To Your Health: Fourteen Drinks a Week Keeps the Doctor Away

People who consume an average of 14 drinks a week have a lower risk of premature death than those who avoid alcohol, according to a European study.

The study at the University of Southern Denmark in Copenhagen, Denmark, looked at moderate drinkers who consume 14 glasses of wine, beer or spirits a week. The study found this group is less likely than either people who don't drink or heavy drinkers to die of heart disease and other illnesses. The benefit increases with exercise. Drinkers who exercised were half as likely as nondrinkers to die of heart disease.

The study took place over a 20-year period among nearly 12,000 Danish men and women.