You might be over-estimating how much alcohol the average French person drinks, or under-estimating the harm that results tot he regular drinkers.<p>&quot;a glass or two of wine with your meal&quot; &quot;every day&quot; is unequivocally harmful. It&#x27;s a dangerous, pernicious myth (mostly promoted by alcohol companies) that daily alcohol is some how healthy.<p>A small number of French people drink very heavily.  A bit less than 20% of the French population drinks wine daily.  This contributes to the 49,000 or so who die of alcohol related disease each year.