Light drinking may not be good for you after all

[Warpy]

WASHINGTON - Researchers poured cold water on the idea that moderate drinking helps prevent heart disease Friday, noting that many studies include teetotalers as a control group but don't ask why they did not drink.
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When such studies show a higher death rate for abstainers than for moderate drinkers, it may be because of the poor health of some abstainers who recently quit drinking and not because alcohol is good for health, they said.

In the seven studies that included people who have not drunk alcohol for a long time, by choice, there was no difference in rates of heart disease between drinkers and non-drinkers.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12099668/

This just goes to show how careful one has to be when studying groups of patients. "Do you drink?" is a useless question unless the following "why?" question is also asked.

[0007]

1. For the umpteen time. The next study will be that drinking

a few glasses of red wine is good for 'ya. People that live high up in the bum fuck mountains live to be over hundred and have been drinking red wine since they were babies.

[TomInTib]

2. That's why I drink heavily. Moderation will kill you, too.

Heck, you are at far greater risk every time you walk out your door (or into the bathroom, statistically speaking).

[khashka]

3. It's kind of different for men and women

Some recent studies have shown that women who drink moderately (a glass of wine with dinner) are less likely to suffer from heart disease, dementia or Alzheimers. No difference for men though....

Of course that might just be a stastical oddity - and what they really saw were people who took care of their health and people who didn't. And there was a gender difference in that. More research needed....

Meanwile there is a fifth of vodka calling my name....... :)


Khash.

[Warpy]

8. You can have my share

Damn stuff triggers migraines in me. Just pain, no party, not worth it.

I'd like to know how they chose the teetotalers, too, and how many of those nondrinkers also smoked compared to the moderate drinkers. That's one hell of a variable, and if they didn't compensate for that, this study is trash too.

[BrainRants]

4. I prefer the Cliff Claven Theory of alcohol consumption.

"Well ya see, Norm, it's like this... A herd of buffalo can only move as fast as the slowest buffalo. And when the herd is hunted, it is the slowest and weakest ones at the back that are killed first. This natural selection is good for the herd as a whole, because the general speed and health of the whole group keeps improving by the regular killing of the weakest members.

"In much the same way, the human brain can only operate as fast as the slowest brain cells. Excessive intake of alcohol, as we know, kills brain cells. But naturally it attacks the slowest and weakest brain cells first.

"In this way, regular consumption of beer eliminates the weaker brain cells, making the brain a faster and more efficient machine. That's why you always feel smarter after a few beers."

-Cliff Claven

[Mythsaje]

6. I'd completely forgotten that...

thanks for the laugh.

[medeak]

5. know a lot of 90 yr old drunks

My fave was the town drunk... would be found every morning passed out in the gutter literally.

He's 94 and baking bread every day and fishing...and drinking.

[Warpy]

9. My pop made it to 89

claiming he only had one drink a day (a tumbler full of straight bourbon). I think he was a problem drinker but I doubt he really made it all the way to alcoholic. He always expected me to bust his chops for drinking that much, but I can't say I think telling your parents how to live their lives ever works, especially after they've made it past that three score and ten.

Whatever he did was the right thing to do. He was sharp as a tack up to the last.

This study needs an update and some more info.

[medeak]

11. grandfather had a shot every am

to "get heart started"...he lived one week short of 100.

His docs said whatever you do...don't stop drinking now!

[longship]

7. No difference.

I can live with that. I don't need any excuses for my moderate drinking, which is typically one or two drinks on evenings in which I partake. I have a cocktail because I like it. I enjoy good beer (typically English, German, or Czech), a glass of wine or two with dinner on special occasions, an occasional good scotch or bourbon. Martinis are good, too, especially when Ms. Longship doesn't steal my olives.

For people who drink minimally and socially, like me, drinking enhances the pleasures in life. I can't think that this would be harmful and may even be beneficial.

I would hate to go through life eating tasteless low-fat food, teatotalling, and other so-called life-extending regiments. We're not going to live forever, might as well have some guilty pleasures and enjoy things once in a while.

Unfortunately some people can't stop drinking after one.

People who don't drink don't know what they're missing. They wake up in the morning and that's the best they're going to feel all day.
William Claude Dukenfield (aka W.C. Fields)

[Ciggies and coffee]

10. Researchers= Hired Guns

If more people would tune out the contradictory chatter and enjoy life and go for the gusto, do whatever makes them happy, we would have a lot less anxious and stressed people.

[benEzra]

12. Waiting for the public health nazis to call for Prohibition again...

at least until next week when the studies swing the other way...

[Warpy]

13. Dunno, the study said it didn't HURT anybody, either

It seems our bodies are designed to be able to handle small amounts of poisons, and ethanol is a poison.

Prohibition crazies can't take any more comfort from this study than problem drinkers can. It was a pretty neutral finding.

[Ciggies and coffee]

14. Some hypochondriacs have gotten better with drink

It puts a smile on their face and eases their mind. Quite a powerful way to forget many of their imaginary "illnesses."