Wijndrinkers zijn gezonder.*

Mensen die de voorkeur geven aan een glaasje wijn, leven gezonder dan diegenen die liever een biertje nemen. Dat concluderen Deense wetenschappers die het eet- en drinkgedrag van Denen hebben onderzocht aan de hand van hun 3,5 miljoen aankopen in de supermarkt.
Het wetenschappelijke tijdschrift British Medical Journal meldde de bevindingen van de Deense onderzoekers.
Mensen die wijn in hun winkelkarretje hadden, aten meer fruit, groente, olijven en kaas met een laag vetgehalte. Bierdrinkers kochten vooral kant-en-klaarmaaltijden, frisdrank, suiker, worsten, lamsvlees en boter.
Uit het onderzoek blijkt dat bierdrinkers voornamelijk laagopgeleide mannen zijn die vaker naar de fles grijpen. Mensen die wijn drinken, nemen over het algemeen minder vaak een alcoholische versnapering, zijn hoogopgeleid, slank en gezond. Vooral veel volwassen vrouwen drinken wijn.
Vergelijkbare onderzoeken in de Verenigde Staten en Frankrijk bevestigen deze verschillen tussen bier- en wijndrinkers.

Wine Drinkers Have Healthier Diets Than Beer Drinkers

People who buy wine also buy healthier food and therefore have healthier diets than people who buy beer, finds a study published online by the British Medical Journal.

Studies have shown that drinking wine is associated with lower mortality than drinking beer or spirits. Some studies have also suggested that wine drinkers have healthier diets than beer or spirits drinkers, and this may explain wine's beneficial effect on health.

To study this theory, researchers in Denmark investigated the link between the purchase of beer and wine and various food items from supermarkets.

They analysed 3.5 million transactions chosen at random from 98 outlets of two large Danish supermarket chains over a six month period (September 2002 to February 2003).

Customers were categorised as "wine only," "beer only," "mixed," or "non-alcohol" buyers. Details of items bought, the number and price of the items, and the total charge for each customer's transaction were recorded.

They found that wine buyers bought more olives, fruit and vegetables, poultry, cooking oil, and low fat cheese, milk, and meat than beer buyers. Beer buyers bought more ready cooked dishes, sugar, cold cuts, chips, pork, butter or margarine, sausages, lamb, and soft drinks than wine buyers.

These results indicate that people who buy (and presumably drink) wine purchase a greater number of healthy food items than those who buy beer, say the authors. They also support findings from the United States, Denmark, and France showing that wine drinkers tend to eat fruit, vegetables, and fish and use cooking oil more often and saturated fat less often than those who prefer other alcoholic drinks.

The health benefits of drinking wine may be due to specific substances in wine or to different characteristics of people who drink other types of alcohol, they add. Thus, it is crucial that studies on the relation between alcohol intake and mortality adjust for other lifestyle factors such as drinking patterns, smoking, physical activity, education, or income. ( Januari 2006)