Men who consume moderate amounts of wine may enjoy a few extra years of life expectancy, according to a new study from the Netherlands.

Reuters reported March 1 that researchers studied 1,373 men born between 1900 and 1920, tracking their alcohol consumption through seven surveys beginning in 1960. The men were followed until they died or until 2000, when the study ended; in addition to drinking habits, the men were queried about their eating and smoking habits, weight, and prevalence of heart attack, stroke, diabetes, and cancer.

Martinette Streppel of Wageningen University and colleagues found that the men who consumed less than a glass a day of wine -- without being abstinent -- had lower rates of death from cardiovascular disease and other conditions. Moderate wine drinkers had an average life expectancy 3.8 years longer than abstainers.

Wine-drinking seemed to have more health benefits than drinking other types of alcohol, the researchers noted; the wine drinkers lived an average of two years longer than drinkers of beer or liquor, the study found.

"The main message is that if you already consume alcoholic beverages, do so moderately -- one or two glasses per day maximum," said Streppel. "And if you have to choose a certain beverage, then at least drink wine, because it has an additional beneficial effect above just the effect of alcohol itself."

The research was presented at a recent American Heart Association conference in Orlando.