&gt;<i>You might be over-estimating how much alcohol the average French person drinks, or under-estimating the harm that results tot he regular drinkers.</i><p>Well, I know how much people back in my village drink, and I probably underestimate it. As for effects, they merely live to 80-90 and still manage to work on the fields and such.<p>&gt;<i>&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.</i><p>Actually daily alcohol has been the norm for very long living populations, including this famed one, which I&#x27;ve met and seen personally:<p><a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.npr.org&#x2F;templates&#x2F;story&#x2F;story.php?storyId=103744881" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.npr.org&#x2F;templates&#x2F;story&#x2F;story.php?storyId=1037448...</a><p><a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;processedfreeamerica.org&#x2F;resources&#x2F;health-news&#x2F;817-the-island-of-icaria-dietary-lessons-from-the-longest-lived-people" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;processedfreeamerica.org&#x2F;resources&#x2F;health-news&#x2F;817-th...</a><p>Where: &quot;the Icarian diet includes a little wine at every meal, even breakfast? They usually drink between two and four glasses of wine per day.&quot;<p>And counter to your claims, the science seems to support it, e.g:<p><a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.telegraph.co.uk&#x2F;news&#x2F;health&#x2F;11066516&#x2F;Glass-of-wine-with-dinner-helps-you-live-longer-scientists-claim.html" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.telegraph.co.uk&#x2F;news&#x2F;health&#x2F;11066516&#x2F;Glass-of-win...</a><p><a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.endocrineweb.com&#x2F;news&#x2F;diabetes&#x2F;17936-red-wine-dinner-new-study-says-yes-you-can" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.endocrineweb.com&#x2F;news&#x2F;diabetes&#x2F;17936-red-wine-din...</a><p><a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.reuters.com&#x2F;article&#x2F;us-health-heart-wine-idUSKCN0S628R20151012" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.reuters.com&#x2F;article&#x2F;us-health-heart-wine-idUSKCN0...</a><p>&gt;<i>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.</i><p>While that&#x27;s true, that has to do more with the economy and modern trends (sodas etc). Historically it has been a much different picture:<p>&quot;<i>France&#x27;s average wine consumption fall from 160 litres per adult, per year in 1965 to 57 litres in 2010, roughly the equivalent of a drop from three glasses to one glass per person, per day</i>&quot;<p>A lot of the fear about alcohol in the US comes from the fact that people are not properly taught to handle it (as something you drink with company, accompanying a meal, enjoying slowly etc), and use it in moderation from a young age (heck, the drinking age is 21 years olds), and instead use it in excess as some kind of recreation&#x2F;pain killer&#x2F;etc combo. Very few people at 19-21 in Europe (and especially regions like Spain, France, Italy, etc) would ever do the kind of BS stunts an American college student would do with beer and alcohol. (Though protestant and Northern countries tend to fare worse in this cultural aspect).<p>To quote:<p>&quot;<i>Comparing patterns of alcohol consumption between the United States and the majority of European countries, for example, reveals an interesting trend. In the U.S., the nation with one of the highest binge drinking rates worldwide, people tend to abuse alcohol. In Europe, by contrast, more people enjoy drinking alcohol without binge drinking because leisurely drinking is an important part of social interaction.</i>&quot;<p><a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;mic.com&#x2F;articles&#x2F;57211&#x2F;can-you-guess-where-in-the-world-people-are-binge-drinking-the-most#.ezL0xp052" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;mic.com&#x2F;articles&#x2F;57211&#x2F;can-you-guess-where-in-the-wor...</a>