One preconceived notion is: drinking alcohol is harmful to the body. This is partly true. 

My researched conclusion is this. Drinking alcohol is harmful to the body, but only in large & excessive proportions.

In fact, despite popular belief, moderate drinking ( without getting Drunk ) of good & fine alcohol, a few times in a week along with nutritious food, is beneficial & good for the general health & longevity

Here are the 7 alcoholic drinks that are secretly keeping you healthy & going strong.

Beer: The most common alcoholic drink, beer is loaded with antioxidants called phenols. This protects you from heart diseases as it is good for blood circulation. Beer ( when consumed not more than a few bottles or cans ) also lowers the risk of high blood pressure and helps in maintaining it.

Red Wine: Apart from being a truly classy drink and having the same benefits of beer, the additional brownie points of red wine is that it helps in increasing one’s life span by generating longevity genes. It also increases good cholesterol and reduces bad cholesterol in the body.

Vodka: Vodka ( in moderate quantity) helps in clearing bad breath as the high alcohol content kills all bad odour bacteria present. It also helps to reduce stress and disinfect wound externally. It improves the health of the skin and stimulates hair growth on the scalp. Toothache is also another issue in which Vodka can give relief.

Whisky: Whisky helps to numb throat pain when it is gargled in a mixture with warm water. It stimulates weight loss. Whisky also helps in preventing dementia. Other benefits of this drink that it inhibits. and prevents diabetes and many types of cancer. It also helps to keep the heart healthy, increases the level of good cholesterol and terminates blood clots. Whiskey is believed to be one of the healthiest drinks ( when consumed in moderation ) amongst all the alcoholic drinks.

Tonic: The combination of gin and tonic is very useful while treating the malarial infection as it contains hydroxy chloroquine; which is used for the treatment of malaria & nowadays, Covid -19 

Brandy: Brandy is one alcoholic drink which is full of healthy antioxidants. It has anti-aging properties; hence is very good for the skin. Brandy also reduces the level of bad cholesterol in the body. It also helps in the treatment of bladder and ovarian cancer as well as sore throats and cough.

Rum: Rum increases life expectancy / longevity. It is a very beneficial drink for the heart. It also functions as a blood thinner and helps in increasing the level of good cholesterol. Having this wonderful drink occasionally also guards you against osteoporosis and common cold / flu viruses. 

(Writer Dr. Sushma Jaiswal is M.Sc - Dietician / Nutritionist, B.Sc Home Science)