Study: Moderate drinkers live longer

LONDON, Nov. 25 (UPI) -- A British survey finds that retirees who have a few drinks a week tend to live longer than abstainers.

The study was based on a sample of 2,000 people 65 and older who took a household survey in 1994, The Daily Telegraph reported. The Office of National Statistics tracked them for a decade.

Researchers found that 59 percent of men who died during the period of the survey were non-drinkers along with 55 percent of the women.

Dr. Alan Maryon-Davis, president of the U.K. Faculty of Public Health, said the study did not show cause and effect. He said at least some of the non-drinkers might have stopped because of health problems or because previous heavy drinking had damaged their livers.

But he said the study at least suggests moderate drinking won't hurt.

The survey found smoking is the biggest factor in early death. Researchers said renters are also likely to die earlier than those who own their own homes and that widowers were more likely to die than men who were married, divorced or lifelong bachelors.