Page 64 - BH-2-3

Brain & Heart

ORIGINAL RESEARCH ARTICLE
Wine intake and 45-year mortality in

middle-aged men with high alcohol
consumption: The Italian rural areas of the

Seven Countries Study

Paolo Emilio Puddu 1,2† * and Alessandro Menotti 1†
1 Association for Cardiac Research, Rome, Italy
2 Signalisation, électrophysiologie et imagerie des lésions d’ischémie reperfusion myocardique,
UNICAEN, Caen, France

Abstract

Research into the relationship between alcohol consumption and health has a
long-standing history. Previous studies have revealed the beneficial effects of
moderate alcohol consumption on cardiovascular disease (CVD) and all-cause
mortality compared to abstainers and heavy drinkers. To study the long-term
impact of wine intake on mortality, we conducted a study involving 1284 men
aged 45 – 64 years in 1965, followed over a period of 45 years. We analyzed their
† These authors contributed equally wine-drinking habits in relation to all-cause mortality and specific causes using the
to this work. Cox model. In addition, we utilized a multiple regression model with age at death as
*Corresponding author: the dependent variable adjusted for age, smoking habits, body mass index, physical
Paolo Emilio Puddu activity, dietary score, and comorbidity index. At baseline, 97.7% of participants
(puddu.pe@gmail.com) were drinkers, consuming alcohol at an average of 77.4 g/day (mostly from
Citation: Puddu PE, Menotti A. wine). After 45 years, 98.4% of men had passed away. Our findings revealed a
Wine intake and 45-year mortality in J-shaped relationship between alcohol intake and mortality from major CVD and
middle-aged men with high alcohol
consumption: The Italian rural areas all causes, while the relationship was roughly linear for cancer and liver cirrhosis.
of the Seven Countries Study. Brain The relationship with CVD and all-cause mortality remained J-shaped, even when
& Heart. 2024;2(3):3016. abstainers were excluded from the analysis, indicating potential health benefits
doi: 10.36922/bh.3016 for those consuming an average of 52 g/day (range: 47 – 70 g) and a 34% excess
Received: February 26, 2024 in mortality for those consuming an average of 176 g/day (range: 142 – 570 g).
Accepted: April 24, 2024 The average age at death for the reference class was 3.5 years higher compared
to abstainers and 3.8 years higher compared to the upper class (average:
Published Online: July 26, 2024 176 g/day). Reducing alcohol intake during the first 20 years of follow-up was
Copyright: © 2024 Author(s). beneficial in terms of life expectancy. In a lifetime follow-up, the relationship
This is an Open-Access article between alcohol consumption and mortality formed a J-shaped curve for CVD
distributed under the terms of the
Creative Commons Attribution and all-cause mortality, even when excluding abstainers. Thus, relatively high
License, permitting distribution, wine consumption is more beneficial than lower intakes, especially when
and reproduction in any medium, associated with vigorous physical activity at work – a common practice among
provided the original work is
properly cited. rural men in the 1960s.
Publisher’s Note: AccScience
Publishing remains neutral with Keywords: Alcohol intake; Wine consumption; Cardiovascular disease mortality; All-
regard to jurisdictional claims in
published maps and institutional cause mortality; Long-term follow-up
affiliations.

Volume 2 Issue 3 (2024) 1 doi: 10.36922/bh.3016