Health Benefiits of Moderate Drinking Moderately Unclear

One of the most enthusiastically accepted pieces of medical advice to come down the pike may turn out to be bad advice, according to this piece in the Washington Post. The Post reports that a recent CDC study casts doubt on the notion that one or two drinks a day is good for your health. While an analysis of data from 250,000 Americans did indicate that non-drinkers had many more risks for heart disease – such as being overweight, inactive, high blood pressure and diabetes – than the moderate drinkers, the authors were reluctant to attribute the better health of drinkers to the booze. Instead, the authors wrote that "It appears that moderate drinkers have many social and lifestyle characteristics that favor their survival over nondrinkers and few of these differences are likely due to alcohol consumption itself." Oh well. At least it didn’t conclude that one or two drinks a day is bad for your health.