The connection between moderate drinking and avoiding heart
disease is pretty much old news to most of us at this point.
But now, experts are saying that those of us who have 1-2 drinks
a few times a week are less likely to become obese than non
drinkers.
Finally! A
Weight Loss "Do and Don't" that we can have
some fun with!
Not too much fun though.
Those of us who consume 4 or more drinks daily are a whopping
46% more likely to be obese, research says. The connection
between moderate drinking and avoiding heart disease is pretty
much old news to most of us at this point.
This new information was based on a study of over 8,000 people
conducted by Dr. James Rohrer of the Mayo Clinic and Dr. Ahmed
Arif, from the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center.
"We don't want to give people the wrong impression"...says
Rohrer..."We certainly don't want to recommend that nondrinkers
become drinkers just to control their weight".
If you're a non-drinker---don't panic.
The odds for moderate drinkers are only .73% better than
nondrinkers for staying thin. The main message here is that a
few drinks consumed socially isn't anything to worry about if
that's your M.O.
Some experts don't completely agree with these findings. Dr.
David L. Katz, Director of Yale University's Prevention Research
Center, says that the slight reduciton in obesity risk may very
well be attributed to additional healthy behaviors unrelated to
drinking.
"Many health-conscious people have a daily drink because of the
widely touted health benefits; it may be a constellation of
behaviors in such people that lead to weight control"...says
Katz..."This would produce the appearance of a weight-control
benefit from moderate drinking, but it would be illusory."
Well here's my 2 cents on the matter:
As mentioned above, I feel that the primary takeaway from this
research is that responsible, moderate drinkers need not be
alarmed at the implications of drinking on their weight loss.
Though the overall trend presented here makes sense to me, I am
a slight bit skeptical of the percentages given for risk levels.
My suspiscion comes from the fact that body mass index, or BMI,
was used as a measure of obesity. As I mention in my program,
BMI is not the best determination of true obesity. Its
measurements, though useful, are not accurate enough to be
followed to the letter---certainly not for coming up with
percentages in a medical research study.
So if you choose to drink, do it moderately and responsibly. And
if you don't choose to do so, that's o.k. too. WHATEVER you
choose to do, make sure you're eating right and exercising daily!
To YourBestBody,
Lawrence Cole
Your Lifestyle and Fitness Coach
YourBestBodyNOW.com
About the author:
Lawrence Cole is a Lifestyle and Fitness Consultant based out of
Los Angeles, CA. He has over 10 years of health and fitness
experience and designing simple, effective nutritional
strategies to help individuals achieve their personal best
internal health and physical conditioning.
