About 61% of the subjects showed various forms of cardiovascular or respiratory illness during the study.

About 60% said they consumed less than two alcoholic drinks each day. Eight percent stated they consumed three to five per day, and about 2% said they had six or more drinks each day. About 21% reported no alcoholic drinking at all. [Author note: These four groups add up to about 91%. It is uncertain from my research what happened with the other 9%. I’ll guess that these percentages are very approximate amounts, to the closest 10%, maybe, and if more precise figures were used, then they would add up to 100%.]

Results showed that those who were light or moderate drinkers—consuming two or less drinks each day—were least likely to have lung problems such as asthma and emphysema. Percentage wise, those in the light or moderate group were about 20% less likely to have lung problems. The study did not go into specifics as to whether one type of alcohol was better than anther.

Smokers who consumed this same amount of liquor each day also showed improvement in lung function over the other groups of drinkers. The statistics were the same for all age , ethnic, and gender groups.

According to Dr. Siu, from MedlinePlus.com (National Institutes of Health and U.S. National Library of Medicine), “This is the biggest study that's ever looked at the possible protective effect of alcohol involving the lung … We found that if you drank less than two glasses of alcohol per day of wine, beer, or hard liquor that you had much less likelihood of developing obstructive airways disease, which includes asthma and emphysema ... You do seem to get some benefit if you drink three to five drinks per day. But it wasn't as good if you drank just a little. And if you drank six or more, it actually had a bad effect. It made your lung function worse."

Dr. Siu presented his findings at the October 24, 2007 meeting of the American College of Chest Physicians, held in Chicago, Illinois, U.S.A.


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