Great study in Lancet.
Wood, et al.
Risk thresholds for alcohol consumption: combined analysis of individual-participant data for 599 912 current drinkers in 83 prospective studies
You’ll see sensationalized headlines, but here’s the real scoop:
Drinking more than a drink a day will shorten your life, but the impact really isn’t major until you get up to several drinks every night OR binge drinking a lot of alcohol at once.
(350 grams of alcohol = 3 or 4 drinks every night. A drink is a 12oz beer, 5 oz wine, or a shot of alcohol. Remember, if you’re drinking a 40oz beer, that’s 3 “drinks” right there).
The subanalysis I really liked was they found alcohol did indeed have a positive effect on heart attacks, probably through cholesterol and platelets, up to the 6 drink threshold.
But this didn’t hold true for stroke or heart failure.
