Scientists have in the meantime agreed that light to moderate alcoholic drinks have a protective effect on heart and blood vessels, and mortality as a result of these conditions is reduced. The question still remains as to how long a person has to drink before there is such a beneficial effect. The question remains unanswered for the time being. It can be taken that people who start drinking from their middle age enjoy the beneficial effect. A study on almost 500,000 men aged 56 on average confirmed that moderate drinking is beneficial for the heart and blood vessels and that the general mortality risk falls.
(N Engl J Med 1997;337:1705-14; copy in appendix)

Even more so, excessive drinking habits occur less in the older age groups where alcohol consumption has a more regular character.

Alcohol does not negate the detrimental effects of smoking!

That smoking causes serious damage to health is beyond dispute. Smokers run a greater risk of many types of conditions including heart and circulatory disease, lung cancer, etc. The risk of an early death is double in people who have smoked for a long time. The negative effects of smoking on the occurrence of heart and circulatory diseases on the one hand and general mortality on the other is far higher than the positive effect of moderate alcohol drinking. In other words moderate drinking can not be considered as compensation for smoking behaviour and does not in any way negate the harmful effects of smoking
(N Engl J Med 1997;337:1705-14)

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