Alcohol may be less harmful for people over 50

Heavy drinking is linked to a range of serious health consequences.

These include certain cancers, liver and heart disease, and damage to the nervous system, including the brain.

However, as has been exhaustively covered in the popular press, drinking in moderation might have certain health benefits.

A number of studies have concluded that drinking alcohol at a low level could have a protective effect.

One study, for instance, found that light and moderate drinking protected against all-cause mortality, as well as mortality related to cardiovascular disease.

It is no surprise that these stories have been well-received and widely read, but not all researchersTrusted Source agree, and the debate is ongoing.

The researchers argue that the way that earlier studies measured alcohol's impact on health might be flawed. Specifically, they note that the studies are generally observational and usually recruit participants over the age of 50.

The authors argue that this is problematic because it excludes anyone who might have died due to alcohol before the age of 50. As they dryly point out, "Deceased persons cannot be enrolled in cohort studies."

According to the authors, almost 40 percent of deaths due to alcohol consumption occur before the age of 50.

This means that the vast majority of research into the potential risks of alcohol do not take these deaths into account and could underestimate the real dangers.

The researchers also saw this stark difference between age groups when they looked at the number of potential years lost to alcohol.

They showed that 58.4 percent of the total number of years lost occurred in those aged 20–49. However, this age group only accounted for 14.5 percent of the years of life saved by drinking.

Conversely, the over-65 group accounted for 15 percent of the overall years of life lost, but 50 percent of the years of life saved.

The authors conclude that younger people "are more likely to die from alcohol consumption than they are to die from a lack of drinking," but older people are more likely to experience the health benefits of moderate drinking