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The more alcohol people drink, the more likely they might be to exercise according to new research published in in the September/October issue of the American Journal of Health Promotion.

"Alcohol users not only exercised more than abstainers, but the differential actually increased with more drinking," said lead author Michael French, Ph.D. "There is a strong association between all levels of drinking and both moderate and vigorous physical activity. However, these results do not suggest that people should use alcohol to boost their exercise programs, as the study was not designed to determine whether alcohol intake actually caused an increase in exercise."

French,a professor of health economics at the University of Miami, and colleagues analyzed data from the 2005 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, a yearly telephone survey of roughly 230,000 Americans. The resaerchers uncovered a strong statistical association between alcohol use and moderate to vigorous exercise.

Among women, those currently using alcohol exercised 7.2 minutes more per week than those who abstained. Relative to non-drinkers, the more alcohol used, the longer the person exercised. Specifically, light, moderate and heavy drinkers exercised 5.7, 10.1 and 19.9 minutes more per week. Overall, drinking was associated with a 10.1 percent increase in the probability of engaging in vigorous physical activity. The results for men were similar.

French said that the health problems associated with heavy drinking may outweigh the benefits of more exercise. "While those who are at risk for problem drinking should minimize or curtail their consumption of alcohol, light to moderate drinking may be health-enhancing for some people. If responsible drinkers are using exercise to partially counteract the caloric intake from alcohol, that is not such as bad thing."