A drink a day for people over 55 substantially reduces the risk of premature death, according to a study published in the March issue of The Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.

Driving under the influence is dumb no matter how old you are, but new research suggests that older adults may be especially clueless when it comes to the consequences of a couple of glasses.

Results from a recent University of Florida College of Medicine study reminded us of a wonderful quote from Thomas Jefferson.

First, the findings. Reviewing 100 studies that looked at the effect of alcohol taxes on consumption of booze, Alexander C. Wagenaar, PhD, professor of epidemiology and health policy research, discovered a clear but unsurprising association. “When prices go down, people drink more,” he succintly explained, “and when prices go up, people drink less.”

In a commentary published along with the research findings in the journal Addiction, Frank Chaloupka, PhD, a professor of economics at the University of Illinois at Chicago, wrote: “these findings provide a strong rationale for increases in alcoholic beverage tax as a way to promote public health by reducing drinking”.

Here’s where Mr. Jefferson comes in.

“I have enjoyed great health at a great age because every day since I can remember I have consumed a bottle of wine except when I have not felt well,” a bishop of Seville once said. “Then I have consumed two bottles.” That may be more than anyone would recommend these days. But over the past two decades, the evidence that wine protects the heart has grown indisputable. Now a research team from Europe uncorks a surprising new explanation.

“To take wine into your mouth,” the American writer Clifton Fadiman once observed, “is to savor a droplet of the river of human history.” Hundreds of research studies offer evidence that wine, and perhaps all alcoholic beverages, offer powerful health benefits. But if a little is good, too much can be deadly. PDQhealth explores the delicate balance.