Many studies have concluded that moderate drinking could help us live longer and healthier, but a closer look at the research reveals bad science and faulty logic.

Tim Stockwell, director of the University of Victoria’s centre for addictions research in Canada, has taken a closer look at 87 studies that concluded moderate drinking was good for us.

The benefits of drinking were seen when compared to the health of abstainers—but the researchers didn’t look too closely at the abstainers, and why they stopped drinking in the first place. Many gave up because they were already suffering poor health, Stockwell found.

Only 13 studies didn’t compare moderate drinking to abstaining, and these couldn’t see any health benefits to alcohol.