MONDAY, March 30, 2026 (HealthDay News) -- The potential health impacts of low-to-moderate alcohol intake appear to vary by beverage type, according to a study presented at the annual meeting of the American College of Cardiology, held from March 28 to 30 in New Orleans.
Ziyue Li, from the Second Xiangya Hospital of Central South University in Changsha, China, and colleagues examined associations between total and specific alcohol (wine, beer/cider, and spirits) consumption and mortality. The analysis included data from 340,924 participants in the U.K. Biobank (2006 to 2022).
The researchers found that compared with never or occasional alcohol intake (≤20 g/week for both men and women), high total alcohol intake (>40 g/day for men and >20 g/day for women) was associated with higher mortality from any cause (hazard ratio [HR], 1.24), cardiovascular disease (HR, 1.14), cancer (HR, 1.36), and other causes (HR, 1.12). Moderate alcohol use (>20 to ≤40 g/day for men, >10 to ≤20 g/day for women) was associated only with higher cancer mortality (HR, 1.11). For spirits and beer/cider use, there was a significant association, even at low-to-moderate levels, for higher all-cause and cause-specific mortality (HRs ranging from 1.07 to 1.83). For wine, low and moderate use was associated with lower all-cause and cause-specific mortality (HRs ranging from 0.79 to 0.92). High wine use, though, was associated with higher cancer mortality (HR, 1.10).
"Our findings help clarify previously mixed evidence on low-to-moderate alcohol consumption," senior author Zhangling Chen, M.D., Ph.D., also from the Second Xiangya Hospital, said in a statement. "Taken together, these factors suggest that the type of alcohol, how it is consumed, and the associated lifestyle behaviors all contribute to the observed differences in mortality risk."