Teetotallers die sooner than heavy drinkers: Study

WASHINGTON - Want to live a few years longer? Well, then start drinking, for a new study suggests that non-drinkers die sooner than heavy drinkers. Moderate drinkers, however, fair the best.

The study took a look at 1,824 participants over 20 years, according to Time.com. Sixty-three percent of them were men, reports CBS News.

Scientists, led by psychologist Charles Holahan of the University of Texas at Austin, filtered out “socioeconomic status, level of physical activity, number of close friends, quality of social support,” according to the site, and still found that nondrinkers just don’t live as long as their drinking compatriots.

Over the 20-year period, 69 percent of the nondrinkers died, 60 percent of the heavy drinkers died and only 41 percent of the moderate drinkers died.

Moderate drinking, according to Time, was defined as one to three drinks per day.

The study appears in Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research. (ANI)