Cheers to Long Life!
Italian researchers say that moderate drinking lengthens life. Moderate drinking is 2-4 drinks a day for men and 1-2 for women. However, heavy drinking (anything greater than those limits) increases the risk of death.
The researchers came to this conclusion after studying more than 34 other studies that in turn studied more than 1 million people around the world. Moderate drinkers were 18% less likely to die from any cause of death than those who drank none or little.
Europeans appear to benefit more than Americans with reductions of 20-28% v. 14-19%. Oddly enough, the benefit also worked for up to six drinks (six drinks!) a day for Europeans but only three drinks for Americans.
