Rejoice ladies! You've just got a new reason to grab a drink. A study carried out by researchers has revealed that women who consume 1-2 alcoholic drinks a day, drop their chances of gaining weight by 30 percent as compared to teetotalers.

Researchers found that normal-weight women who drank a little were at less risk of becoming overweight than those who consumed no alcohol.

As a part of the study, led by Dr. Lu Wang, an epidemiologist at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, drinking habits and the subsequent weight gain of about 19,200 U. S. women, aged about 39 and were overweight, were asked to be listed.

Although, on average, the women all tended to gain weight as time progressed, those who abstained from alcoholic drinks gained the most.

The amount of weight gained decreased as alcohol consumption went up, the study found.

"There could be any number of reasons for the findings, including different ways that women metabolize alcohol, compared with men", Wang said.

"Among women, those who regularly consume light-to-moderate alcohol usually have a lower energy intake from non-alcohol sources, particularly carbohydrates", Wang explained.

"On the other hand, alcohol intake tends to induce increased energy expenditure beyond energy contents of the consumed alcohol in women.

Taken together, regular alcohol consumption in a light-to-moderate amount may lead to a net energy loss", she said. Details of the study can be found in the latest issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine.