The potential benefits of alcohol are hard to decipher because of the population data:

“A lot of people who don’t currently drink are people who used to drink heavily, or who have health problems that led them to quit...” said Keith Humphreys, PhD, a professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences and the Esther Ting Memorial Professor. “That skews the data, making moderate drinkers look healthier by comparison.”

https://news.stanford.edu/stories/2025/08/moderate-alcohol-c...