The mechanism of the protective effect of alcohol consumption in men and women appears to depend on gender in the 50 – 65 age group. Risk modelling that fails to recognise this effect could be significantly inaccurate; leading to false, gender specific, associations between hazard and heart disease.
Evidence from:
J Tolstrup et al. BMJ (2006) Vol.332 p 1244-1248
“Prospective study of alcohol drinking patterns and coronary heart disease in women and men”
In terms of risk modelling, this paper shows that there are no simple ways of characterising the balance between adverse and beneficial effects of alcohol consumption.
Further detail: