The National Institutes of Health has ordered a halt to a $100 million, 10-year study of moderate drinking that is being funded in large part by the alcoholic-beverage industry.

Thursday’s announcement by NIH director Francis Collins reflects the seriousness of allegations that surfaced in news reports in recent months, including a story in March in The New York Times that described two scientists and a federal health official pitching the idea for the study to liquor company executives at a 2014 gathering.

The alcohol industry agreed to fund the research via a private foundation that supports NIH. The goal of the study is to assess whether moderate drinking — a single drink a day — has a health benefit.

The Moderate Alcohol and Cardiovascular (MACH) trial is based at Harvard’s Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, a grantee of the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism.

washington post