The health benefits of
alcohol is a popular subject. News features, blogs, and
social media posts touting alcohol’s benefits are ubiquitous. Every time
I see a friend on Facebook sharing an article about how good red wine is for
you, it is all I can do to resist being the contrarian know-it-all and making
a comment.

In her groundbreaking book on alcohol addiction, This
Naked Mind, author Annie Grace explains how writers need
readership. So they write about popular subjects. People want to read that
alcohol is good for them, so they read articles about that. That makes sense.
But if you look at the stats, something interesting is revealed. There are
only a handful of scholarly studies on the health benefits of alcohol, yet
there are many, many people reading articles on those studies. On the other
hand, there are many, many scholarly studies on the health risks of alcohol,
multiple times more than those on the benefits, but only a handful of people
want to read articles on those studies.

So I thought I would try something fun that everyone can read and
relate to. I found some common health claims in favor of alcohol consumption.
I am going to list them here. Read More