Moderate drinking and coronary heart disease mortality: evidence from NHANES I and the NHANES I Follow-up.

Data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, conducted from 1971 through 1974, and the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey Follow-up, conducted from 1982 through 1984, were used to test for a beneficial effect of moderate alcohol consumption on coronary heart disease mortality among White men and women. Evidence of such an effect was found for White men; accelerated time-to-failure models showed 3% to 4% longer life spans for moderate drinkers than for nondrinkers or light drinkers.