While I'm not willing to track down specific journals now to source this answer, but I can tell you that I've researched this question extensively on Google Scholar to find out the same thing.

To sum up my research - the answer remains somewhat inconclusive, as is the case with many questions in diet science.

The problem is that researchers can't easily isolate the effects of alcohol from other lifestyle choices, which are many and varied. For instance: sure you can find 1000 people who drink once per day, but the other food/drink they consume, their age, gender, genetics, level of exercise, job etc etc etc all vary wildly.

What this means is that it's impossible to give a definitive answer using scientific research.

But I can tell you this

Alcohol is a toxin, it's not meant to be consumed by humans, and in fact we have physiological mechanisms (read: our liver) to deal with such toxins entering our body.

On the plus side, if you only have one drink per day and don't mix it with other medications that cause liver damage, for the most part you should be fine. The body was built with an ability to metabolize and excrete such substances fairly tidily.

But make no mistake, alcohol is a toxin and there is no conclusive evidence that it confers any type of long-term health benefit, and I may even go as far as saying that 1 drink/day would be harmful to longevity. I say this simply because the body was built to treat it like a toxin, and not a nutrient. By definition a toxin can only harm us.

In all likelihood complete abstinence is the healthiest option. You'll get by, and still live a long life if you drink regularly, but in theory there should be a physiological cost. The question for anyone is whether the benefit of drinking is worth that cost.

While I'm not willing to track down specific journals now to source this answer, I can tell you that I've researched this question extensively on Google Scholar to find out the same thing.

To sum up my research - the answer remains somewhat inconclusive, as is the case with many questions in diet science.

The problem is that researchers can't easily isolate the effects of alcohol from other lifestyle choices, which are many and varied. For instance: sure you can find 1000 people who drink once per day, but the other food/drink they consume, their age, gender, genetics, level of exercise, job etc etc etc all vary wildly.

What this means is that it's impossible to give a definitive answer using scientific research.

But I can tell you this

Alcohol is a toxin, it's not meant to be consumed by humans, and in fact we have physiological mechanisms (read: our liver) to deal with such toxins entering our body.

On the plus side, if you only have one drink per day and don't mix it with other medications that cause liver damage, for the most part you should be fine. The body was built with an ability to metabolize and excrete such substances fairly tidily.

But make no mistake, alcohol is a toxin and there is no conclusive evidence that it confers any type of long-term health benefit, and I may even go as far as saying that 1 drink/day would be harmful to longevity. I say this simply because the body was built to treat it like a toxin, and not a nutrient. By definition a toxin can only harm us.

In all likelihood complete abstinence is the healthiest option. You'll get by, and still live a long life if you drink regularly, but in theory there should be a physiological cost. The question for anyone is whether the benefit of drinking is worth that cost.