'Wine drinkers choose healthier foods than beer drinkers'

Wine drinkers have healthier diets than people who prefer beer, according to a research by Danish scientists on Friday.

They tend to buy more fruits, vegetables, olives, low fat cheese and cooking oil than beer drinkers who are more likely to consume ready meals, soft drinks, sugar, sausages, lamb and butter or margarine.

"This study indicates that people who buy wine purchase a greater number of healthy food items than those who buy beer," said Professor Morten Gronbaek of the National Institute of Public Health in Copenhagen.

He and his team looked at what Danish consumers who drink beer, wine, both, or only non-alcoholic beverages buy in supermarkets. They analysed 3.5 million transactions in their study, which is reported in the British Medical Journal.

Although the research was confined to Danish consumers, Gronbaek said studies in the United States and France produced similar results.

Gronbaek said wine drinkers tend to be educated, healthy and lean or they are middle-aged women who drink moderately while beer drinkers are less educated, healthy young men who have a higher alcohol intake.