Alcohol “Does Not Help You Live Longer” Review Shows

23 Mar 2016 --- A new review of the evidence claims research that suggests drinkers gain health benefits is flawed.
Research has found no evidence that even moderate alcohol consumption is healthy or that even drinking occasionally adds years to people’s lives.

Experts said research that suggested drinkers gain health benefits is flawed. They investigated 87 studies claiming small amounts of booze are good for you and found most of the research was poorly designed and biased.

The studies suggested a positive effect when one probably did not exist.

One flaw discovered was scientists often compared moderate drinkers with people who abstain from taking any booze. But they did not allow for the fact that people might have stopped drinking because they were in poor health.

Research leader Dr Tim Stockwell, from the University of Victoria in British Columbia, Canada, said when his team corrected for this, there was no evidence that moderate drinkers lived longer.

The new research, published in the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs, did not look at whether certain types of drink, such as red wine, were linked to longer life.

Dr Stockwell said: “There is a general idea out there that alcohol is good for us.”

“That is what you hear reported all the time. But there are many reasons to be skeptical about this.”