Safest level of alcohol consumption is none, worldwide study shows

[yallerdawg]

Just in case you still had a nagging feeling you were missing something.

Source: WaPo, by Joel Achenbach


To minimize health risks, the optimal amount of alcohol someone should consume is none. That’s the simple, surprising conclusion of a massive study, co-authored by 512 researchers from 243 institutions, published Thursday in the prestigious journal the Lancet.

*****

“What has been underappreciated, what’s surprising, is that no amount of drinking is good for you,” said Emmanuela Gakidou, a professor of global health at the University of Washington and the senior author of the report.

“People should no longer think that a drink or two a day is good for you. What’s best for you is to not drink at all,” she said.

The report found that 2.8 million people across the globe died in 2016 of alcohol-related causes, which is about the same proportionally as the 2.0 million who died in 1990. For people ages 15 to 49, alcohol is the leading risk factor for experiencing a negative health outcome.

*****

Read it all at: https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/safest-level-of-alcohol-consumption-is-none-worldwide-study-shows/2018/08/23/823a6bec-a62d-11e8-8fac-12e98c13528d_story.html

[mikeysnot]

1. So I am going to die?

[democratisphere]

3. Yes. Someday, just like the rest of US.

[IADEMO2004]

2. I'm afraid I'll die of nothing. How would that look?

[irisblue]

6. No matter how much/many chemicals/food/other things you use to fill up your 'nothing' spot

It'll never be enough.

Good luck on your journey in recovery

[Stuart G]

13. I agree that "nothing spot" needs to be filled with something more than chemicals, or food.

...Yes, I been there and done that. Food/sugar/salt were my original addictions, and then I branched out into drugs and other stuff. When my mind is on something positive/spiritual like taking a hike in the woods, or interacting with friends at a picnic (no booze) I feel better both physically and mentally. Even playing a game of Scrabble with friends works...............
... I had a relationship with a gal who passed away a number of years ago, and ...now you won't believe this....(ok, maybe...) we spent a lot of time together listening to music and putting together jig saw puzzles. Yes, jig saw puzzles..Now we would put on some music, all different kinds, and talk and sit and put them together. It would take a week or two to get one finished. Then she would paint some glue on it, the glue would harden, and we would have another one. I got maybe 30-40 finished ones, and posted on walls. Yes there are jig saw puzzles all over the house...
...Well, if you haven't tried it don't knock it. They start out at about 100 pieces to get you going. Then up to 500, and after that the sky is the limit. (yes, I have done 1500 and worked on 2000) One thing is for sure..when you are looking for a piece that goes here or there, you are focused on that job, and nothing else. You don't need no booze, no drugs, just some water and maybe, not necessary a snack...It focuses you....

....And one more very important idea....The entire family can work on one. Say someone takes the border, then someone puts together "the sky", someone else: the red pieces that seem to go together and so on. When the project is finished, everyone has helped put it together and all enjoyed the finished product. Then it gets polished up, (you put on the paste, or goo that solidifies it) and up it goes on the wall, as a finished family project that everyone worked on. And you can get a nice one, 1000 pieces for maybe ten dollars. Give it a try..actually after a while, it becomes..fun!!!!

[3Hotdogs]

9. Then you might have missed a lot of fun.

I have two or three Guinness a week. I choose it when out to eat instead of ordering a soda.

[IADEMO2004]

10. Guinness bread I make uses one and a half bottles. Guinness before 7am common here.

Waste not want not and more Guinness when the bread is done. I'm a fan of Irish Whiskeys too.

[Stuart G]

14. Fun is in the eyes of the beholder..What was once "fun" quickly becomes an "addiction"

And that is what this group is about. Hundreds of thousands of people start out with booze being "fun" and get addicted. All kinds of foods also can be addictive..like sugar..oh that wouldn't hurt anyone...

......Well we got about 110 million overweight people in the U.S.A. and of course, they are not "food addicts", just overweight..oh, and not a little, but a lot le. I got started in Overeaters Anonymous when I was about 70 pounds overweight, up and down, and up and down....So I started going to meetings..And I also discovered something...There are "underweight addicts too"..Really too thin too believe, but these people think they are "overweight"

I lost about 60 pounds and kept it off for over 35 years. Never gained it back. Yea, lots of people are addicted to food. They don't even see it as an addiction..just over eating, or under eating....But we get a real buzz from certain foods and we get addicted to them real easy and real young too.

[unblock]

4. duh.

most people are content to pay that price in terms of health risks, though.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

5. Depends on person & diet & type of drink. Study is balancing heart disease against cancer.

There seems to be evidence that moderate alcohol guards against heart disease but worsens cancer risk.

Some people are more prone to one risk than the other and should consider that.

Further, inflammation is a risk factor for both illnesses and the rest of the diet is very important.

Drinking alcohol on top of a redneck high animal fat / high red meat / high fructose / high processed food diet is probably a very bad idea because that diet is high in inflammation.

Drinking alcohol in moderation as part of a Mediterranean diet may be a net win to the extent that it include anti-inflammatories and anti-oxidants. It is better the more highly colored the fruit & veg and the less the food has been processed with additives and nutrition removed.

It is probably better to drink beer than wine and wine than liquor, since that is a progression of higher and higher processing.

I am not a nutritionist, nor do I pretend to be one. Do your own reading. I have done so.

Numerous peer-reviewed studies found evidence that people who have a drink or two a day are less likely to have heart disease than people who abstain or drink excessively.

But the new study, while noting the lower risks of heart disease from moderate drinking, as well as a dip in the diabetes rate in women, found that many other health risks offset and overwhelm the health benefits. That includes the risk of breast cancer, larynx cancer, stroke, cirrhosis, tuberculosis, interpersonal violence, self-harm and transportation accidents.

“Current and emerging scientific evidence does not suggest that there are overall health benefits from moderate drinking,” said Robert Brewer, who directs the alcohol program at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and was not involved in the new research. He pointed out that alcohol studies have long been dogged by “confounders” — factors that create a misleading impression of cause and effect.

“People who report drinking in moderation tend to be very different from people who don’t drink at all. They tend to be a healthier population, they tend to exercise more, they tend to be more affluent, they tend to have more access to health care,” Brewer said.

[Farmer-Rick]

7. I once read an article that made the argument that the only reason human kind started farming

Was to create and drink alcoholic beverages.

I can't find a link, but the gist of the argument is that farming is such hard back breaking work, especially in ancient times, that to switch from hunter gathers to farmers had to have more incentives than what is commonly used to justify the change. And farming and alcohol fermentation developed together and at the same time across most of human societies.

So, I doubt folks are going to give it up any time soon.

[fleur-de-lisa]

8. FREE MARIJUANA FOR EVERYONE!

[Rhiannon12866]

11. Just read a similar article

Then I read this, but decided to post the one I ran across anyway. An even more pressing reason to embrace recovery. I've been in AA since 2008 and have already known far too many people who have died.

[yallerdawg]

12. I've been practicing the safest level of alcohol consumption since October 1980.

It's great when science supports the conclusion we came to all on our own!

[Stuart G]

15. I got into AA in 2006, no booze since then..so I go to all kinds of meetings.

Nice people, interesting meetings..No I don't believe it all, but I work the steps and try my very best. When you combine the AA and the OA together, well I think the two have really helped to keep me alive. You really don't have to buy the whole thing...Just Keep Going to Meetings..and listen.. took me a while to get that one...Why? because I thought I knew it all..and now I realize how much I have to learn, and can learn if ........
....I listen and read...