ALCOHOL: It’s good for you (except in those cases where it’s bad for

The great thing about constantly contradicting yourself is that you are wrong only half the time.

That certainly seems to be medicine’s stance on alcohol. Not only is alcohol good for you and your heart, it’s also bad for you, as medical research often tells us.

So let’s get it straight. Alcohol is good for you. Well, no, it’s good for your heart. But only in moderation, it seems, and it’s better if you drink wine. Red, that is.

But now, according to a new study, all alcohol causes rectal cancer. Researchers assessed the health risks of 29,000 Danish men and women who drank 14 or more units of alcohol a week. They were 3.5 times more likely to develop the cancer than non-drinkers (but are non-drinkers more likely to die of a heart attack? – Ed). But that risk was reduced to just 2 times if at least one-third of your alcohol intake included wine.

But the researchers didn’t extrapolate further for those whose total alcohol intake is wine. Are their risks reduced to zero? It’s enough to drive you to drink just trying to work it out.

(Source: Gut, 2003; 52: 861-7).