UK experts said the findings should be treated with caution because they do not take into account ill-health from a range of other diseases caused by excess drinking.

“Whilst moderate alcohol intake can lower the risk of having a heart attack, coronary heart disease is just one type of heart disease. Cardiomyopathy, a disease of the heart muscle, is associated with high alcohol intake and can lead to a poor quality of life and premature death,” said the British Heart Foundation’s senior cardiac nurse, Cathy Ross.

“The heart is just one of many organs in the body. While alcohol could offer limited protection to one organ, abuse of it can damage the heart and other organs such as the liver, pancreas and brain.”

The Stroke Association meanwhile noted that overall, evidence indicated that people who regularly consumed a large amount of alcohol had a three-fold increased risk of stroke.

Just goes to show ya how misleading one group of statistics, taken out of context, can be. The unfortunate thing is that a lot of folks with problems are going to look at this and see a license to kill themselves.