Teetotalers Should Start Drinking

Though study after study has shown the health benefits of light to moderate alcohol consumption, doctors have been unwilling to recommend that people who don't drink start. However, a new study clearly shows that teetotalers who aren't at risk for alcoholism, but who are at risk for heart disease, should head to the nearest liquor store at their earliest opportunity.

People who do not drink alcohol may finally have a reason to start -- a study published on Friday shows non-drinkers who begin taking the occasional tipple live longer and are less likely to develop heart disease.

People who started drinking in middle age were 38 percent less likely to have a heart attack or other serious heart event than abstainers -- even if they were overweight, had diabetes, high blood pressure or other heart risks, Dr. Dana King of the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston and colleagues Read more