

Truth We Won't Admit: Drinking Is Healthy - acangiano
http://www.psmag.com/navigation/health-and-behavior/truth-wont-admit-drinking-healthy-87891/

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wwweston
[http://www.meltingmama.net/files/noamountofalcoholissafe.pdf](http://www.meltingmama.net/files/noamountofalcoholissafe.pdf)

"When it comes to cancer, no amount of alcohol is safe."

"The evidence showing lower risks for diabetes mellitus, stroke, heart
failure, and total mortality stand in stark contrast to the harms associated
with excessive alcohol consumption."

"The evidence for the harmful effects of alcohol is stronger than the evidence
for its beneficial effects."

And finally:

"Other than celebrity drunk-driving stories, we rarely see headlines about the
harm caused by alcohol. Dr. Rehm comments, 'I do not know why a beneficial
link would be more important than a detrimental link, if the beneficial link
overall is about one tenth of the detrimental link. We have counted how many
studies are reported in the press, and there are many more reports on the
beneficial link than on the detrimental link between alcohol and health.' "

It would seem our news media has the opposite problem from admitting drinking
is healthy.

~~~
Camillo
[https://d1435t697bgi2o.cloudfront.net/wp-
content/uploads/201...](https://d1435t697bgi2o.cloudfront.net/wp-
content/uploads/2014/08/nejm-alcohol.jpg)

Yes, alcohol benefits some things and hurts some others - that is why in the
chart above the line for "all causes" (of death) does not exactly mimic the
one for "all cardiovascular diseases". But see where the low point of the "all
causes" line is.

To paraphrase: when it comes to teetotaling, no amount of cancer studies make
it safe.

~~~
wwweston
I've seen information like that (and that chart is fascinating, BTW, if for no
other reason than how flat the line is for women). And as a non-drinker with
several risk factors for cardiovascular diseases, I've even brought it up with
doctors -- I've asked a cardiologist and two GPs if I should consider adding
it for that reason.

The response has been lukewarm at best: basically, they've all said that it
probably wouldn't hurt, but that the benefits were marginal, may present other
risks, and it would be secondary to losing weight, getting regular exercise,
and watching dietary risk factors (or, for that matter, taking statins, which
so far I've decided against).

Still, it's about time for my yearly visit with the cardiologist and a GP,
perhaps I should take the chart with me on my next visit.

(OTOH, the urologist I've been seeing advises me to avoid alcohol, so...)

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adrianN
While I also heard of a couple of studies that indicate that moderate drinking
is slightly beneficial, this quote is just rubbish:

 _For example, despite being heavily out-drunk by the English, we have almost
exactly twice their levels of diabetes, cancer, and heart disease._

...of course this is because Americans drink less and not because they like
they burgers extra large.

~~~
coldtea
Maybe drinking less also has an effect of how you like your burgers? E.g
english-men who drink don't go out slurping colas and downing burgers...

~~~
mpg33
Really?...if go out drinking there is nothing more I crave than salty greasy
foods and even sugary foods towards the end of the night. Same the next the
day.

~~~
coldtea
Sure, but "salty greasy foods" after a drinking session != "salty greasy
foods" all day long...

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chriskanan
Some of the stuff the article claims sounds a bit fishy: "The more alcohol a
society consumes, the fewer alcohol-related problems and alcohol-related
deaths (including cirrhosis) it has."

That said, there have been quite a few studies arguing that light to moderate
drinking is healthier than abstinence (e.g., less cognitive decline [2],
increased longevity [1, 3], etc). For the most part it seems like a U-shaped
curve, since heavy drinkers lose these benefits. A comprehensive list of
studies that claim benefits to health was put together by Prof. David Hanson
of SUNY Potsdam, and it can be found here:
[http://www2.potsdam.edu/alcohol/AlcoholAndHealth.html#.U_pwJ...](http://www2.potsdam.edu/alcohol/AlcoholAndHealth.html#.U_pwJvlSYpp)

In the Holahan et al. study [1], they found that moderate drinking was the
best for longevity after studying mortality rates among 1,824 people. From
their results: "Controlling only for age and gender, compared to moderate
drinkers, abstainers had a more than 2 times increased mortality risk, heavy
drinkers had 70% increased risk, and light drinkers had 23% increased risk. A
model controlling for former problem drinking status, existing health
problems, and key sociodemographic and social-behavioral factors, as well as
for age and gender, substantially reduced the mortality effect for abstainers
compared to moderate drinkers. However, even after adjusting for all
covariates, abstainers and heavy drinkers continued to show increased
mortality risks of 51 and 45%, respectively, compared to moderate drinkers."

[1]
[http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1530-0277.2010....](http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1530-0277.2010.01286.x/abstract)

[2]
[http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/07/090713114506.ht...](http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/07/090713114506.htm)

[3] [http://singularityhub.com/2010/09/02/heavy-drinkers-
outlive-...](http://singularityhub.com/2010/09/02/heavy-drinkers-outlive-non-
drinkers-longevity-never-tasted-so-good/)

------
mpg33
I can't help but think the complete opposite when it comes to people admitting
something about alcohol...that it's just plain bad for your body. It's a
toxin.

People will gravitate and cling to any evidence that alcohol has a health
benefit so they won't feel so bad about drinking.

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gaelow
Please consider that alcohol induced behavior may destroy even the lives of
people around the consumer.

That it is addictive.

That abstinence can literally kill an addict.

That many people live crippled lives or have their lives cut short after
consuming it frequently (and abusing it regularly) for decades.

That hangovers are a living hell.

That camels were the shit back in the day:
[https://www.google.es/search?q=doctors+recommend+camel&rlz=1...](https://www.google.es/search?q=doctors+recommend+camel&rlz=1C1GGGE_es&es_sm=122&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=E5n7U8i9MMnjaPG8gSg&ved=0CCIQsAQ&biw=1366&bih=634)

TL;DR: Alcohol is a drug. Drink responsibly.

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Paul_S
Health benefits/risks aside, not drinking is a social handicap. I wonder if
there's a knock-on effect of that on your life expectancy.

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alexvr
Is the evidence just a correlation?

~~~
coldtea
Well, they address those things in TFA:

First, let’s address some typical objections to these findings. Of course,
abstainers may not drink because they are already ill. Thus the meta-analysis
relied on studies that eliminated subjects who are abstaining due to illness,
or else contrast drinkers with lifetime abstainers. Additionally, objectors
note, drinkers showing such longevity may be wine-sniffling, upper-middle-
class professionals (virtually no study has ever found that the type of
alcohol consumed impacts these results), people who exercise, eat right, and
don’t smoke. To counter this argument, researchers from the prestigious
Harvard Health Professionals Study published a paper which found that even men
with four healthy life factors (diet, weight, non-smoking, exercise) had one-
third to one-half the risk of suffering a heart attack if they had one to two
drinks daily, relative to comparable men in each category who abstained.

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readerrrr
Let me just again point out the most ridiculous statement in the article:

 _The more alcohol a society consumes, the fewer alcohol-related problems and
alcohol-related deaths (including cirrhosis) it has, since these societies,
such as those in Southern Europe, integrate drinking with social life. And
alcohol conveys health benefits._

My response:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8174613](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8174613)

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kubindurion
I don't even.. Not sure if stupid or trolling.

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infinitone
This is a joke right?

