(Patch) - Drinking reasonable amounts of red wine and other alcohol for the health benefits has long been touted by wine aficionados and casual drinkers alike. But the widely reported and beloved tidbit of conventional pop science wisdom — moderate drinking is good for your health! — has always been less reliable than the rhetoric might have indicated, and new research is casting more doubt on the finding.

A team led by Tim Stockwell, the director of the Centre for Addictions Research at the University of Victoria in Canada, examined 45 studies of drinking behavior and health outcomes and found little evidence of a causal benefit from drinking moderate amounts of alcohol. The meta-analysis was published this month in the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs.