http://www2.potsdam.edu/hansondj/AlcoholCaloriesAndWeight.ht...
The rest of what you write doesn't really validate your conclusion. Actually, there has been a study indicating the reverse. People who drink live longer.
http://www.mnn.com/food/beverages/stories/study-abstaining-f...
2. The study you cited looked at people above the age of 55. There was another similar study published in 2009 that also looked at alcohol consumption above the age of 55. It too found a correlation between moderate alcohol consumption and longevity, but after factoring for disability and socioeconomic status, the correlation dropped substantially. It was still significant, but the researchers noted that other factors not considered could fully explain the correlation. So to suggest that drinking a glass or two of wine a day is a "perfectly healthy" activity that will lengthen your life is quite premature. On the other hand, the evidence showing that regular consumption of fruits, vegetables, fish, etc. is beneficial to health is pretty conclusive.
From mine, "Alcohol contains calories, but drinking alcohol doesn't lead to weight gain, according to extensive medical research, and some studies report a small reduction in weight for women who drink" This is about as clear as you can get that alcohol doesn't lead to weight gain. Care to directly address this?
2. That's a false dichotomy, You can eat fish and drink wine, too.
Also, you seem to be shifting goal posts. First you write that alcohol can't be considered "perfectly healthy", and now you write that it is premature to be suggest that it can be considered "perfectly healthy" and will lengthen your life.
Why does something need to extend your life to be perfectly healthy?
How can you read that and write that alcohol is the "preferred substance for [promoting] oxidation"? The study says precisely the opposite, hence the title "Ethanol causes acute inhibition of carbohydrate, fat, and protein oxidation and insulin resistance."
Now that this is resolved, let's be clear: I am not suggesting that having a drink on occasion will on its own make you morbidly obese, but there is a very good reason athletes shun alcohol while training (if not altogether) and you're more likely to find a spare tire than six-pack abs on a guy who drinks a couple of six-packs every week (which falls under the category of "moderate" consumption). I know, I know: a ripped midsection does not equal health, but there is plenty of evidence that belly fat is insidious.
As for changing goal posts, you posted a study concluding that moderate alcohol consumption increases longevity, ostensibly in an effort to support the notion that moderate consumption of alcohol is beneficial to health. I simply responded to it with further details about a similar study in which the authors readily stated that other factors may explain the correlation. The implication that longevity equals health is your own.
Finally, the point that you seem to be overlooking here is this: even if alcohol has some components that may be beneficial on their own, there are almost always alternatives for attaining them through other food sources that come with fewer drawbacks. Again, as an example, the person consuming a couple of glasses of wine each night while saying "I'm getting my antioxidants!" (yes, I have heard this) is providing a poor excuse for drinking because it's easy to get antioxidants from less problematic sources.
So you can eat your fish and drink wine too, or you can just eat your fish, but let's not pretend that one isn't likely to be healthier than the other.
How can you tread what I wrote and add "promoting" in there. That completely changes the meaning of what I said! I meant that alcohol is burned in preference to other carbohydrates first. I'm not clear on the details, but lets face it, the known details of how alcohol is processed isn't enough to indicate that it makes you fat. Which is the very center of my argument, shown to be true by the study I have cited, and which you seem to dance around with anecdotal evidence, and comparisons of joe six pack vs a well trained athlete. Well there are other differences between Joe six pack and an athlete, too. In other words, correlation does not imply causation. Fat people drinking alcohol does not necessarily mean alcohol makes you fat.
The point I was trying to make if there is a correlation between drinking alcohol and living longer, then being suspicious that consumption of alcohol is less healthy then anything else is unwarranted. I was simply refuting your conclusion, that's all, not going for the hook shot of defeating your arguments and asserting another argument at the same time.
How are you sure that the reason that alcohol lengthens life is because of the antioxidants that come along in the beverage that contains it? How do you know which components are promoting health, when it certainly isn't settled scientifically?
Finally, I am not "pretending" when I say that there is no solid evidence one way or another whether eating fish is healthier than drinking alcohol, or vice versa, and there isn't any rational reason to be worried about eating either, or both, in moderation.