HEAVY drinking may be the cause of all manner of ills but now it seems it could help cut the risks of developing rheumatoid arthritis.
A study found that people who drank "regularly" were helping to protect themselves from the disease, in extreme cases halving their chances of becoming arthritic.
Researchers asked participants about their lifestyle, including how much they smoked
and drank, while blood samples were taken to see how genetically predisposed each person was to contracting arthritis.
It was found that the quarter who admitted to the highest alcohol consumption were up to 50 per cent less likely to develop the disease, compared with the half who drank the least.
Research leader Dr Henrik Kallberg said: "The main message remains cessation of smoking is the most effective way to diminish the risk irrespective of genetic constitution, but this recommendation should not necessarily be combined with a recommendation to stop moderate alcohol consumption."
Paul Waterson, chief executive of the Scottish Licensed Trade Association, called the study a welcome break in a barrage of bad press on alcohol.
He said: "Not a day goes past without hearing some negative facts coming out about alcohol. But we know this only happens when it is abused and other studies have proved that taken in moderation, red wine, for example, can be good for your health.
"It just goes to show there is a beneficial side to alcohol in moderation, on the understanding that excessive drinking leads to big health problems."
Health experts said the results should not be taken as an endorsement of binge drinking. They said that although low or moderate alcohol intake had been shown to be beneficial, drinking too much caused complications including liver damage.
Shona Robison, the minister for public health, said: "We know that regularly drinking above sensible guidelines increases the risk of serious illnesses like cancer, diabetes and stroke. We're not saying don't drink at all; we're saying think about how much you're drinking and keep to sensible limits."
Professor Robert Moots, of the Arthritis Research Campaign, said it was important not to "over-interpret" the results of the study.
"Drinking a moderate amount of alcohol may have a protective effect against rheumatoid arthritis in ways that we don't yet understand – possibly comparable to effects of drinking moderate amounts of red wine on cardiovascular disease," he said.
"But there is no doubt that drinking too much is very bad for our health in many ways and these risks by far outweigh any potential benefit for reducing the risk of rheumatoid arthritis, which this study points to without being conclusive.
"We must also remember that drinking alcohol in excess can be especially dangerous in patients taking some anti-rheumatoid drugs that may cause liver damage."
Details of the study, by researchers at the Karolinska Institute in Sweden, were published in the Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases.
The full article contains 485 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
