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A new study on the effects of alcohol consumption later in life suggests that a moderate consumption of alcohol can help us live longer.
The Health and Retirement Study collected data from nearly 8,000 adults. The subjects, born between 1931 and 1941, were interviewed twice a year from 1998 to 2014. They were then divided into five categories, according to their consumption habits: abstinent for life; current abstainers; heavy drinkers; moderate drinkers; and occasional drinkers.
The abstainers for life consumed less than 12 glasses in their life, if any. Current abstainers had already consumed alcohol in the past, but not during the period of the study. Heavy drinkers consume two glasses a day for women and three glasses a day for men. (This category also includes drinking, defined as those who consumed four or more, or five or more drinks for women and men, respectively.)
Moderate drinkers are those who consume one to two glasses for women, or one to three glasses for men, one or more days a week. Occasional drinkers consume alcohol less than a day a week.
The results showed that the mortality rates of moderate and occasional drinkers were lower than those of abstainers. Moderate and occasional alcohol users were less likely to die prematurely than lifetime abstainers, and current abstentrices had the highest mortality rates of all participants.
However, according to the study, the latter could be the result of an abstention due to a deterioration of health at a later age. The report's authors also warned (on a number of occasions) that further research was needed to determine whether factors outside the study might have influenced mortality rates.
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