(WineSpectator) - Q: Conditions like heart disease and diabetes, which might benefit from moderate wine consumption, affect different ethnic groups in different ways. Are the ways in which wine might benefit African-Americans different as well?

A: Your question brings up a widely known issue in medical science overall, not just on dietary topics: Not enough research has looked specifically at African-Americans and other racial and ethnic groups. While numerous studies have linked moderate wine consumption (as part of a healthy diet) to a variety of health benefits for adults, you are astute to note that alcohol can have a varied effect on different races, ethnicities and genders. For instance, many Asians lack an enzyme necessary to break down a byproduct of alcohol, while women face different risks (such as breast cancer) and benefits (lower rates of osteoporosis) than men.

In a study published in the July 2015 issue of the American Journal of Public Health, Dr. Chandra Jackson and her team at Harvard University's Clinical and Translational Science Center examined the differences between how the self-reported drinking habits of blacks and whites correlated with overall mortality rates. Their study looked at a sampling of 152,180 adult participants (25,811 of them black) in the National Health Interview Survey, with 13,366 deaths occurring over a nine-year period. The researchers adjusted for factors such as physical activity, smoking and socioeconomic status.

For the white men and women, the lowest mortality rates were seen among those who consumed one to two drinks per day, three to seven days per week—consistent with findings in previous studies. For black women, the group that fared the best consumed one to two drinks per day, on only one or two days per week. Black men were the anomaly: Those who abstained from alcohol altogether had a lower mortality rate than light and moderate drinkers, whose risk was "significantly higher" than their white male counterparts.

The researchers noted that the black men's results may be influenced by a genetic difference in their alcohol-metabolism rate, which might reduce cardiovascular benefits; a higher rate of health conditions exacerbated by drinking...