So is drinking alcohol in moderation good for your health or not?
While the medical community may never definitively decide either way, recent research has thrown doubt on the one-drink-a-day mindset.
"It's a common perception that alcohol, and red wine in particular, is helpful for the heart, but that perception is not based on any particularly good evidence," said cardiologist Michael Shapiro, D.O., according to WebMD Health News. "If there is any benefit from alcohol--and that's not entirely clear--it's probably modest."
The consensus for now appears to be that one drink a day for women and two drinks a day for men is a generally safe habit with potential benefits for the heart and a lower risk of kidney disease, but doctors still don't recommend that people take up drinking for their health.
People who drink should keep in mind that alcohol is categorized as a carcinogen by federal health agencies and is known to cause cancers of the mouth, pharynx, larynx, esophagus, colon-rectum, liver and female breast.
Cancer risk increases with higher alcohol consumption; those who have three and a half drinks a day can double or even triple their chances of having head and neck cancers.
Research shows that those who have less than a glass of wine per day have a 37 percent lower risk of chronic kidney disease; however, people should be aware that around 3.5 percent of cancer deaths in the U.S. can be linked to alcohol consumption.
"There's a very low level of awareness of the risk," said oncologist Cary Presant, M.D., as quoted by Health News. "We have to counsel our patients on the risks of alcohol. It's something I talk about with my patients all the time."
The clinical professor of medicine at the University of Southern California's Keck School of Medicine noted that all forms of alcohol seem to come with the same risks.
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