As seen on wine-searcher https://www.wine-searcher.com/m/2022/01/wines-potential-covid-protection
First, the good news: Red wine, white wine and Champagne may reduce your risk of getting Covid-19 – especially red wine!
But here’s a little bad news: Drinking beer and cider might actually increase your risk of getting Covid-19, as might drinking too much of anything.
Related stories:
Wine’s Health Benefits Questioned
Wine “Supertasters” and Covid Resistance
Where to Now for Alcohol Health Research?
A study released this month in the academic publication Frontiers of Nutrition used a population of 473,957 people in the UK who are part of a long-term medical study called the UK Biobank. It consists of volunteers who allow the UK National Health Service to follow every aspect of their health as they age.
Strangely for a study with UK subjects, the analysis was performed by six scientists in China, led by Xi-jian Dai and four colleagues at the Shenzhen Mental Health Centre. They basically correlated the data for Covid-19 positivity with self-reported data about how much participants drink, and what they drink.
Before I dive into the study, keep in mind this is correlation data, not causation. Wine-Searcher had an exclusive story last year about research in China that tannic acid inhibits the coronavirus in a lab; that study put tannic acid and coronavirus into a teeny tiny ring and let them fight it out. This is different. We don’t know if some factor (like wealth) leads people to both drink red wine and also wear masks and avoid indoor raves.
With that proviso, let’s get to what the study showed.
First, people who don’t drink at all had a higher risk of getting Covid-19 than people who drink.
The risk of getting Covid-19 was 10-17 percent lower for people who drink red wine. Unlike with other alcoholic beverages, the effect did not significantly diminish for people until they got above 14 glasses per week. This is good news!
The study lumps white wine and Champagne drinkers together, and it uses the word “Champagne”, not sparkling wine, so we will too.
White wine drinkers had a 7-8 percent lower risk of Covid-19 if they drink fewer than five glasses per week, but the protective effect goes away at higher consumption than that.
Fortified wine drinkers had a 12 percent lower risk of Covid-19, but only if they restrain themselves to no more than two glasses per week.
Spirits was Covid-19 neutral up to four glasses per week; more than that is associated with greater Covid-19 risk.
The downside
Unfortunately, the alcohol is cumulative, and drinkers who had more alcohol than the UK guidelines of 14 “units” of alcohol per week (i.e. glasses of wine) had a higher risk of Covid-19 than people who stayed within the guidelines. So you can have two glasses of red wine per day, but no more than that AND no other alcohol if you want the protective effect (assuming there is one.)
Perhaps the most fascinating thing about the study is that beer and cider drinkers have a higher risk of Covid-19 starting at just one glass per week; the risk is 28 percent higher at five or more glasses per week. That is most likely due to lifestyle correlation factors, but it’s still not something Anheuser-Busch InBev will be promoting.
There was no relationship found between amount or type of alcohol consumption and death from Covid-19.
Here is the basic correlation data for the sample group, quoting from the study with the numbers removed: “Subjects who were positive for Covid-19 had a lower education level, a fewer white ethnicity, a poor overall health rating, a higher prevalence of Townsend deprivation score, and more comorbidities than those who were negative for Covid-19. Furthermore, they were less likely to be alcohol drinkers, had a lower frequency of alcohol consumption and had a lower amount of alcohol consumption than those who were negative for Covid-19.”
The study proposes some causative factors, but does not research them. The study authors wonder if the cause might be polyphenols, which are most present in red wine and have been associated with health benefits including lower blood pressure and reduced inflammation.
This paragraph in the concluding discussion is something the Wine Institute will want to celebrate:
“It is worth noting that red wine is recommended for all adults because it was associated with a lower risk of Covid-19 … The consumption of beer and cider are not recommended, regardless of frequency and amount of alcohol consumption.”
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