FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WOWO) — A massive study of more than 340,000 adults is offering a new look at the relationship between alcohol and longevity, finding that the type of beverage consumed may be associated with different mortality risks at lower levels of drinking.

Researchers analyzed data from 340,924 people enrolled in the UK Biobank between 2006 and 2022 and followed them for an average of 13.4 years. During that period, 22,381 participants died, including 4,288 deaths from cardiovascular disease and 11,063 from cancer.

The research, led by investigators at the Second Xiangya Hospital of Central South University in China, found the clearest increase in risk among people who consumed high amounts of alcohol, regardless of the type of drink.

Compared with people who reported never drinking or drinking only occasionally, those classified as high-volume drinkers had a 24% higher risk of death from any cause. Their risk of dying from cancer was 36% higher, while cardiovascular mortality was 14% higher.

The researchers then looked more closely at the beverage itself.

At low to moderate consumption levels, wine was associated with lower mortality, while beer, cider and spirits were associated with higher mortality. The study found low and moderate wine consumption was associated with hazard ratios between 0.79 and 0.92 for mortality outcomes, while beer, cider and spirits showed higher risks across several outcomes.

One of the more notable findings involved cardiovascular disease. People classified as moderate wine drinkers had a 21% lower risk of cardiovascular death compared with those who never or occasionally consumed alcohol. By comparison, even low consumption of beer, cider or spirits was associated with a 9% higher risk of cardiovascular death.

The researchers said one possible explanation could involve compounds found in wine, including polyphenols and antioxidants, which may affect inflammation, blood vessels and cardiovascular health. But the study does not establish that those compounds are responsible for the difference.

And the researchers caution that the findings should not be interpreted as a recommendation to begin drinking.

“These results come from the general population, and in certain high-risk groups, such as people with chronic diseases or cardiovascular conditions, the risks could be even higher,” Zhangling Chen, the study’s senior author, said in a statement released by the American College of Cardiology.

Jessica Steinman, a Los Angeles addiction specialist who was not involved in the research, also told Fox News Digital that the results should not be turned into a broad recommendation for everyone.

“When we hear these stories or get this research, it becomes a ‘black and white’ larger generalization for the population, and we want to be careful with that,” Steinman said.

She specifically cautioned against interpreting the findings as evidence that people should add alcohol to their daily routine.

“Not everybody should have daily consumption of an alcoholic substance, whether it’s wine, beer or certain liquors,” Steinman said. She added that people struggling with substance use should not use the study as a reason to drink.

The study’s alcohol categories were based on grams of pure alcohol rather than simply the number of beverages. For context, the American College of Cardiology says a 12-ounce beer, a 5-ounce glass of wine and a 1.5-ounce shot of spirits each contain about 14 grams of pure alcohol.

Researchers classified men consuming more than 40 grams of alcohol per day and women consuming more than 20 grams per day as high consumers. Moderate consumption was defined as more than 20 to 40 grams per day for men and more than 10 to 20 grams for women.

The researchers also found that high consumption was not harmless for wine drinkers. High wine intake was associated with increased cancer mortality, underscoring the study’s broader finding that heavier alcohol use was linked with worse outcomes regardless of beverage type.

The research has important limitations.

It was an observational study, meaning researchers identified associations between drinking patterns and health outcomes but could not prove that a particular alcoholic beverage caused someone to live longer or die sooner. Participants also reported their alcohol consumption when they entered the study, so researchers could not fully account for changes in drinking habits over the following years.

The researchers also acknowledged that wine drinkers could differ from beer or spirits drinkers in other important ways, including diet and lifestyle. Those differences could contribute to the observed results.

The UK Biobank population itself also tends to be healthier than the broader population, which may make it difficult to apply the findings universally.

The findings were initially presented at the American College of Cardiology’s Annual Scientific Session in New Orleans and were subsequently published in the Nutrition Journal in July.

The bottom line from the research is not that wine is “healthy” or that beer and liquor are inherently dangerous. Rather, the study adds to evidence that the relationship between alcohol and health is complicated—and that higher alcohol consumption is consistently associated with greater mortality risk, while apparent differences among beverages at lower levels require further study.

The authors say randomized, high-quality studies are needed to determine whether the differences observed between wine, beer, cider and spirits reflect the beverages themselves or other characteristics of the people who consume them.