Recent research makes it clear that any amount of drinking can be detrimental. Here’s why you may want to cut down on your consumption beyond Dry January.
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Any amount of living will harm your health. Whatever
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Unfortunately, the people who need to see this, just won’t do it.
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Alcohol is ethanol. Ethanol is poison. This is not new news for me.
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One thing I liked about the article is that it gave a lot of information about harm reduction. Definitely not all or nothing.
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Then it becomes a risk analysis. How much risk is one willing to accept? From the article:
Most people don’t exercise enough or have a clean diet in order to avoid accumulating fat around their organs aka visceral fat, which can lead to increase risk of heart disease, stroke, diabetes, etc.
When I see my PCP, the 1st question(s) they ask is do you drink or smoke?
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I never believe a single research report. Guarantee that sometime within the next few months there will be a research study that concludes a glass of wine a day is good for you.
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I was once traveling with friends to remote villages in a mountainous area of Southern Europe. We rose early one day to catch a municipal bus and were having a cup of coffee at the local cafe waiting for the bus. A bunch of old goat herds were taking their breakfast which consisted of heated up alcohol with honey before heading out to work. We chatted, as is usual in these areas, and asked one of them what their secret to longevity was. The guy that answered us was in his 80s and still spent his days running after his goats in the mountains. He said he usually ate about 8 eggs a day and always had his warming alcohol potion for breakfast. This was at the time when health authorities said we should not be eating eggs due to…I don’t remember. Human health is a complicated issue and reductionist proclamations aren’t very helpful. Just my opinion.
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Leading causes of death in the USA, 2020:
H comes from a teetotalling family and didn’t touch alcohol, even in college, until after we were married.
I tried getting drunk once in college and didn’t care for it, so kept a limit to one drink when drinking.
Now we have about 10-20 drinks a year, almost exclusively on vacation or if there’s a celebration of sorts. He’ll do wine. I prefer my rum drinks.
I can’t imagine we’re hurting our health with alcohol TBH.
I don’t know what level I’d be at if he didn’t have his background.
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I can’t imagine daily drinking or several drinks a day but people do it. You have to know your genetics and family history. As already stated cut down on visceral fat.
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So according to various studies:
No alcohol
No meat (methane from cows)
No gas stoves or other gas appliances
No cow’s milk (do they know how much water is needed to grow almonds?)
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Americans eat a diet of heavily processed foods that is literally killing us years before we should be dying, in addition to negatively impacting our lives in many ways while we are still alive. The political influence of these food manufacturers is so powerful that they have convinced Americans that obesity is a simple aesthetic characteristic, like hair color or what pants you wear, and anyone who criticizes it is engaging in some version of “shaming”. When health professionals criticize obesity, it has very, very little to do with looks. It is about health. Being overweight negatively impacts virtually every part of your body.
I would be interested in a compare contrast between 5 alcoholic drinks a week and whatever the normal consumption of sugary, processed drinks is for the average American. How healthy is all that soda and sugary specialty beverages we are drinking? How about coffee?
Americans eat horribly, and do not exercise nearly enough. I would put those in some order as the biggest health threats to our nation. Not what some heavily moralizing NY Times piece says about moderate and modest drinkers.
Now this 28 BMI middle-aged male is going to drink a homemade smoothie rather than go to Dunkin Donuts, and then work out. Writing this post has made me feel guilty about my food and activity choices this weekend.
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Let’s not shoot the messenger. The “alcohol is a poison” mantra has been slowly gaining momentum for the last twenty years. One of my best friends believes he lost his tenure battle at Hopkins because he was a little too vocal about it. I’m old enough to remember a similar reaction when Oprah said something disparaging about the Texas red meat industry and she lost a ton of money as the result of a lawsuit (who knew you could “defame” an industry?) Clearly, one reason this is becoming a hot topic now is because Americans are living long enough for these cancers to develop over time. This is certainly the case with prostate cancer and I suspect the same is true for throat cancer and other cancers, too.
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I just want to thank @oldmom4896 for gifting us many informing articles from the NYT. We don’t have to all agree with them, but can appreciate that she’s willing to share.
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Deleted.
It was quite popular in the 1920’s too. That didn’t end well.
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Article’s last three paragraphs:
Light daily drinkers would likely benefit by cutting back a bit, too. Try going a few nights without alcohol: “If you feel better, your body is trying to tell you something,” said George Koob, director of the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism.
Notably, none of the experts we spoke to called for abstaining completely, unless you have an alcohol use disorder or are pregnant. “I’m not going to advocate that people completely stop drinking,” Dr. Koob said. “We did prohibition, it didn’t work.”
Generally, though, their advice is, “Drink less, live longer,” Dr. Naimi said. “That’s basically what it boils down to.”
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Yeah I mean it’s a neurotoxin. Literally. One I happen to love, but why this is some sort of discovery is beyond me.
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My best friend is a physician and has reduced the amount of constructive feedback he gives patients about their weight because, wait for it, part of the reimbursement negotiations that happen every year bt his practice and the insurance companies are based on the reviews his patients give him and the other doctors.
When they tell the obese patients more or less anything about the risks they run, changing behaviors, etc. they get blasted in the reviews. This is a real thing. Our society has been so reduced to plain old consumerism at every turn that people feel entitled no matter what.
Sorry. You’re not a customer. You’re a patient.
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