Just one alcoholic drink a day could shorten your life, study saysHaving as little as one alcoholic drink a day could shorten your life, according to a major new study. An analysis of 600,000 drinkers found that drinking five to 10 alcoholic drinks a week was likely to shorten a person's life by up to six months. This increases with higher alcohol consumption, with those who have 18 drinks or more losing up to five years of life. Another Danish study found drinking three to four times a week was linked to a lower risk of type 2 diabetes. "Although non-fatal heart attacks are less likely in people who drink, this benefit is swamped by the increased risk of other forms of heart disease including fatal heart attacks and stroke."