That extra glass of wine is going to do no harm

CHENNIA: After all the rejoicing that accompanied the revelation that moderate drinking could actually keep heart problems away, here’s one more that’s calculated to make the city’s wine drinkers order an extra glass; especially those whose waistbands have seemed tighter lately. A recent study made by the Navarro University in Spain has collated data from 31 research papers published between 1984 and 2010, and has found that no relationship has been established between drinking and weight gain. The study further went on to establish that moderate wine drinking would not only promote weight loss, but also act as a minor deterrent to weight gain. This bit of news has made many of the alcohol-favouring populace cheer up. B Prashanth, a 25-year-old HR executive, was ecstatic at the news, “Pretty much all my life, I have been battling fat. Even when I tried to wash all those ‘chunky’ jokes away with beer, after work, the person next to me invariably said that what I was drinking would add kilos to the stomach,” he sighed. Now that’s bitter-sweet; sweet because the study might have given him hope to keep drinking and still lose weight, but bitter because his choice of drink — beer, probably did add inches to his waistline.Though both red and white wine are served at almost every restobar and pub in Chennai, the volume of sales is a pittance that can scarcely be compared to beer or hard liquor, is the consensus among pub managers. “It’s mostly women who order wine, because it’s a very social drink that they enjoy for a while before/if they ask for a refill,” explained Arasu Dennis, Manager of the popular Zara - Tapas Bar. And the wine sales is mostly during the week, because the weekends are crowded and not conducive for “long conversations over wine”, he added. The cost is another dampener, according to Sunil Kumar, who works in advertising, “On an average, a glass of wine costs over `400 at a bar, which is twice as much as beer and even scotch whiskey,” he reasons. Considering a bottle can cost anywhere between `2,500 and `5,000, barring the uber-expensive brands, a switch from whiskey will burn a hole in his pocket, “unless we make a weekly trip to Pondicherry,” he smirked. The key word that the study mentions is ‘moderate drinking’ which varies depending on whether your doctor is a drinker or not. Opinions from general practitioners ranged from two glasses of wine a week to a more rigid “two a month” that a dietician firmly prescribed, with much hesitation at that. However, when the study motioned that moderate wine drinking would also aid in a 30 per cent reduction in the risk for diabetes, prominent diabetes specialist Dr V Mohan chose to aver. “All our studies have indicated that Indians and particularly Asians do not ascribe to this trend observed. Everyday we see patients whose diabetes levels are only driven up by any manner of alcohol consumption,” he said. He also referred to the INTERHEART study (2010), of which he was a part, which showed that among 4,465 Indians randomly studied, the blood sugar level was “considerably higher” amongst alcohol users than life-time abstainers.As a majority of people have an unspoken desire to lose a few kilos at any given point in time and they do tend to feel guilty with every extra drink they knock off, perhaps this may be a win-win solution. Opt for a glass of wine, you never know, it just might make both you and your heart fitter.