

Drinking alcohol every day cuts risk of heart disease in men by more than third - cwan
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/8367141.stm

======
TNO

      A) The Japanese eat very little fat and suffer fewer heart
         attacks than the British or Americans. 
      B) On the other hand, the French eat a lot of fat and also
         suffer fewer heart attacks than the British or 
         Americans. 
      C) The Japanese drink very little red wine and suffer fewer
         heart attacks than the British or Americans. 
      D) The Italians drink excessive amounts of red wine, and
         also suffer fewer heart attacks than the British or 
         Americans 
      E) Conclusion: Eat & drink what you like. It's speaking 
         English that kills you. - Author Unknown

~~~
donw
I do love that joke. But it's not un-worthwhile to note that the Japanese
drink like they're training for the Drunken Olympics.

------
dpapathanasiou
It's also important to note:

" _The study was conducted in Spain, a country with relatively high rates of
alcohol consumption and low rates of coronary heart disease._ "

~~~
UncleOxidant
There are likely other contributors to this than just alcohol. The lifestyle
in Spain is probably a lot more laid back. And they have a lot more social
interaction.

~~~
mhb
So it's good that they had the control group in Spain, too.

------
robotrout
Two great books, both by an engineer out of the UK.

    
    
        The Epidemiologists: Have They Got Scares for You!
        Sorry, Wrong Number!: The Abuse of Measurement
    

The shenanigans that go on with the data, just to get an interesting result
... and thus a published paper, are disturbingly like the GW fiasco. These
books definitely make you read these "Eating X helps with disease Y" kinds of
headlines with a jaded eye.

That said, I think in this instance, the fact that alcohol thins the blood,
(which many drugs prescribed to people at risk of heart disease also do) lends
credence that there is causation here.

------
brtzsnr
However, it probably increases risks of liver disease by more than a third.

------
nazgulnarsil
this type of study should be headlined thusly: strong correlation found
between alcohol consumption and decreased risk of heart disease. but I'm not
naive enough to not understand why science has been sensationalized with
inaccurate headlines for centuries.

~~~
tungstenfurnace
Correlation -- yes! Though it would be better to say "inverse correlation
found between alcohol and CHD".

Many people don't get that this observation is entirely consistent with
alcohol's _increasing_ the risk of CHD.

An analogy is that car accidents correlate strongly with use of the brake
pedal. Yet we know brake pedals reduce the risk of car accidents. If asked we
can explain why this is so.

>The exact mechanisms are as yet unclear

If they were doing proper, hard science they would be conjecturing theories
about such mechanisms and then testing those theories.

------
ulf
getting hit by a car also reduces risk of heart or any other major diseases by
a huge fraction

