Forget red wine: Science finally has some good news for booze drinkers.

In a new study, the European Heart Journal found that “despite the dangers of heavy drinking, modest alcohol consumption in early-middle age may be associated with a lower risk for heart failure.”

The study followed 14,629 people for 24 years to track the effects of alcohol on risk of heart failure. The average age at the start of the study was 54. Of this group, women who drank one alcoholic beverage per day and men who drank one to two per day—including beer, wine or even a cocktail—were at less of a risk for heart failure compared with those who did not drink alcohol or those who drank in excess.

The study did not actually find a correlation between heart failure and excessive drinking, merely between excessive drinking and an earlier death in general. It looks like one cocktail a day is the magic number.

Read more about this study at The New York Times.