About that Glass of Wine You're Drinking to Get Healthier...

Past hypotheses that moderate alcohol consumption, specifically a glass of red wine each day, extends your health span have been questioned by recent higher-quality studies and a meta analysis prospective review.

A new large-scale review of over 100 studies and almost five million people largely confirms that moderate drinking does not confer any health benefits.

Low-volume drinkers showed the lowest mortality risk, but the difference between them and abstainers became insignificant in the fully adjusted model.

Occasional drinkers did not fare significantly better than lifetime abstainers. The only two groups who fared significantly worse than lifetime abstainers were moderate to heavy drinkers and heavy drinkers.

Former drinkers had a higher risk of death than lifetime abstainers. The association between alcohol and mortality was more pronounced in women.

The study concludes that moderate drinking does not confer significant benefits in terms of mortality risk, but it also does not seem to hurt.