Is Moderate Drinking now bad for you again?

I honestly think scientists have nothing better to do than debate the merits of what's healthy and what's not healthy. Has common sense gone out the window or are Medical Researchers now so deeply in the pockets of whoever is paying for a particular study that objectivity in medical studies has been lost for good? Everyday, it seems like a new food or drink or supplement is either declared beneficial or the worst possible thing that you could ever consume, only to be refuted by another competing study the very next day.

The latest debate, raging in an article in the New York Times, is about whether drinking alcohol is good or bad for you. Though the studies have been overwhelmingly positive in support of moderate drinking as a way to ward off heart disease, diabetes, and other illnesses, some doctors are speculating that the studies may not have been the "gold standard" that we may have thought.

For one, it's hard to really determine whether or not the studies are legit because some of the loudest advocates from the pro-moderate alcohol drinking camp seem to have been  paid for  (and possibly bought) by the liquor industry, while their loudest detractors receive funding from non-profits concerned with reducing alcohol and drug addiction. I'm not trying to suggest that all of the doctors who are funded by certain groups fudge their studies, but I do see a certain amount of similarities between medical studies paid for special interest groups and the WMD memos of the Bush administration. 

Another factor muddying the waters is that the demographics between moderate drinkers and those who abstain from alcohol altogether are completely different. According to the NYT, moderate drinkers tend to be from higher socio-economic groups, exercise more, and receive a higher standard of health care than their abstaining counterparts. Because of this, some researchers are claiming that is impossible to tell whether or not the benefits are from the alcohol or other lifestyle differences. (An even greater question may be why wealthier people tend to be moderate drinkers in the first place.)

According to most websites, doctors and groups like the Heart Association have been reluctant to overwhelmingly endorse alcohol as a means to prevention, largely due to the dangers of alcohol abuse. It should also be noted that there is little dispute at this point in time that lots of alcohol consumption can result in an increased risk for breast cancer, uterine cancer, and osteoporosis. Some web sites relating to alcohol and alcohol abuse claim alcohol abuse as the third leading cause of death in the United States. Whether this is primary in terms of diseases related to alcohol or including traffic deaths is not known.

Until more studies prove otherwise, the evidence now still overwhelmingly supports the notion of moderate alcohol intake as beneficial to health. Whether or not this means that you should “drink up” at every meal, of course, remains entirely up to you.