It's no secret that a glass of wine each day can be good for the heart. But now researchers say a moderate dose of alcohol can also help seniors prevent the onset of disabilities.

Researchers at UCLA's David Geffen School of Medicine say that light to moderate consumption of alcohol may help prevent the development of physical disabilities that can cause problems such as walking, dressing and grooming.

"If you start out in good health, alcohol consumption at light to moderate levels can be beneficial," lead study author Dr. Arun Karlamangla says.

However, he told CTV.ca by phone from California, "I am not going to go out and tell my patients to go start drinking."

"But if you are used to drinking a glass of wine or two drinks a day ... then continuing to do that will not be harmful -- and may actually be beneficial."

Karlamangla added there's a caveat: it's important for people to be in good health for alcohol's benefits to kick in.

The researchers based their study on data from three sets of the U.S. National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey's Epidemiologic Follow-up Study in the 1980s and early 1990s.

The sample included 4,276 people split evenly between male and female and was about 92 per cent white. Their mean age was 60.4 years.

Drinkers were classified as light to moderate if they consumed less than 15 drinks per week and less than five drinks per drinking day (less than four per day for women). Heavy drinkers topped the 15-drink per week limit, while researchers considered abstainers those who drank less than 12 alcohol beverages the previous year.

Participants had been asked if they experienced no difficulty, some difficulty, or much difficulty performing common tasks such as grooming, dressing, eating, walking, and daily errands.

"The researchers found that light to moderate drinkers in good health had a lower risk for developing new disabilities, compared with both abstainers and heavy drinkers," said the press release.

The study concluded that:

  • Light to moderate drinkers had a 17.7 per cent chance of becoming disabled or dying in five years.
  • Abstainers had a 26.7 percent chance of dying or becoming disabled during the same period.
  • Heavy drinkers had a 21.4 percent.

"Among survivors, the risk for new disability was 12.5 per cent for light to moderate drinkers, compared with 20 per cent for abstainers and 15.6 per cent for heavy drinkers," the press release said.

The researchers noted, however, that physically healthier seniors benefited most from consumption of moderate alcohol.

"It is possible that those who report poor health have progressed too far on the pathway to disability to accrue benefits from alcohol consumption and that alcohol consumption may even be deleterious for them," the researchers wrote.

The study is available in the online edition of the American Journal of Epidemiology.