One minute you’re feeling festive and the next you’re wishing you’d had one less drink. This spring, a pair of studies sent equally mixed signals about long-term alcohol consumption that might baffle even the most sober teetotaler.

A survey of more than 1 million middle-aged British women linked low to moderate alcohol intake with an increased risk of certain cancers, researchers reported in the March Journal of the National Cancer Institute (JNCI). In the same month, a study in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society (JAGS) upheld the oft-quoted result that one alcoholic drink a day actually reduces the risk of death among people over 55.

Read the rest of this news story on CR Magazine’s website [html], or see the 2-page spread as it appeared in the print magazine here: [pdf].