"In a study of more than 80,000 American women, those who drank moderately had only half the heart attack risk of those who did not drink at all, even if they were slim, did not smoke and exercised daily. Moderate drinking was about as good for the heart as an hour of exercise a day. Not drinking at all was as bad for the heart as morbid obesity."

The overall risk curve for alcohol is J shaped. In other words, your total morbidity risk decreases sharply with moderate consumption but then increases after about two drinks a day. Interestingly, risk of heart disease is lower even among the heaviest drinkers. However, total morbidity rates are higher because of other risks.

I actually meant the original article, not a quote from some New York Times summary. I wanted to know whether the study corrected for things like people who are teetotal only due to some other medical condition.

I'm prepared to believe that there's health benefits to a small amount of alcohol every day, but I really can't imagine it being anything on the scale of the health benefits of not-being-morbidly-obese. Morbid obesity is a huge risk factor for just about everything.

You see plenty of 90-year-old teetotallers, but not many morbidly obese folks past their fifties.

"You see plenty of 90-year-old teetotallers, but not many morbidly obese folks past their fifties."

That's true, but then again people also naturally lose weight as they got older. Lower testosterone causes muscles to atrophy, and reduced sense of smell leads to a loss of appetite. I'm not sure how many morbidly obese people live long enough to get to this point, but it's at least worth considering.

Yes, IIRC, there is a phenomenon called the "French Paradox," i.e., the French consume a lot of fatty foods (gourmet culture), yet have relatively low incidence of heart disease. It was found that that their high wine consumption kept their arteries clean.

As the Bible says, "A little wine for the stomach's sake" and "brandy to give you cheer."