A glass of wine can be good for you – if you have the right genes

The benefits and dangers of moderate drinking have been hotly debated. Now scientists have found a daily glass of wine can be good for you – but only if you have the right genes.

Small quantities of alcohol protect against heart disease, but only for those who have a particular variant of a gene known as CETP TaqIB, researchers found.

Unfortunately just three in 20 people carry the gene.

Researchers said their finding challenges claims that moderate alcohol consumption – seven drinks a week for women and fourteen for men – has widespread health benefits.

It backs earlier studies linking this gene mutation with the health benefits of alcohol.

Professor Dag Thelle, of the University of Gothenburg, said: ‘In other words, moderate drinking has a protective effect among only 15 per cent of the general population.’

The study compared the drinking habits of 618 Swedish heart patients and 3,000 healthy controls with all the volunteers also undergoing testing for the particular CETP genotype.


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