Moderate Alcohol May Be Vital For Living Past 90, Researchers Say

Moderate alcohol consumption may be vital in helping people live past the age of 90, new research suggests.

The average lifespan has steadily increased due to advancements in technology and medicine, among other facets of life. The newly published 90+ Study — which first launched in 2003 by researchers at the (UCI) — claimed that individuals who drank approximately two glasses of beer and wine daily were 18 percent less likely to be subjected to a premature death. People who exercised between 15 to 45 minutes a day reduced this risk by 11 percent, however.

Claudia Kawas, a UCI neurologist and study's lead author, introduced her team's findings Sunday at the annual American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) conference in Austin, Texas. In doing so, she said: "I have no explanation for it, but I do firmly believe that modest drinking improves longevity."

The main objective of The 90+ Study was to determine what factors are attributed to longevity, which would ultimately help to explain why some individuals live past 90 and others don't. However, the study also sought to address other health problems that come with age like the rates of cognitive and functional decline, the epidemiology of dementia and the clinical pathological correlations in the oldest-old people.

UCI researchers examined 1,700 nonagenarians, also known as people aged 90 to 99, to determine how their daily practices affected their health and overall life. In addition to moderate alcohol intake being linked as a factor in longevity, researchers also found that being slightly overweight at an older age could aid in adding on years to one's life.

"It's not bad to be skinny when you’re young but it’s very bad to be skinny when you're old," Kawas said at the conference.

Previous research has suggested that there are numerous health benefits associated with moderate alcohol consumption, which the American Heart Association previously qualified as no more than one or two four-ounce glasses daily. In a study published Feb. 2 in the Scientific Reports journal, researchers found that wine in low doses could help to remove waste from an individual's mind. Researchers at Harvard University also discovered that moderate alcohol intake can result in the reduced risk of cardiovascular disease.

Heavy drinking, however, has been linked to further health complications, namely disease like cancer or the declination of mental cognition, among other issues.

The research team from the University of California, Irvine did not immediately return International Business Times' request for comment.