Alcohol can prevent stomach ulcers
Alcohol can prevent stomach ulcers, new research shows. But while a few drinks may be beneficial, coffee drinkers are at risk. Scientists have discovered that two and a half pints of beer or three-quarters of a bottle of wine a day can protect the stomach from the Hpylori bacterium that causes peptic ulcers.
However, people who drink three or more cups of coffee a day are two and a half times more likely to be infected with H pylori than those who do not.
The latest findings will be another boost for the pro-drinking lobby as evidence grows to support the view that a tipple — or more — is beneficial.
Scientists have already found that wine protects against heart disease and that alcohol can delay Alzheimer’s.
Sir Richard Doll an eminent British cancer scientist, revealed last year that alcohol helps men in their mid-40s lower their risk of dying from a heart attack by up to a third.
Now Hermann Brenner, professor of epidemiology at the University of Ulm in Germany, has shown a “major protective effect” of alcohol at moderate and high consumption levels.
Researching the benefits versus the disadvantages of coffee, alcohol and smoking on preventing ulcers, Mr. Brenner was able to show coffee was bad, alcohol was good, and cigarettes made little difference.
Treatment for the uncomfortable and sometimes serious condition ranges from antacids to antibiotics. But until now medical wisdom has been to tell patients to avoid drinking alcohol. This advice may have to be revised.
The results, published in the British Medical Journal, were achieved after interviewing 447 patients aged between 15 and 79 who had not had a peptic ulcer or treatment for H pylori infection. Those who drank two and a half pints or three-quarters of a bottle of wine a day were a third less likely to carry the H pylori bacterium.
The researchers were unsure why alcohol had such a protective effect. One possibility was that it enhances the prostaglandins in the stomach wall, increasing its ability to fight infection.
Even more simply, Mr. Brenner hypothesized that alcohol could act as an antiseptic, with enough power to kill H pylori. A spokesman for Alcohol Concern said he felt confident these findings would not encourage people to rush out and get drunk. But he said the research did not show the effects alcohol can have on other parts of the body, such as the liver or brain.
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