A study has found that people who drink and are overweight are more likely to live longer than those who avoid booze and fatty foods.
The 30-year study revealed that lighter elderly people die younger than those who had a little excess weight and those who did 15 minutes of exercise a day as well as drinking two cups of coffee also helped, the Mirror Online reported.
Researchers questioned 14,000 people aged between 55 and 100 on their lifestyles and found that those who drank alcohol lived longer than people who didn’t touch a drop.
Professor Claudia Kawas, a geriatric neurologist from the University of California, said: “As you age your body tries to put weight on. This is different to saying obesity is a good thing.
“But maybe as you get to 60 or 70 physiologically it’s a good thing to gain weight. The best mortality experience is to gain between five and 10 pounds per decade.
“Underweight people had a 50 per cent increase in mortality. It’s not bad to be skinny when you’re young but it’s very bad to be skinny when you’re old.
“We found of course that exercise, as little as 15 minutes a day, gave greater longevity. 30 minutes was better, 45 minutes was better than that.
“Mercifully for couch potatoes like me three hours was no better than 45 minutes.
“It didn’t have to be 45 minutes of intense going to the gym making your heart beat rise. A modest walk.
“If you exercised in 1981 age 72, we found you were much less likely to have a fall in your 90s.”