[shadowofneptune]

What the studies have found is that drinking in moderation (at or below the 1–2 standard drinks a day limit) does not have cause a very large impact on life expectancy. This raises sharply after exceeding the limit.

https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/sorting-out-the-health-e...

Personally unsure whether a reduced year or two of life is really that significant.

[ummonk]

That article seems to back up the idea that no level of alcohol is safe, given that low / moderate alcohol consumption is still associated with a small decrease in life expectancy.

(Though there are always potential confounding factors in such studies)

[shadowofneptune]

It does lose you time, yes, but there's lots of other factors in a person's life like level of stress, air pollution, etc. that have similar or worse impact. Alcohol intake is at least somewhat more controllable than those factors, so it can be up to you whether that lost expectency matters.

[publicola1990]

How alcoholism can be triggered in some one is also not known. That is also an additional risk factor in every single drink consumed, perhaps?