Drinking a glass of wine a day is NOT good for your health, it only works if you have 3 a week.

We have all heard that a glass of wine a day is good for you.

But a new study indicates that for most of us, this may not be true.

Researchers at the University of Washington School of Medicine in St. Louis, Missouri, have found that daily beverage consumption increases the risk of premature death by one-fifth, regardless of your age.

The team said the benefits of wine – from preventing blood clots to reducing blood sugar – only worked if you did not have more than three drinks a week and had a family history of heart disease .

With regard to people who have a family history of cancer, however, it has been found that any consumption of alcohol harms the risk of developing the disease.

A glass of beer or wine a day could increase the risk of premature death by one-fifth, regardless of your age (file image)

For the study, the team examined two large groups of people in the United States: more than 340,600 people in the National Health Interview Survey and more than 93,600 people treated as outpatients in Veterans' clinics Administration.

They assessed the risk of heart disease and cancer among individuals aged 18 to 85 and followed from 1997 to 2009.

The researchers found that those who drank one or two drinks four times a week or more had an additional 20% risk of dying prematurely.

This was compared to those who consumed drinks three times or less a week – and was consistent across all age groups.

The results also showed that alcohol consumption protected against heart disease, but not if you had a drink a day.

"Eating one or two drinks about four days a week seemed to protect against cardiovascular disease – but drinking each day eliminated those benefits," said the first author, Dr. Sarah Hartz, Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at Washington University School of Medicine.

"Regarding the risk of cancer, any alcohol consumption was detrimental."

Those living in one of the world's five "blue zones" – areas with low rates of chronic disease and some of the oldest people in the world – may not agree.

Residents of Icaria, Greece; Sardinia, Italy; and the Nicoya Peninsula, Costa Rica follows all a Mediterranean diet with a glass or two of red wine a day.

Okinawa residents in Japan drink a wine made from rice. Seventh-day Adventists in Loma Linda, California, are the only blue zone that does not consume alcohol.

The National Institutes of Health recommends that women not consume more than seven drinks a week and men not to consume more than 14 drinks.

A drink equals 12 ounces of beer, five ounces of wine, eight ounces of malt liquor and 1.5 ounces of gasoline or 80% distilled spirits.

But Dr. Hartz thinks that the current recommended limit is too high.

"A 20% increase in the risk of death is a much bigger problem for older people who are already at higher risk," she said.

"Relatively few people are dying in their twenties. A 20% increase in mortality is therefore small but significant.

"As people get older, their risk of death, regardless of their cause, also increases, so a 20% increase in risk at age 75 translates into many more deaths than at the same time." 25 years old. "

This new study follows research conducted by Washington University in Seattle, which examined all types of alcohol consumption, from mild to moderate consumption.

He found that a glass a day increases by 0.5% the risk of developing one of the 23 health problems related to alcohol, compared to not drinking at all.

This figure rose to 7% for people consuming two drinks a day and 37% for those who consume five drinks.

Any protection against heart disease, stroke and diabetes has not been shown to be "statistically significant".

Dr. Hartz predicts that as medicine becomes more personalized, doctors can suggest that people with a family history of heart problems drink occasionally.

But in people with a family history of cancer, doctors may recommend abstinence.

"If you tailor the medical recommendations to a person, you might think that eventually, an occasional consumption of alcohol could be helpful," said Dr. Hartz.

"But overall, I think people should no longer consider that a glass of wine a day is healthy."