But was the alcohol itself providing the benefits, or is it just a marker for other healthy behaviours? Are people who drink in moderation also the kind of people who exercise regularly, eat a balanced diet, and generally look after themselves?

In 2005, yet another study in medical professionals – this time 32,000 women and 18,000 men – attempted to answer this question by looking at how their drinking habits affected not only their risk of heart attack, but also their physiology.

The people who drank one to two glasses of alcohol, three to four times a week, had a lower risk of heart attack, which the researchers hypothesised could be due to beneficial effects of alcohol on HDL cholesterol – the so-called ‘good’ cholesterol – as well as haemoglobin A1c (a marker of diabetes risk) and fibrinogen, an agent that helps the blood to clot. These three factors all play an important role in ‘metabolic syndrome’; the cluster of abnormalities that often heralds cardiovascular disease and diabetes. Other studies have found hints that alcohol might alter the balance of these factors for the better, which pointed to a possible mechanism by which alcohol in moderation could improve health.

Other studies have replicated this sweet-spot effect of alcohol for ischaemic stroke (strokes caused by a blood clot in the brain) and death in general. But before you dive out and prescribe yourself a couple of bottles a week – for your health, of course – you might want to read on.