Drink up that wine!

Don't you just love all the studies that come flying at you almost daily?

If you took any of them seriously you'd be changing your diet, sleep habits, even marital status every five minutes!  Eat your broccoli, eat low-carb, eat low fat, no butter, no margarine, eat chocolate (but only a little - as if!!) take naps to increase your memory, don't take naps if you want a good night's sleep, married people live longer, single women live longer ... and so it all goes on.

The latests, in case you missed it, is:

     " ... alcohol intake tends to induce increased energy expenditure beyond energy contents of the consumed alcohol in women."  (Archives of Internal Medicine)

Hmmm, drinking wine causes women to lose weight - now, there's a winner!

Apparently, over 19,200 US women, aged 39 and over who had normal body weight, were asked to list their drinking habits and weight gain for an average of 13 years.  Apparently they all gained weight (surprise!) but those who abstained from alcoholic drinks gained the most.  They found that the amount of weight gained decreased as alcoholic consumption went up.

As an avid lover of wine, over 39, and overweight I wonder about this study.  I've also read that red wine can lower your risk of heart disease, whilst other studies say it may increase the risk for various cancers ... wow, now I am confused!!

However, (as much as I'd love to believe this one) did these researchers not take into consideration the fact that most women fudge the truth when it comes to their age, their weight, and their alcohol consumption - everything this study is based on!

I say, don't worry, just drink up and be happy!

Cheers!