How to show that moderate drinking beats heavy drinking

A study has shown, yet again, that moderate consumption of alcohol, defined as one to three drinks a day, leads to a life longer than what teetotalers or heavy drinkers can hope to have. Conscientious abstainers are at maximum risk, according to the study. Now, we do not know if the study was sponsored by any trade association from Scotland by way of preparing for a life independent of England. But what the news reports do reveal is that the study controlled for a host of socio-demographic, health and social-behavioral factors.

Now, this could explain why the mortality rate for either the virtuously unspirited or the dispiritedly zonked out is higher than that for those who are just pleasantly high. The quantity of alcohol consumed tends to have an inverse relationship with the quality of one’s liver, as the years go by.

Suppose this known health factor is controlled for and its effect abstracted away, then you automatically knock off the non-drinker’s edge on this count. Suppose, also, that one of the behavioral factors whose effect you control for is exercise. The sozzled, who never have time for exercise, are now on a more even footing with the rest. The field levels further, if you control away the effects of driving under the influence. It is not just what you drink or eat that determines how long you live. What you control matters.