The clinical supervisor for addiction medicine with SSM Health Greater Fond du Lac says she thinks people’s belief that drinking in moderation may actually be good for you may have resulted in more people becoming addicted to alcohol. In the early 1990s some prominent researchers were promoting the idea that moderate drinking was linked to greater longevity. Red wine, researchers theorized, might have some anti-inflammatory properties that extended life and protected cardiovascular health. For years the dominant message moderate drinkers heard was one of not just reassurance but encouragement. But more recently research has piled up debunking the idea. Clinical supervisor of addiction medicine with SSM Health Tricia Fauske says she believes some people, who started drinking in moderation with good intentions may have become addicted to alcohol. Last year a major meta-analysis that re-examined over 100 studies over 40 years came to a conclusion that no amount of alcohol improves your health.
