Drink a Little, Live a Little Longer?

In their study, Ocke's team found that the number of alcohol users nearly doubled from 45 percent in 1960 to 85 percent in the 2000 survey. Consumption patterns varied, too, which her study took into account.

Even so, Ocke said that more studies are needed to verify the results.

The researchers stressed that they only uncovered an association between light drinking and healthier, longer lives -- it does not prove that the drinking was the cause of that boost in health. Still, they speculate that the alcohol might increase so-called "good" cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein (HDL), or it might help reduce blood clotting linked to stroke.

The new study is "more comprehensive" than previous research, said Matt Kaeberlein, assistant professor of pathology at the University of Washington, Seattle, School of Medicine. The group studied was large, he added, which also lends credibility. "It gives you confidence in the statistics," he said.

Another study presented at the same conference had good news for nonsmoking coffee drinkers.

The study, by a team from Kaiser Permanente Medical Center in Oakland, Calif., evaluated more than 127,00 people who came in for exams from 1978 to 1985. Nearly 59,000 had never smoked. Researchers then looked at the more than 8,300 people hospitalized for coronary artery disease.

They found a higher cardiovascular risk for heavy coffee drinkers who smoked or used to smoke. Former and current smokers who were heavy coffee drinkers -- six cups a day or more -- had almost a 50 percent higher risk of coronary artery disease, they noted.

Coffee drinking wasnotassociated with a risk of coronary artery disease in nonsmokers, the researchers said.

More information

To learn more about the health benefits of red wine, visit the American Heart Association.

SOURCES: Marga Ocke, Ph.D., National Institute for Public Health and the Environment, Bilthoven, The Netherlands; Matt Kaeberlein, Ph.D., assistant professor of pathology, University of Washington School of Medicine, Seattle; presentations, American Heart Association's Annual Conference on Cardiovascular Disease Epidemiology and Prevention, Feb. 28-March 3, 2007, Orlando, Fla.