Research obtained by Danish experts suggests that casual drinkers are less likely to develop type 2 diabetes, compared to those who never drink.
The figures were gathered through a study, published in Diabetologia, that suggested people who drink three to four times a week have a reduced risk of developing the disease.
However, experts have reiterated that this information isn't a 'green light' to drink excessively.
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To gather data, Diabetologia surveyed over 70,000 people on their alcohol intake, including how much and how often they consumed alcohol.
Moderate drinking (drinks on three to four days per week) was associated with a reduced diabetes risk of 20 percent in men and 32 percent in women, compared with staying away from alcohol entirely.
Prof Janne Tolstrup, from the National Institute of Public Health of the University of Southern Denmark, leading the research, said: "We found that drinking frequency has an independent effect from the amount of alcohol taken.
"We can see it's a better effect to drink the alcohol in four portions rather than all at once."
In addition, the results also suggested that not all types of alcohol had the same effect.
According to the data obtained by the study, drinking beer seemed to affect men and women in different ways.
Men who drank between one and six glasses of beer per week saw their chances of getting diabetes lowered by 21 percent, compared with men who drank less than one a week. There was no impact on women's risk.
For both men and women, seven glasses of wine a week drove the risk of diabetes down by 25 percent to 30 percent, when compared with having less than one glass.
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Dr Emily Burns, the head of research communications at Diabetes UK, said: "While these findings are interesting, we wouldn't recommend people see them as a green light to drink in excess of the existing NHS guidelines, especially as the impact of regular alcohol consumption on the risk of type 2 will be different from one person to the next."
Dr Burns added that while the findings were definitely interesting, she "wouldn't recommend people see them as a green light to drink in excess of the existing NHS guidelines".
The advice concerning alcohol consumption, as laid out by the NHS, suggests that neither men nor women should exceed 14 units of alcohol a week - which is equivalent to six pints of average strength beer or 10 small glasses of wine - over the course of a week and that some days should be completely alcohol-free.
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Source: BBC News
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