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Comment by steinuil | Hacker News Reader

I don't think having a glass of wine at lunch or dinner can damage your health; in fact I recall reading somewhere that it's actually healthy. The problems start when you go over that.

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This is a myth, I've seen bunch of meta-analysis related to alcohol usage done recently which show that even light usage of alcohol is harmful.

IIRC the amount of wine that is beneficial is very small, less than a glass and perhaps less than what many would think, and over that amount it becomes detrimental.

That depends on your definition of a glass.

Most people will pour a much to large portion, if told to put a glass of wine.

As others have said, this is a myth and you are wrong. Alcohol is carcinogen and there is no reason to expect that there is safe level of consumption.

There are some studies that show small cardiovascular benefits for men, they are not counting the overall mortality. Alcohol industry has very effectively propagated these studies into news. Metastudies don't show any health benefits.

It is really damn tasty, though. If you drink smaller amounts of quality stuff of course, instead of chugging shots like a college fratdouche.

I'm sure Jamon Iberico Bellota is also bad for me in various ways, but it's also possibly one of the most delicious foods in the world, so I'll take whatever minor detrimental effects it may have.

I believe that study hadn’t accounted for wine drinkers in general having much better health to start off with.

Once that was taken into account moderate wine consumption also showed a health impact

One thing your other replies have not yet mentioned is these studies did not account for why some people don’t drink. Once you account for alcoholics with lots of preexisting damage turning teetotal, the effect is reversed.

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