Dr Stockwell rejects Dr Harding’s criticism of his study, telling The Telegraph that Dr Harding “doesn’t appear to have read it” and accusing him of being in the pocket of the alcohol industry.

“We identified six high-quality studies out of 107 and they didn’t find any J-shaped curve,” Dr Stockwell said. “In fact, since our recent paper, we’ve now got genetic studies which are showing there’s no benefits of low-level alcohol use.

“I personally think there might still be small benefits, but the point of our work is that, if there are benefits, they’ve been exaggerating them.”

Taking aim at Dr Harding, he accused him of being an “industry-funded person” who has “made a living from putting a good spin on the relationship between alcohol and health”. Dr Harding denied being “funded by anyone”. Dr Stockwell in turn brushed off the claim that he himself is compromised through his links to the temperance lobby.

“I have attended a meeting funded by the Swedish Temperance Organisation and I’ve written material that they have published,” he said. “I’ve had connections with the International Order of Good Templars. I’ve attended some of their meetings, but I’m not a member.”

On a practical level, drinkers will almost certainly be unaware of the explosive row Dr Stockwell’s research has generated in academia. But there is a very high chance they will have read one of the many stories his work has generated, and potentially modified their behaviour, reluctantly popping the cork back into the wine bottle or leaving the beer unbought on the supermarket shelf.

Now experts warn that the anti-drinking lobby – a “neo-temperance movement” – has the US and UK’s drinking guidelines in its sights.

“Dr Stockwell has never conducted any primary research into this as far as I’m aware,” Christopher Snowdon, head of lifestyle economics at the Institute of Economic Affairs, told The Telegraph. “He just keeps creating systematic reviews with the aim of trying to obscure the J-curve and the benefits of drinking. 

“You have what I think you can fairly describe as a neo-temperance movement operating quite effectively in Britain and around the world.

“A lot of these academics take the view that everybody needs to drink less. They’re very keen on being able to say there’s no safe level because then they could treat alcohol very similar to tobacco. Both these things are addictive, both cause cancer. 

“I think they’re playing quite a long game and they’re having to deny a lot of pretty credible science to do it. I think that they think it’s a noble lie to say there is no safe level. What harm can it do if people are discouraged from drinking?”

He added that the UK guidelines, which were last updated in 2016 to no more than 14 units a week for men and women, are in the crosshairs and that, “Gradually over time, they want to bring these guidelines down to zero.”

Last week, the Institute of Alcohol Studies, formerly the UK Temperance Alliance, said groups with links to the alcohol industry should be “treated in a similar way to the tobacco industry” as the think tank pushed for tighter restrictions on alcohol policy.