It's hard to control for population effects for sure, but I don't think anyone has successfully done the control you stated. There are a ton of studies finding

It's hard to control for population effects for sure, but I don't think anyone has successfully done the control you stated. There are a ton of studies finding varying effects like improving "good" cholesterol, and reducing chance of coronary heart disease. But it's also been speculated to have hormetic effects, so just tossing it in there as a plausible. It wouldn't be surprising given how the vegetable thing might work. Given alcohol crosses cultural and religious lines too, that also makes it harder to find unbiased analyses. My personal rate of consumption is 125ml of red wine per day. That's just about in the sweet spot if there is one for beneficial effects. Also one of the better forms of alcohol for them. At any rate it's unlikely to do significant harm and is fun to consume. I'd like to note I have family members over 100 who drank red wine every day, and it might also be part of the "french paradox"