drinking.

The researchers categorized the thousands of participants into four groups based on the number of alcoholic beverages they consumed per day and per week:

• Never or Occasional Drinkers - Less than 20 grams of alcohol (approximately 1.5 drinks) per week

• Low Alcohol Use - Men: between 20 g per day and 20 g per week. Women: between 10 g per day and 20 g per week

• Moderate Alcohol Use - Men: 20 g to 40 g (1.5-3 drinks). Women: 10 g to 20 g day

• Heavy Alcohol Use - Men: 40+ g (three+ drinks). Women: 20+ g (1.5+ drinks) a day

When researchers compared the groups, they found that heavy drinkers were:

• 24% more likely to die from any cause

• 14% more likely to die from heart disease

• 36% more likely to die from cancer

Doctors have previously made the connection between alcohol use and increased risk for cancer and cardiovascular disease. The real question was whether the type of alcohol made a difference.

Behaviors Around Drinking Certain Types of Alcohol Make a Real Difference

Now comes the more nuanced and novel findings. Once the researchers isolated it to the low to moderate drinkers they discovered people had different patterns depending on the type of alcohol they drank.

According to the AAC’s research people who drink beer, cider or liquor at low to moderate levels still had a significantly higher risk of death. But that wasn’t the case for people who drank wine at the same level.

Even when consumption is low, beer, cider and liquor drinkers were 9% more likely to die from cardiovascular problems compared to people who only drank occasionally.

These findings help to provide clarity surrounding the safety of low to moderate drinking.

But don’t think that means wine is safer to consume at a low to moderate level. Researchers noted that behaviors and motivations around wine drinking as well as the lifestyle of people who drink wine were contributing factors.

Often, wine drinkers say they pair it with meals. People who primarily drink wine also have overall healthier lifestyles and higher-quality diets.

On the flip side, people who typically drink beer, cider or liquor are more likely to do so outside of meals. They also tend to have a lower quality diet and lifestyle factors that increase risk.

The Major Takeaway From the American Academy of Cardiology Alcohol Study

The real takeaway is that once again research has proven any level of alcohol consumption can increase health risks and the less your drink the better.

You don’t have to give up alcohol entirely, but reducing how much you drink will make a significant difference.

That’s why we believe FDA-approved naltrexone is such a powerful tool in helping people gain control over alcohol use. By altering alcohol’s effect on the brain, prescription naltrexone medication helps people curb alcohol cravings and drink less.

Decades of research has proven taking naltrexone before drinking gives people physiological support so that they aren’t relying on willpower alone.

If you’d like to drink less and think that naltrexone could help you reach your goals, we invite you to complete our online Alcohol Use Assessment.

It’s a free, completely confidential resource that provides an honest analysis of your drinking behaviors and recommendations for improving them.