Interestingly, one of the events that established Wesleyan as an early adaptor of scientific research among New England small colleges, going back to the late 19th and early 20th centuries, was Prof. Wilbur Atwater’s invention of the first calorimeter, the central application for which was to prove that alcohol produced calories and could therefore be considered a “food”. It was a pretty scandalous situation for a pillar of the Methodist Church:
Atwater-Rosa calorimeter | science | Britannica
Chapter II. The Atwater-Rosa Respiration Calorimeter (chestofbooks.com)
Atwater system - Wikipedia
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I think a bunch of guys in their 80s who are spending all day running after goats in the mountains can probably get away with eating and drinking whatever they want; the rest of us won’t have the same results 
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Ya you can’t see fatty liver disease.
That makes alcohol sound much worse.
Whatever. Everything we do has risks: driving cars, eating nearly anything delicious, breathing polluted air. Every person has to decide for themselves which risks are worth it to them and which are not— no point in living life if you’re not enjoying it.
Personally I choose to eat a very healthy diet, exercise vigorously every day, and drink wine or cocktails every evening. I no longer do any adrenaline junkie sports/activities. Stress is probably my biggest health risk these days. College apps do not help with this, but glass of Cabernet definitely does. Age 50F, BMI 20.
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I’d have to guess that it’s less the red wine killing us and more the french fries and Big Gulps…but what do I know? 
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Also appreciate these articles though I have a subscription myself - especially the health based ones. Always hope that we get a nice “discussion” out of the posting - not just a “diss”. 
Research serves the purpose of giving food for thought. Some people will do a drive by the info, some will read it and take something out of it. Many factors affect research and the subjects who are part of the study. It’s rarely meant to include “everybody” and be the word for everyone to follow.
This article will help someone or give someone some needed food for thought.
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Perhaps, but what’s interesting to me is the choice of alcohol here, given that creating societal disapproval is influential on peoples’ collective decisions. For example, rates of smoking have declined very significantly over the last few decades, as it’s become less acceptable (and in many cases illegal) to smoke in public. On the other hand, rates of obesity have increased hugely, at least partly because “fat shaming” is no longer a social norm.
So why target alcohol? Perhaps this article is just intended to be clickbait, but would the NYT now print a similar article saying how “any amount of pot” is bad for you? What about “any amount of being overweight is detrimental” or “any shortfall in daily exercise is detrimental”? Which “bad” things should be subject to societal disapproval and which get a free pass?
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Nope. Currently the legalization of recreational marijuana is seen as a progressive move.
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good questions! Alcohol consumption is definitely viewed differently around the country and world. I live in a wine-producing region. The only people I know who do not drink regularly are either Mormon or they have a condition that prevents them from metabolizing alcohol. Drinking is very much part of the social scene here. That said, all these same folks eat healthy diets and exercise regularly. That is also part of the social scene here.
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FIL is currently 94 years old and never tasted a drop of alcohol unless it was when he was very young and “testing” things as teens do. If so, he doesn’t share stories about that even though he does about other things.
Yet he eats at Hardees several mornings per week getting a sausage and egg biscuit every time. He eats few veggies, and those he does eat he cooks to death first. He’s asked his doctor what he should be eating and the doc replied, “At your age, whatever you want,” so he does.
What he’s done for eons has been being naturally active (never in a gym or using machines). Even at 94 he still hunts and fishes (got a deer this year - several fish many times).
He’s one data point, of course, but I’m less convinced diet matters as much as being active does. I’ve seen too many with “terrific” diets get cancer younger than they should have, including those who are slim and trim. For a lot of that, I think it’s luck of the draw.
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“Slim and trim” and BMI aren’t nearly close to a proper picture of one’s health. We know this right? Diet matters, exercise matters, genetics matter.
Fat can accumulate around your organs, like “fatty liver disease,” and one would never know, unless…you get a DEXA scan, which will inform you of one’s visceral fat % and bone density.
And of course, genetics plays an important role in one’s health, but if we all had perfect genetics, then we’d all live to 100+, disease-less, squatting at least your bodyweight and running 8-minute miles. 
Medical research gives us information. One can do with it what they want. No one is taking away alcohol. Drink, if that makes you happy or happier. But there MAY be health consequences down the line. You’ve been warned. 
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Am I correct in thinking that you are saying that “fat shaming” as a social norm has ever helped in reducing rates of obesity? If so, that is empirically not true. In fact, the opposite is true.
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Thirty years ago, when I first met H he was slim, 5’9, 130lb, active, didn’t drink - zero consumption! At our wedding three years later, he was still active, still the same height and weight. Five years after we married, at the age of 39, he had his first heart attack, three years later at 42, he had a second heart attack that landed him in ICU for a week and three stents. At 48 he had a third heart attack and at 55 a 4th. Today, at 63, he has 11 stents and diabetes, and weighs 140lb.
He still doesn’t drink much, although his cardiologist strongly advises a glass of red wine every day, which my H takes occasionally. For H, I wish he might have taken this advise more seriously, but he didn’t - so, I do! So far, my cholesterol is good and arteries are squeaky clean for an old broad! A glass a day keep the doctor away 
Na Zdrowie. Prost. Cheers…I’ll drink to that!
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A quick look at the NY Times website found this:
I think this criticism of the Times is unfair.
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Thank you. I don’t have an unlimited number of them but I like to post them where I can.
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A DEXA scan can tell you the percentage of visceral fat within the abdomen, but not around each organ. A CT scan would be needed for that.
Can one have low visceral fat % as measured by a DEXA scan, but also have a greater amount or unhealthy amount of visceral fat around their organs?
Or asked another way, would low visceral fat as measured by a DEXA scan be a reliable indicator of whether one has too much or an unhealthy amount of visceral fat around their organs?
It does, but stats don’t apply to the individual. They never have.
My mom has 5 siblings, all but the two smokers are obese. My mom was the only one who biked (in a bike club), cross country skied, ran the local badminton club, hiked, and other such things. Her diet wasn’t great, but matched or was better than her siblings (all of them). A couple brothers drank a lot of alcohol as well - regulars at the bar. All had some, but the others not nearly so much.
Wanna guess who died of cancer? The rest are still alive.
My sibling and I have vastly different diets and exercise and have since our youth when she loved TV and I loved the great outdoors. College is when I changed my diet for the better. She still hasn’t. Veggies are yucky in her words. Give her a pound of meat and a soda. She’ll literally order Beef and Broccoli without the broccoli at a Chinese restaurant. For years she mainly existed on Mt Dew.
Wanna guess which one of us has dealt with a brain tumor?
It’s luck of the draw as far as most of us are concerned with many things including many cancers.
Other things, not so much (Type II diabetes, etc).
We want answers sometimes so we can think we’re protecting ourselves. In reality we all just have to pick our lives. I happen to like healthier foods and doing things, but I’m not convinced they’ve given me much of a bonus other than avoiding Type II diabetes - so far.
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Of course less visceral fat is better, but my point was that a DEXA scan alone cannot tell somebody if they have a fatty liver.