Moderate drinking myth debunked by new Canadian research

The authors of the latest research stated that "the assertion that moderate drinking is healthy and extends life is the result of poorly conducted studies." At the same time, they emphasized that "There is simply no completely ‘safe’ level of drinking."

Most people have heard at least once in their lives that moderate alcohol consumption supports health. However, this is just a harmful myth. Such conclusions were shared by scientists from the University of Victoria in Canada.

Those studies have generally focused on older adults and failed to account for people’s lifetime drinking habits. So moderate drinkers were compared with "abstainer" and "occasional drinker" groups that included some older adults who had quit or cut down on drinking because they’d developed any number of health conditions, said Dr. Tim Stockwell, author of the publication that appeared in the "Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs."

He also noted that "That makes people who continue to drink look much healthier by comparison."

Dr. Stockwell and his team analyzed over a hundred studies, observing participants over long periods to check the impact of alcohol on life expectancy. The results initially suggested that light and moderate drinking reduced the risk of death by an average of 14% during the observed periods.

However, when researchers delved deeper, much changed. Higher-quality studies included younger individuals and excluded those who had previously consumed alcohol. Occasional drinkers were not labeled as abstainers in these studies. Studies deemed by the authors of the analysis to be of lower quality indicated the connection between moderate drinking and longer life.

If you look at the weakest studies, that’s where you see health benefits, emphasized Dr. Stockwell.

The researchers reminded that "the notion that moderate drinking leads to a longer, healthier life goes back decades."

They also pointed to the so-called French paradox, which suggests that red wine contributes to the relatively low heart disease rates among the French despite a diet rich in fats. This idea was popularized in the '90s.

In reality, moderate drinking likely does not extend people’s lives--and, in fact, carries some potential health hazards, including increased risks of certain cancers. That’s why no major health organization has ever established a risk-free level of alcohol consumption, emphasized researcher.

Dr. Stockwell also noted that "there is simply no completely 'safe' level of drinking."