Even moderate drinking could give you cancer, Surgeon General Vivek Murthy warned last week. But according to a congressionally commissioned report published last month, moderate drinking is associated with reduced overall mortality.
Although those findings are not as contradictory as they might seem, the dueling glosses reflect the complexities and ambiguities of epidemiology. The evidence on this subject is vast but open to interpretation, leaving ample room for spin, especially when it comes to this year's politically fraught revision of the federal government's dietary advice.
