Researchers have established a connection between alcohol consumption and Covid-related risks
A team of Chinese scientists has analyzed the association between consumption of various alcoholic beverages and Covid-related risks, bringing some exciting news for wine lovers and disappointment for beer fans.
The researchers, from Shenzhen Kangning Hospital and Southwest Hospital, reviewed 473,957 subjects with an average age of 69 from the UK Biobank database, including 16,559 Covid-positive individuals. They divided them into groups by drinking status (non-drinker, former drinker, and current drinker) and by frequency of alcohol consumption (less than three times a week, more than three times a week, and never).
Existing UK guidelines – less than 14 units a week, with a small glass of wine counting as 1.5 units and a pint of lower-strength beer as two units – was adopted by the scientists as a reference point.
The researchers concluded that “red wine, white wine, and champagne have chances to reduce the risk of Covid-19.”
Underlining that heavy drinking is not healthy with any category of alcoholic beverage, the scientists specified that “consumption of red wine above or double above the guidelines,” “low-frequency of consumption of fortified wine (1–2 glasses/week) within guidelines,” and “high frequency of consumption of white wine and champagne above the guidelines” all play a protective role against Covid-19.
“Alcohol drinker status, frequency, amount, and subtypes of alcoholic beverages were not associated with Covid-19 associated mortality,” the report, published in Frontiers in Nutrition, also concludes.
Interestingly, whereas the protective effect of red wine against Covid-19 was significant regardless of the frequency of alcohol intake, possibly due to the highest concentrations of phenolic compounds in this beverage, “it only played the protective effect when subjects consumed alcohol above or double above the guidelines.”
However, the team’s report brings some bad news for lovers of beer, cider and spirits.
“Consumption of beer and cider increased the Covid-19 risk, regardless of the frequency and amount of alcohol intake,” the report said.
Therefore, the researchers claim, “public health guidance should focus on reducing the risk of Covid-19 by advocating healthy lifestyle habits and preferential policies among consumers of beer and cider and spirits.”
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Swiss health minister Alain Berset says the country is heading in the right direction, but warns the coronavirus can be ‘unpredictable’
Swiss health minister Alain Berset has signaled that the Alpine nation’s controversial use of a Covid-19 certificate system could soon be over since the public health response to the pandemic appeared to be “on the right track.”
The document – which indicates whether a person has been vaccinated, tested or recovered from the coronavirus and determines entry into public venues – has been in use since July 2021. But Berset suggested on Saturday that the time may have come to do away with the system.
“The certificate period seems to be almost at an end,” Berset told the Schweiz am Wochenende newspaper, adding that the country looks to be “on the right track.” But he warned that the “virus has shown itself to be unpredictable on several occasions.”
Over the last year, protests had broken out over the certificates and other restrictions in a number of cities. But after anti-lockdown groups gathered almost 200,000 signatures to force a vote on the law, a significant majority of Swiss citizens elected in December to keep the system.
Since December 20, only those vaccinated against Covid-19 or who have recovered from an infection have been allowed to enter restaurants, cultural, sporting and leisure venues and attend indoor events. In addition, private gatherings in the country have been limited to 10 people – if there is even one person aged 16 and above present who does not have a level of either natural or vaccine-acquired immunity.
Last Wednesday, the government announced it would extend quarantine and mandatory work-from-home rules until the end of February. It also outlined tentative plans to keep other restrictions in place until March as the country fights a fifth wave of the pandemic.
Despite reports of nearly 38,000 new cases over a 24-hour period on Friday, Berset said on Saturday that the government could “transform the compulsory order to work from home into a recommendation, and end quarantines” if the situation improves over the next few weeks.
