MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

A couple of red wine glasses a day help ladies keep their waist line

Non drinkers gained the most weight, according to the Archives of Internal Medicine report

Women who drink moderate amounts of alcohol gain less weight than abstainers according to a report published this week in the United States and based on thirteen years of scientific data.

The study, published in the Archives of Internal Medicine, found that women who drink on a regular basis -- particularly if they drink red wine -- are less likely to experience long-term weight gain than non-drinkers.

The researchers note that alcohol is hardly calorie-free. A small glass of wine contains about 130 calories, while a bottle of beer contains around 150. And most of those calories are “empty,” with little nutritive value.

But this study, which was carried out by researchers at Boston's Brigham and Women's Hospital, found a link between those empty calories and lower weight gain.

The research team led by Dr. Lu Wang, surveyed 19.200 women over the age of 39 who had a body mass index (BMI) in the normal range (18.5 to 25). Over the 13 years, almost all the women gained weight: 41.3% of the women became overweight, including 3.8% who became obese (BMI of 30 or higher).

Those women who gained the most weight were those who didn't drink at all. And as the amount of alcohol drunk increased, the weight gain decreased. Those who drank red wine gained the least weight, though greater weight gain was found with beer and spirits.

The authors note that heavier alcohol intake is also linked to lifestyle differences, such as a higher likelihood of smoking and a less healthy diet. But they say even after they adjusted their data for lifestyle differences, the link between alcohol and low weight gain remained, “indicating that alcohol consumption may independently affect body weight beyond its with dietary and lifestyle factors,” the authors write.

The authors note that they are not recommending heavy drinking, noting that plenty of other studies have noted the potential health problems related to drinking. But they note that they were surprised to find that alcohol consumption didn't increase weight gain.

They say it's possible that women who drink compensate for the extra calories, noting that their survey found women who drank reported eating fewer calories.

“Male drinkers tend to add alcohol to their daily dietary intake, whereas female drinkers usually substitute alcohol for other foods without increasing total energy intake,” they note.

They also suggest that the body -- particularly, women's bodies -- may use calories from alcohol in a different way from other foods, which might affect weight gain. They say more study is needed to answer the questions their study raises.

“Further investigations are warranted to elucidate the role of alcohol intake and alcohol metabolism in energy balance and to identify behavioural, physiological and genetic factors that may modify the alcohol effects,” they conclude