It's been long known that moderate drinking of alcohol (from a few a month, to 2 or 3 a day) can reduce risk of cardiac related diseases. It forms a U-shaped curve in terms of frequency of alcohol consumption versus cardiac complications. Most significant of all is the effects of red wine due to all the tannins, flavanoids, and other things that are in the wine because of the grape. But, beer comes in second and spirits fall into last place in "helpfulness". The antioxidant properties act to combat and even reduce arterial plaque build-up
Of course, alcohol consumption should only be suggested if there is no prior history of abuse in the person or their family.
It's not like I needed another excuse to drink wine with dinner
(I just wrote a research paper on all this, so it's kinda fresh in my mind)