Poster presentation at American College of Cardiology Scientific Session 2026 in New Orleans: Different alcoholic beverage types seem to carry varying levels of health risk, even at low to moderate levels

Chinese researchers studied data from over 340,000 subjects from the U.K. Biobank Study and found that the health effects of alcohol depend on both the amount and the type of beverage consumed. Differences emerged at low-to-moderate levels of consumption. The researchers explained that alcoholic drinks are not biologically identical: red wine contains polyphenols and other antioxidants that may have cardiovascular and anti-inflammatory benefits, beer contains purines that can raise uric acid, and spirits have a higher ethanol concentration and no protective compounds.

Participants were grouped into four drinking categories: never or occasional drinkers, who consumed less than 20 g of pure alcohol per week; low consumers, who drank 20 g/week to 20 g/day for men or 20 g/week to 10 g/day for women; moderate consumers, who drank 20 to 40 g/day for men or 10 to 20 g/day for women; and high consumers, who exceeded 40 g/day for men or 20 g/day for women.

High consumption of alcoholic beverages, regardless of beverage type, was associated with various site-specific cancer mortality. At lower levels, the findings were more nuanced: wine consumption was linked to lower mortality, including a 21% lower risk of cardiovascular death in moderate wine drinkers, while beer, cider, and spirits were associated with higher risks, even at low intake.