Worldwide, drinking alcohol was the seventh-leading risk factor for early death in 2016, accounting for about 2 percent of deaths in women and 7 percent of deaths in men. For people ages 15 to 49, alcohol consumption was tied to 4 percent of deaths for women and 12 percent for men in 2016.
With that statistic alone, tell me why do people place such a stigma on those who are choosing to quit or must do so for the sake of their health, no matter what the reason is? You can sit at a table and choose not to eat meat. In the same sense choose not to eat vegetables. Or maybe you have been told by your doctor to cut back on sugar or salt. All of those things are acceptable and usually without judgment or criticism.
Why is then in our culture that if you bring attention to the fact you are not drinking alcohol or even cutting back, suddenly you are no fun anymore. People who drink suddenly become uncomfortable drinking around you, a feeling a guilt maybe? They do not know how to behave or what to say. Your friends abruptly no longer call to ask you to hang out with them, especially if alcohol is involved. If you point out how the bad/weird/crazy/emotional behaviors of someone who defends their drinking, you are preaching AA, heaven forbid you are concerned about them or just pointing out facts.
Scientists have suggested that problems people have with drinking, such as heart disease, liver disease, and mental health problems, result because humans have not evolved genes to sufficiently process ethanol. Similarly, humans have not evolved genes to handle large amounts of sugar, fat and salt, which, in turn, have given way to the high increase in obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure and other chronic diseases.
A Cooking Gypsy 
I never really thought about it one way or another but you are very right.
I never thought much about it because I never worried about what others were thinking.
Only thing I was always adiment about was not drinking and driving. That conviction was made stronger between the loss of a friend (you knew them) and working at the hospital.
But you are right. People always ask why I don’t drink often or much. It’s more a habit than anything else… didn’t drink when pregnant and again when the kids were young. Now I might have a glass of something to relax or when we were touring in Europe with dinner. But honestly I find a nice glass of ice cold water far more refreshing.
But that’s me..