May 22, 2008, by  Karl Storchmann (Journal of Wine Economics)

Red wine is supposed to be healthy. As part of the French paradox it may reduce the risk of cardiovascular diseases.  But does it also lower the risk of liver diseases, especially cirrhosis?

Heavy drinking is associated with the development of liver cirrhosis, a severe disease often leading to death. In France, about 9000 deaths are directly due to alcoholic cirrhosis were recorded. However, only about 20% of heavy drinkers develop liver cirrhosis, suggesting that factors other than alcohol are required to promote this liver disease. Being a female and bad nutritional status appear to be especially important risk factors.

Does the type of alcohol play any role in the development of liver disease? A study undertaken in the 1990s in Denmark concluded that the risk of cirrhosis was significantly decreased when wine accounted for 30–50% of the total alcohol dose (Becker, U., 1998. Liver disease. Importance of gender and type of alcohol. Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research 22, Suppl. 1). Good news for wine drinkers and producers.

However, in 2002, a team of French scientists tried to replicate the Danish study and could not confirm the beneficial impact of wine. The French researchers surveyed 102 male heavy drinkers. Forty-two had cirrhosis and 60 did not have the disease. Each of them was assessed for liver status and questioned about their drinking habits. The study found that patients with cirrhosis were more likely to prefer wine as their favorite drink than those free of disease and there was no difference in risk between different groups of heavy drinkers for developing cirrhosis. (Pelletier, S., 2002, Wine consumption is not associated with a decreased risk of alcoholic cirrhosis in heavy drinkers, Alcohol and Alcoholism Vol. 37, No. 6, pp. 618-621).

Today, researchers at UC San Diego School of Medicine released a study concluding that modest wine consumption, defined as one glass a day, may not only be safe for the liver, but may actually decrease the prevalence of Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease (NAFLD). The study, which appears in the June 2008 issue of the journal Hepatology, showed that for individuals who reported drinking up to one glass of wine per day, as compared to no alcohol consumption, the risk of liver disease due to NAFLD was cut in half. Click on this link for more information.

At the Annual Conference of the American Association of Wine Economists (AAWE) in Portland, Jan Bentzen and Valdemar Smith (both from the University of Aarhus, Denmark) will present a panel model comprising various European countries and a time span of 40 years. They don’t look at individuals but rather at the disease level and mortality rate of entire economies. The main finding: the consumption of alcohol is positively associated with liver cirrhosis. At the country level wine does not play any beneficial role. In other words, livers have not experienced any French paradox.

 

Here is their abstract:

 Since the 1960s wine consumption has decreased dramatically in especially the Southern European countries whereas the countries in the northern parts of Europe have experienced a substitution from beer and spirits toward wine. In this sense there has been a process of convergence taking place regarding per capita consumption of wine among the European countries. Also for the total consumption of alcohol, i.e. the per capita consumption of beer, wine and spirits, the hypothesis of convergence seems to hold.

 In the same time span the number of alcohol related diseases as e.g. liver diseases, have changed significantly in the same direction as the developments in alcohol consumption. The changes in the consumption levels of alcohol in general -- and wine in particular -- are influenced by many factors of which health arguments may have played a crucial role. The alcohol policies of the European countries have become more restrictive during the last decades.

 Using data on alcohol consumption, alcohol related diseases and alcohol policies of 16 European countries we discuss the questions of whether the intake of alcohol is associated with (liver) diseases. Our empirical analysis provides us with strong evidence of a significantly positive relationship between alcohol consumption and the development in liver diseases; this is in accordance with many other micro studies.