Is moderate drinking REALLY good for you? Evidence that alcohol lowers heart disease and extends life 'flawed and shaky at best'

Many people think a glass of wine a day lowers the risk of heart disease
And, past studies have found that moderate drinking leads to a longer life
Experts revealed those studies are flawed and based on 'shaky evidence'
Some of the studies compared moderate drinkers to ill abstainers
Now, scientists say drinking a couple times a day has no health benefits

By Lisa Ryan For Dailymail.com

Published: 04:15 GMT, 22 March 2016 | Updated: 04:21 GMT, 22 March 2016

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A glass of wine to de-stress after a long day at work, a gin and tonic to take the edge off a long week.

The odd glass or two can't be bad for us - can it?

Countless studies have extolled the virtues of drinking in moderation.

Evidence has supported the idea that the occasional tipple lowers a person's risk of heart disease, and can even lead to a longer life.

But, a team of scientists from the University of Victoria, Canada, have cast a depressing shadow of doubt.

After reviewing 87 previous studies, including those hailing the benefits, they concluded the evidence is 'shaky at best' in favor of drinking in moderation.

Moreover, researchers noted many of the studies had come to 'flawed' conclusions, finding benefits when there were none.

Dr Tim Stockwell, director of UV's Centre for Addictions Research, said: 'There is a general idea out there that alcohol is good for us, because that's what you hear reported all the time, but there are many reasons to be skeptical.'

Many people believe that a glass of wine a day - or a couple of drinks here and there - lowers the risk of heart disease and leads to a longer life. But now, experts have debunked that myth, finding that past studies relied on 'shaky' evidence - and saying that moderate drinking has no health benefits

The new study, published in the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs, found that previous research has linked moderate drinking to 'an implausibly wide range' of health benefits.

In some of the previous research, moderate drinkers were shown to have lower risks of deafness and liver cirrhosis than people that abstained for drinking.

Dr Stockwell said: 'Either alcohol is a panacea or moderate drinking is really a marker of something else.

'Many people believe a glass of wine with dinner will help them live longer and healthier, but the scientific evidence is shaky at best.'

Some of the previous studies analyzed 'abstainers' who were in poor health.

And so, moderate drinkers appeared far more healthy than they were were, when compared to the ill abstainers.

Many people believe a glass of wine with dinner will help them live longer and healthier, but the scientific evidence is shaky at best

Dr Tim Stockwell, of University of Victoria

But, that finding is implausible, for Dr Stockwell noted, 'Those people would be getting a biologically insignificant dose of alcohol.'

Moderate drinkers are defined as those who have a couple of drinks a day, the study noted.

Thus, moderate drinkers weren't ingesting enough alcohol to account for their longevity.

But, after researchers corrected their studies to take abstainer 'biases' into account, moderate drinkers no longer had a longevity advantage.

Only 13 of the 87 analyzed studies avoided biasing the comparison group, the UV researchers discovered.

Those studies showed no health benefits that were associated with drinking.

Dr Stockwell added that the current study didn't look into whether certain types of alcohol - such as red wine - are tied to a longer life.

He said: 'But if that were the case, it would be unlikely that the alcohol content itself deserved the credit.'

Scientists analyzed past studies that suggested moderate drinking was healthy - and revealed those studies improperly compared current drinkers to abstainers with health problems