Many of our centenarians have thought that a drop or two of whisky, sherry or Guinness have played a part in helping them reach 100. And we’ve seen that there’s apparently a lot of research evidence to support them – moderate drinking has been associated with longer life in several studies.

However, as this BBC article reports, new research raises questions about those studies. Often they have included as ‘non-drinkers’ people who have had to give up alcohol for health reasons. It’s not hard to imagine that this might skew the data and, sure enough, when they’re taken out the health benefits of alcohol disappear almost entirely. Plus, as the article points out, there are 200 diseases and injuries that are linked with alcohol, including 30 that are caused only by alcohol.

So our initial, cautious 5 out of 10 plausibility rating may even be a little too generous.

photo credit: Beers and Cheers 011809 via photopin (license)