Having a tipple or two at the wonderful Winderlust wine events in Malaga.
Credit: Winderlust FB
In what might be the most enviable clinical trial since someone first tested chocolate for health benefits, researchers at Spain’s University of Navarra are recruiting 10,000 middle-aged and older adults who already enjoy a tipple or three per week. The goal? To finally settle whether moderate alcohol consumption, in true Mediterranean style, is as harmless (or perhaps even beneficial) as total abstinence when it comes to heart disease, cancer, dementia, and other major health risks.
Biggest ever health experiment on whether booze is good for you
The study, dubbed UNATI (University of Navarra Alumni Trialist Initiative), is billed as the largest randomised trial ever on moderate alcohol drinking. Led by Professor Miguel Ángel Martínez-González, a renowned expert on the Mediterranean diet and adjunct professor of nutrition at Harvard, the four-year project is funded by a €2.4 million grant from the European Research Council. Importantly, it’s entirely independent of the alcohol industry, ensuring no one can accuse the results of being influenced by Big Wine.
Participants will be randomly assigned to one of two groups: one encouraged to maintain their moderate drinking habits alongside healthy Mediterranean eating, the other advised to cut back or quit alcohol altogether. Both groups get the same perks – personalised health coaching, quarterly online group sessions (for swapping recipes and tips, presumably), annual medical reviews, and free professional advice on diet, weight, exercise, and mental well-being. There’s even a sub-study in Soria focusing on alcohol’s effects on sleep quality, with in-person elements for some lucky volunteers.
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Do you fit the criteria for wine sipping experiment?
Eligibility is straightforward but strict: men aged 50-70 or women aged 55-75, living in Spain, who currently consume at least three (but no more than 40) alcoholic drinks per week. Teetotallers need not apply – this isn’t a study for converting abstainers.
“We want to make history, but we need help,” says researcher Patricia Romero Marco with evident enthusiasm. As of mid-2025, around 6,500 to 7,000 volunteers had signed up, with recruitment ongoing through the project’s website. Professor Martínez-González notes the trial’s innovative design minimises burden on doctors while using new tech for efficient follow-up.
The debate over alcohol’s health effects has raged for years, with some studies (like the famous PREDIMED trials on the Mediterranean diet’s benefits, also involving Martínez-González) suggesting moderate wine intake offers cardiovascular perks, while others warn there’s no safe level. UNATI hopes to provide the gold-standard evidence: a head-to-head comparison in a real-world setting.
Critics might raise an eyebrow at studying whether drinking could be “non-inferior” to sobriety, but the researchers insist rigorous, unbiased data is long overdue. After all, public health advice shouldn’t be based on conflicting headlines.
If you’re in the target demographic and fancy contributing to science while getting VIP health support, head to inscripcion.proyectounati.com to sign up. Who knows – your moderate merlot habit might just help rewrite the guidelines. Cheers to that (in moderation, of course).
Photo credit: The wonderful Winederlust, Malaga, by Linda McIntosh.
Oh, you wanted to know how to sign up? Well, OK then. Here.
Dining and Cooking