Chronic and excessive smoking or drinking by themselves are bad enough. Doing both in combination is a sure way to decrease your lifespan. Red meats too, have been implicated as being unhealthy if used in dietary excess. And no doctor I know would ever tell someone to drink hard alcoholic drinks; I think you probably misinterpreted what he said. I suspect that what the doctor meant was that one or two drinks (like red wine) at dinner is not harmful. I don t think that he meant you should select one type of booze over another, they re all harmful when taken in excess. If she has high blood pressure, she should see a medical doctor, not a doctor of dentistry. It sounds like you really care about your mom (which is laudable). I wish you the best, but sometimes getting people to change their habits is really difficult. You have your job cut out for you. Good Luck. Ralph