Which is healthier, the wining or dining?

People who regularly drink small to moderate amounts of wine tend to have fewer cardiovascular problems than teetotalers or people who prefer other alcoholic libations, research has shown. One nagging question always remained, however. Do these apparent heart benefits derive primarily from the wine--or from one or more associated aspects of a wine drinker's lifestyle?

A study now suggests that dining and other habits may prove at least as beneficial as any wine consumption. If true, sparing the heart again becomes a lot more complicated than prescribing a daily glass of the house red.

Numerous studies have shown that wine and other alcoholic beverages effect changes in the blood that have been linked to reduction of an individual's risk of heart disease (SN: 5/4/96, p. 286). Three years ago, Danish researchers also showed that people with some of the highest risks for heart disease seem to get the biggest benefit from regularly downing alcohol (SN: 3/30/96, p. 197).

Now, another Danish team has data to suggest why, among those who drink alcohol, wine drinkers still appear to come out on top, heart-wise. Overall, the researchers find that wine drinkers--independent of their alcohol consumption--possess the heart-healthiest habits.

Epidemiologist Anne Tjonneland of the Danish Cancer Society in Copenhagen and her colleagues analyzed the lifestyles of almost 50,000 men and women between the ages of 50 and 64. All were part of the new Diet, Cancer, and Health Study.

Among individuals regularly downing at least 2.5 alcoholic drinks per month, wine drinkers tended to eat more salads, more fish, more cooked vegetables, and more fruit, Tjonneland's team reports in the January American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. Wine drinkers also derived more of their dietary fat from olive oil--rich in heart-beneficial monounsaturated fatty acids (SN: 11/21/98, p. 328)--and tended to eschew butter or margarine on their bread.

Not only did wine drinking serve as a marker for those who ate most judiciously, Tjonneland says, but the strength of that association increased with wine consumption. So at least among these Danes, she says, "the more wine you drink, the healthier your diet."

Moreover, her data show that as a group, these wine drinkers proved the most likely to exercise, least likely to smoke, and least likely to be overweight.

Researchers have tended to study the role of a single food or nutrient because it's easier to do, notes nutritionist Marion Nestle of New York University. However, "single nutrients tend to be just indicators of overall dietary patterns," she says.

"What this kind of study makes clear," she maintains, "is that you can't change just one thing in the diet and expect to get huge health benefits." Instead, Nestle argues, "you may need to make moderate changes across the board and adopt a [studied population's] diet as a whole."