Beer drinkers won’t be in good spirits when they read this news.
Lager lovers tend to have worse diets, exercise less and smoke more cigarettes than people who drink wine, liquor or a combination, a new study finds.
Researchers compared the diets of more than 1,900 US alcohol drinkers — 38.9% consumed only beer, 21.8% only wine, 18.2% only liquor and 21% a combination of alcohol types.
None of the groups came close to achieving the 80-point score that is considered an adequate diet on the 100-point Healthy Eating Index, a US measure of diet quality.
Wine drinkers scored 55, liquor-only and combination drinkers earned nearly 53 points and beer drinkers posted the lowest score (49).
Beer-only drinkers are more likely to be male, younger, smokers and low-income, the researchers determined, and they reported the highest daily caloric intake and the lowest level of physical activity.
Lead study author Dr. Madeline Novack, chief resident at Tulane School of Medicine’s internal medicine residency program, reasoned that beer may be a popular choice in places where foods are low in fiber and high in carbohydrates and processed meats.
Wine — particularly red wine — is often paired with more balanced meals that contain meat, vegetables and dairy, Novack added.
She also suggested that the inverse is true, that dietary choices influence alcohol preferences. For example, fried or salty foods may inspire beer consumption.
Regardless of why someone is drinking alcohol, Novack pointed out that alcohol abuse is the leading cause of cirrhosis in the US, and metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD) is rapidly becoming more common.
“Both types of liver disease often coexist, and lifestyle changes are key to managing and preventing these conditions, starting with understanding the link between alcohol use and poor nutrition,” Novack said.
She encourages patients to share their alcohol consumption habits, including the type of booze, with their physician.
Stephanie Schiff, a registered dietitian nutritionist at Northwell Health’s Huntington Hospital, also suggests physicians and registered dietitians discuss alcohol intake with patients.
“While alcohol was once thought of as healthy, it gradually seems less so — even red wine doesn’t have the health halo it used to have,” said Schiff, who was not involved in the new study. “The public would do itself a bit of good in drinking as little alcohol as possible and eating a healthy, mostly whole-food, plant-heavy diet.”
Novack is presenting her findings on Sunday at a conference hosted by the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases.
There were some limitations to her study, including that participants reported their eating and drinking habits — and they may not have been accurate.
The results — which will also be published in the journal Nutrients — support a 2006 Danish study that suggested that wine drinkers eat more healthily than ale fans.
Wine enthusiasts buy more olives, fruit, vegetables, poultry, cooking oil, low-fat cheese, milk and meat, the research found, while beer drinkers prefer ready-cooked dishes, sugar, cold cuts, chips, pork, butter or margarine, sausages, lamb and soft drinks.
