From the New York Times, I'm Natalie Kitroef, and this is the Daily.

Midway through one of the boosiest holiday weekends of the year, we re-examine our love-hate relationship with alcohol.

Today, my colleague Susan Dominus on how bad or not drinking is for you. It's Friday, July 5th.

So you and I are both here to discuss our relationship to alcohol, a topic that I think endlessly fascinates us because for the past several decades we've gotten conflicting guidance on the benefits

and risks of drinking. And you, Sue, you decided to finally get to the bottom of it. Thank you.

Well, I tried.

I mean, I think a lot of people do have a lot of confusion.

I know that I feel that way.

My friends and I are talking about it all the time and I was very happy to have

the opportunity to actually look at it journalistically. I'm curious what it was

that that made you head down this journalistic path?

You know, about a year ago, I have a dear friend and I kept saying to her,

hey, let's, you know, get together for a drink,

how's next Tuesday, and she was like a little bit of these him.

And finally, we ended up going for a walk,

at which point it became clear that she was not avoiding me,

but she was avoiding going for a drink.

And she was somebody who didn't drink a ton.

She was like a once a, you know, maybe a drink with dinner every night person.

And she was trying to go to zero.

She was doing this because she had been hearing reports on podcasts, headlines, that alcohol

was much more dangerous than previously understood, and she just kind of got freaked

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