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Beer No Better for Health than Other Drinks

Aired August 13, 2002 - 13:46   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: If you like drinking beer, you're liable to love this next story. Today, the "Wall Street Journal" is reporting on studies that the paper says indicates that moderate levels of beer drinking -- and we emphasize moderate -- can be healthy. But should we believe this?
CNN's Elizabeth Cohen joins us now with a reality check on this brewing tale. And you are loaded with props.

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: And we are loaded with props. Right. We won't be getting to them for a little while. I know you can't drink them, so...

LIN: Yes, I'm allergic.

COHEN: Oh, well, there you go. The you definitely won't be.

But this is an interesting story. "Wall Street Journal" says two studies out there show that drinking beer can be good for you. Well, we called the authors of those studies and what we found was that, actually, that is not completely true. Sorry to disappoint anybody.

In the case of the first study, done by Kaiser Permanente, there said there was no statistically significant evidence that showed that beer drinkers -- that beer drinking, rather, was any healthier for you than drinking red wine or alcohol.

In the case of a second study at Harvard, the author said, You know, it did appear that beer helped lower blood pressure better than red wine or spirits, but you know what, we didn't make a big deal of it but because we still think that any kind of alcohol in moderation is good for your health. We don't think beer is any better.

As a matter of fact, let's take a look at what these Harvard researchers said. The first one said, "We didn't find any real difference in the type of alcohol for the prevention of heart disease."

And the second researchers said, and I thought this was pretty interesting, "Alcohol is alcohol is alcohol."

Now, the reason why alcohol appears to be good for your health is a couple reasons. It seems to lower your blood pressure. It seems to raise your good cholesterol, which is a good thing. And it also appears to make your platelets less sticky, and that's a good thing for prevention of heart attacks and stroke.

But the key is, it has to be moderate drinking. So let's take a look at what moderate drinking actually is.

Moderate drinking for women, is up to one drink per day. That is not a lot. Let me repeat that. One drink per day. Not a lot. For men, up to two drinks per day is what can help protect your health. If people drink more than this, either you don't get any benefit, or if you really keep drinking more, it actually harms your health. You might wondering, one drink a day or two drinks a day, what exactly is a drink, and that is where our props come in.

A 12-ounce beer, that would be considered one drink.

LIN: So not the super size kind that you get at the ballpark.

COHEN: Right, not the super malt, whatever. One 12-ounce. And five ounces of wine, either red or white, both appear to be about the same in terms of health usefulness, or a one and a half ounce shot of alcohol. I believe -- I have been told that is tequila. I don't know firsthand. And that's what a drink is. That is what a drink is. What do you think?

LIN: That's tequila.

COHEN: That's tequila. OK.

LIN: Wow. I didn't know we had an open bar here.

COHEN: That's right. No, it is not open. We paid for it.

LIN: All right. OK. So either way, one drink for women, two drinks for men. Those sizes. No more benefit to beer than wine or alcohol.

COHEN: No.

LIN: The bottom line.

COHEN: The bottom line. What is interesting is red wine, everyone said, Oh, red wine is good for your heart. And it turns out that that is not true either. Alcohol is alcohol is alcohol.

LIN: All right. Thanks. The truth be told.

COHEN: The truth be told. That's right.

LIN: All right. Really appreciate the time.

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