Whoops: Turns Out Drinking A Bit Of Alcohol Every Day Doesn’t Help You Live Longer After All, Study Finds

There’s a study for everything these days. While some studies have claimed that drinking alcohol in moderation can provide health benefits, a new study published in JAMA Network Open suggests that it actually has no health benefit whatsoever.

Researchers from the Canadian Institute for Substance Use Research at the University of Victoria reviewed 107 studies published between January 1980 and July 2021 which included about 4.8 million participants. What the researchers found was that there was no increase in the lifespan of drinkers who consumed less than an ounce of ethanol (the amount of alcohol found in two beers, two glasses of wine and two shots) when compared to non-drinkers.

Lead researcher Dr. Tim Stockwell, a professor at the Canadian Institute for Substance Use Research, University of Victoria, said that “The idea there are health benefits from moderate alcohol use is not based on strong science”. Out of the 107 studies reviewed, 86 studies had erroneously classified former drinkers as abstaining from alcohol thus making drinkers appear healthier than non-drinkers.

The researchers concluded that “doctors should not advise their patients to drink for health reasons.”

So, if you thought that two 12-ounce beers, two 5-ounce glasses of wine or two 1.5-ounce shots of alcohol for men (half that for women) could help you in a variety of ways, unfortunately, this study shows that this is not the case.