(dailyRx News) Moderate drinking can have positive health benefits, but if you're a senior in good health, light to moderate alcohol consumption may also help prevent the development of physical disability.

That's the conclusion of a new UCLA study, available in the online edition of the American Journal of Epidemiology. The study found that light to moderate drinking among these seniors reduced their odds of developing physical problems that would prevent them from performing common tasks, such as walking, dressing and grooming.

"If you start out in good health, alcohol consumption at light to moderate levels can be beneficial," said lead study author Dr. Arun Karlamangla, an associate professor of medicine in the division of geriatrics at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. "But if you don't start out healthy, alcohol will not give you a benefit."

The researchers based their study on data from three waves of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey's Epidemiologic Follow-up Study (1982