Excerpted from an article at alcoholism.about.com
(http://alcoholism.about.com/library/blhealth01.htm)

"Findings of a new study, conducted over a 21-year period, seems to
contradict recent reports that moderate consumption of alcohol has
significant health benefits. In fact, the opposite could be true.

A report published in the British Medical Journal indicates that... men
who drank an average of only two drinks a day had a higher risk of dying
from all causes, compared with men who consumed fewer alcoholic beverages.

The 21-year study was comprised of 5,766 men aged 35 to 64 from various
workplaces in Glasgow, Clydebank and Grangemouth, Scotland.

'The overall association between alcohol consumption and death is
unfavorable for men drinking over 11 drinks a week and does not support
the promotion of increased drinking for reasons of health,' conclude a
team of researchers led by Carole L. Hart, a research fellow at the
department of public health at the University of Glasgow, Scotland....

Although some studies show that moderate alcohol consumption may boost
heart health by raising levels of high-density lipoprotein (or "good")
cholesterol, this new research indicates otherwise....

Not all recent research has pointed to the health benefits of moderate
alcohol consumption... One recent study indicated that drinking alcohol
regularly -- even at moderate levels -- could lead to cirrhosis, a liver
disease normally associated with alcoholism.

Dr. Charles Lieber of the Mt. Sinai School of Medicine in New York
conducted a study of people who had rich diets supplemented with minerals
and vitamins. They were given a daily dose of alcohol that was less than
the amount needed to produce intoxication. "After 18 days, subjects showed
an eight-fold increase in liver fat, the pre-condition for cirrhosis....'