October 30, 2026, 4:56 pm | Read time: 3 minutes
A glass of wine with dinner, a beer after work, or no alcohol at all? Health-wise, the answer should be clear: The less alcohol, the better. But a new large study delivers a surprising result.
An international research team led by scientists from Central South University in Changsha, China, analyzed data from about 341,000 participants in the UK Biobank. On average, they were observed for 13.4 years, and more than 22,000 people died during this time. It became apparent that not only the amount of alcohol mattered, but also what was consumed.1
A surprising difference was found with wine
Wine was particularly striking. People who drank little to moderate amounts of wine had a lower risk of death in the study compared to the group that consumed almost no alcohol. Especially with red wine, small to moderate amounts showed lower overall and cardiovascular mortality. The picture was less favorable for beer and spirits.
What does “moderate” mean? The researchers categorized consumption by pure alcohol. Low was 20.1 to 60 grams per week, moderate 60.1 to 120 grams. For a wine with 12.5 percent alcohol, this roughly corresponds to a quarter to one and a half bottles of wine per week. The comparison group consumed at most 20 grams of alcohol weekly.
Red or White? One Type of Wine Increases the Risk of Skin Cancer
Drinking Habits of ‘Blue Zones’ Residents
Why the numbers can be misleading
It’s not that simple. The study can only show correlations. It does not prove that wine is the reason these people died less frequently.
A known issue with many alcohol studies: People sometimes abstain from alcohol precisely because they are in poor health. This can make those who drink alcohol appear healthier by comparison than they actually are. The researchers tried to limit this so-called “sick quitter effect.” Former drinkers and participants with pre-existing cancer or cardiovascular diseases were excluded. The calculations also took into account smoking, exercise, BMI, diet, education, and social factors.
Nevertheless, differences between the groups may remain. Moderate wine drinkers might, for example, generally lead a different lifestyle. Therefore, the data cannot conclude that a daily glass of red wine extends life.
Also interesting: Popular drink can increase skin cancer risk by 22 percent
Where the supposed advantage ends
And with larger amounts, the supposed advantage disappears anyway: High red wine consumption was associated with increased overall and cancer mortality. When the researchers looked at alcohol overall, even moderate consumption was linked to an 11 percent higher cancer mortality. This means that the relative risk of dying from cancer was 11 percent higher in this group than in the comparison group.
In short: The study shows a so-called J-curve with wine. This means that at low amounts, the risk of death was lower than with almost no consumption, but it increased again with larger amounts.