Hate to be a downer but...new analysis of alcohol & Health

[marcs]

This article finds that above 100 grams a week of alcohol -- roughly one bottle of wine per week or seven standard drinks -- alcohol is as bad for you as smoking. Kind of scary shit to be honest.

http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lance ... X/fulltext

The current U.S. recommended alcohol consumption limit is about 200 grams per week, two bottles of wine. But this article estimates that moving from one to two bottles of wine a week reduces your expected lifespan by 1-2 years.

[JimHow]

I believe it.
Alcohol in any amount is not good for you.

[Nicklasss]

Nice late April fool day marcs! Or we just kill 1 to 3 years of life, at the last BWE convention!

Nic

[AKR]

tumblr_m9qhh0h2af1rf9npxo1_400.jpg (19.96 KiB) Viewed 1086 times

[stefan]

The link does not work for me.

[JimHow]

Nor me.

[Ryan DB]

As always, these large-scale population studies are completely flawed and prove little IMO. Even the authors note the flaws in the study, namely that it relies on self-reported data and there's no direct proof that alcohol increases risk. These studies always have an agenda, and that's the problem. The media also loves to run with the conclusions, and claim they're fact.

I'm not saying that alcohol consumption isn't bad for you, but I'm just saying that trying to directly correlate number of drinks with number of years off of one's life is ridiculous.

And by the way, if drinking wine makes you love your life more, but it ultimately takes 1-2 years off of your life, is that really a bad thing? Quality vs. quantity of life...

[JimHow]

I agree with everything you say Ryan but I've never bought into this whole "drinking-two-glasses-of-red-wine-a-day-is-good-for-you" theory.
But I agree, live life now.

[Nicklasss]

It all depends on the wine.

A full bottle of Chateau Barde Haut per day is good for you.

A glass of GPL per day is catastrophic.

Nic

P.s. I don't know why, but any red Bordeaux is positive on stefan's health! So i believe it is the same for me.

[DavidG]

It depends on the person doing the drinking.

Large studies can tell you the mean or median effect on the study population as a whole. But they are not predictive of the effect on any given individual. I wouldn’t discard the results as worthless due to bias (though Lancet is far from the least biased journal out there, but that’s a different political story). The results may make you think twice about whether your body will react as the "typical" subject in the study. You may be more or less susceptible. Some physicians are recommending only 2 drinks per week before the negative effects start to outweigh the positive. There’s just no way to know where that threshold is for yourself.

I do think this moves the needle towards a recognition of greater sensitivity to the negative effects of alcohol than what has lately been the accepted wisdom. But it does need to be put into perspective regarding one's individual level of consumption and enjoyment. Life is uniformly fatal. The quantity/quality issue Ryan raises is real. But so are the negative effects of alcohol consumption.

[AlohaArtakaHoundsong]

Blithely awaiting the next enablement.

[stefan]

I am willing to bet many $$$$ that someone who drinks three glasses of Grand Cru Classe Bordeaux per day has a longer life expectancy than the median person.

[DavidG]

Well I suppose those who can afford to drink grand cru Burgundy every day would have longer life expectancies based on socioeconomic status alone. Bordeaux, maybe if you're drinking first and second growths.

[stefan]

Exactly my point, David.

[Racer Chris]

My dad is 89 now and only cut down from two bottles a week to one a week a couple years ago.

[sdr]

I was able to read the study.

These are some of the conclusions, based on a meta-analysis of 83 studies encompassing 599,912 persons. Only current drinkers were included. Median age was 57.

*All cause mortality is at its lowest for the lightest drinkers up to those consuming 100g/week of alcohol (a drink is about 12-14g of alcohol, so 100g is about 7-8 drinks)
*above 100g/wk., all cause mortality rises modestly up to about 150g/wk., then rises more sharply
*heart attack risk drops markedly, about 20%, for drinkers of any amount
*risk of other cardiovascular events, such as stroke and heart failure, begin to rise slightly at about 50g/wk., then rapidly above 100g/wk.
*for men, estimated lost years of life beginning at age 40 are 6 months for drinking 100-200g/wk., 1-2 yrs. for 200-350g/wk. and 4-5 years for greater than 350g. (The lost years of life drop as the age of survivors increases.)
*wine drinkers, as opposed to spirit or beer drinkers, may have a slightly lower risk, but the study was not designed to calculate this

Assuming you accept these results as valid, it is reassuring for those who drink 100g/wk. or less, and even more so for those trying to avoid a heart attack. But if you have risk factors for stroke, such as strong family history or high blood pressure, it’s wise to be cautious. Risk for various cancers was not described.

Stu

[AKR]

Well teetotalers have other problems too. Look at POTUS and all the problems women have caused him in his life. Supposedly Melania goaded him into running since she got tired of hearing his "how the world would be different if I was in charge" speech.

Maybe he would have been better off having a glass of wine.