For a long time I wasn't a drinker. Yeah, I was that guy. Cookout, bar, watching the game, I just didn't drink. And then I moved to New York.

New York does something to you; it makes you drink. When your landlord won't fix your leaky ceiling, you can never find anywhere to sit on the train and MetroCard prizes are steadily rising, you drink. But now we know it's to make you a healthier person.

According to a study from the American Society of Human Genetics, drinking one to two alcoholic beverages a day isn't a bad thing, in fact it's a good thing. Researchers from the University of Iowa delved into some old data and found that DNA was better at finding out how much people drank than asking. From that conclusion, they used DNA to assess how old the person's biological age was (how many years their body reflected) as opposed to their chronological age. It was here that they found those who drank one or two drinks per day were in much better shape. Plain and simple, you'll just age better than if you didn't drink at all.

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Sure, heading out to a kegger every night will make your body age at a rapid rate, but if you're keeping it conservative, your body is going to reap the health benefits. So go for it, grab that IPA you have waiting in the fridge, your body deserves it. And if you aren't satiated, don't feel bad about going back for seconds.

Photos by Flickr/WagnerTC