Could vitamin-enhanced vodka make the new year a healthy one?

Lovers of martinis and cosmopolitans have long touted the medicinal benefits of alcohol. After all, it is used in all those 1960s westerns to clean wounds. And numerous studies have pointed to the health benefits of one glass of wine a day.

But now makers of the spirits are claiming their libations have honest-to-goodness health benefits.

Take Lotus Vodka, the brain child of Rob Bailey, a 38-year-old MIT grad, that's infused with caffeine and vitamins B3, B5, B6, B12, and C, plus the amino acids l-arginine and l-cysteine, and ginseng. Think of Lotus as an alcoholic combination of Red Bull and Vitamin Water. "People are watching what they consume Monday through Friday. There is no reason to stop on the weekend," Bailey, who has seen a more than 50% growth in sales this year, told Newsweek.