Would I be healthier if I hadn't stopped drinking?

A few years ago, I went on a health kick that included losing weight, getting regular exercise and stopping drinking. As I approached age 60, I thought all this would help me live longer and with a better quality of life. For the most part, I feel much healthier.

That is until I read a New York Times story the other day. It says that people over 60 who consume moderate amounts of alcohol have a reduced risk for Alzheimer's disease and other dementias.

So I may feel better because I don't drink, but I won't know it because I won't even know who I am. Now this could drive me back to drinking.

OK, so moderate drinking is what researchers are talking about. Does that mean one drink a night, which is seven drinks a week? No. . . it could be as many as 28 drinks a week. That means four drinks a night, every night -- seven days a week. Who are these people studying? People entering the Betty Ford Clinic?

In my day, we'd call 28 drinks a week alcoholism, not moderate drinking.

But back to the study. . . Compared with abstainers, reserachers found that male drinkers reduced their risk for dementia by 45% and women by 27%. No word on the impact of the drinking on their bodies. I'm betting they had their share of liver problems and were on a first-name basis with the cops at DUI checkpoints.

And according to my unofficial study, these moderate drinkers went through life looped on four drinks a day. Who cares if they could recognize their granchildren?