The men who averaged two drinks or more a day had the highest death rate, because of an increase in deaths from cancer, primarily lung cancer. Since the study lumped together moderate and excessive drinkers in this highest, open-ended category, it couldn't determine the risks faced by men who consumed only two drinks a day, nor could it define where the real danger begins. And the results can't be generalized to women. In general, there are problems with how drinking levels and patterns are categorized in virtually all the studies. And for various reasons, people may not report their alcohol intake accurately.
Alcohol affects men and women differently.
A woman will get more intoxicated than a man from the same amount of alcohol. Women tend to be smaller than men, and their bodies have proportionately more fatty tissue and less water than men's. Since alcohol is distributed through body water and is more soluble in water than in fat, the blood alcohol concentration from a given intake will be less for a man. Moreover, the stomach enzyme that breaks down alcohol before it reaches the bloodstream is less active in women than in men. Thus excessive drinking tends to have more serious long-term consequences for women.