An unprecedented Spanish trial will compare 10,000 people volunteers the long-term effects of two divergent types of health advice on the alcohol consumption moderate to people over 50 yearsreported this Thursday the University of Navarra.
The study—called UNATI (University of Navarra Trialist Initiative)— will be carried out by the Spanish university and financed by the European Research Council (ERC Advanced Grants) with 2.5 million euros.
The principal investigator in charge will be Miguel Angel Martinez-GonzalezProfessor of Preventive Medicine at the University of Navarra, Adjunct Professor of Nutrition at Harvard University and director of the CIBEROBN group at the Carlos III Health Institute in Madrid.
According to Martínez-González, “the design of this essay has given rise to great interest because, in addition to answering very practical questions, it will apply new technologies and thus allow the workload for medical researchers to be minimized and not interfere with the clinical care of their patients”.
The most relevant research question will be to determine the effects of alcohol consumption in older people, especially if they follow a moderate pattern of drinking, that is, of between 1 and 3 drinks a day.
Is that there is currently two contradictory positions regarding the health advice that should be given regarding moderate alcohol consumption.
Leading experts in public health defend that health education for these people should lead them towards a mediterranean pattern consumption, which minimizes risks. But other voices, also very authoritative, defend that they should only be recommend total abstinence.
The reality is that there is a lack of scientific evidence to opt for one or the other. Essay UNATI will not only assess the effects of both alternatives with the best evidence, but also the acceptability and compliance of each type of advice.
To carry out this trial, the university explained in a statement, a network of professionals who apply preventive medicine in their usual clinical practice. Thus, the research group will be composed of medical researchersgraduated from the University of Navarra, from different centers and cities in Spain.
The ERC Advanced Grants are grants to support highly creative and innovative researchers in Europe, to carry out new cutting-edge research, with high quality standards and an interdisciplinary nature, addressing fundamental questions and challenges in any field of science, engineering and humanities.
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