Thread: One drink a day could be deadly?

Originally Posted by StanStill

I'm not going to be too reckless, but the thought of living a nearly masochistic life of restriction and discipline just to live a few years longer seems kind of like an oxymoron. I get the feeling that if some people were told they could live an extra 20 years if they never left the house, they'd try it.

Suppose its up to the person and how they feel. Some want to live forever while others want to live fulfilling lives. Saw a bumpersticker once with something to the effect "not going to be here long, enjoying life too much."

Originally Posted by StanStill

I'm not going to be too reckless, but the thought of living a nearly masochistic life of restriction and discipline just to live a few years longer seems kind of like an oxymoron. I get the feeling that if some people were told they could live an extra 20 years if they never left the house, they'd try it. Then when they finally lay there dying at 110 years old, they'd wonder what the point was.

Of course, some things are worth abstaining from. In my case, alcohol is not an option; and tobacco use is just committing slow suicide or something. And except for very rare occasions, I stay away from the soft drinks with high-fructose corn syrup, though mostly for the 'yuck' factor - I prefer real sugar when I can get it, and typically stick to coffee and SodaStream seltzer (straight, not flavored) anyway.

But yeah, I'm not giving up everything by a long shot. All those perfectly healthy people are going to be surprised when they find themselves dying of nothing.

Originally Posted by Ian Jeffrey

Of course, some things are worth abstaining from. In my case, alcohol is not an option; and tobacco use is just committing slow suicide or something. And except for very rare occasions, I stay away from the soft drinks with high-fructose corn syrup, though mostly for the 'yuck' factor - I prefer real sugar when I can get it, and typically stick to coffee and SodaStream seltzer (straight, not flavored) anyway.

But yeah, I'm not giving up everything by a long shot. All those perfectly healthy people are going to be surprised when they find themselves dying of nothing.

Or worse, dying of the exact same things that other Americans do who do all those "Bad" things.

Originally Posted by Wonderer

I've stopped paying attention to studies like this. Everything (or most things) in moderation.

Stop reading news reports of studies. Usually the studies never claim what the journalist is pimping.

This story is a total example.

A] the story never claims what the OP thread claims.

B] The closest thing in the OP article to a reference is a reference to a second article...and in that 2nd article, there is absolutely no mention or link to any study.

It is a bunch of non-related...convoluted nonsense.

Originally Posted by DebateDrone

Stop reading news reports of studies. Usually the studies never claim what the journalist is pimping.

This story is a total example.

A] the story never claims what the OP thread claims.

B] The closest thing in the OP article to a reference is a reference to a second article...and in that 2nd article, there is absolutely no mention or link to any study.

It is a bunch of non-related...convoluted nonsense.

Normally I agree, but this article does cite a link to the study.

http://www.thelancet.com/journals/la...134-X/fulltext

For every cigarette you smoke and for every drink you take God takes a minute of your life and gives it to Keith Richards.

Scientific fact.

Originally Posted by bajisima

Normally I agree, but this article does cite a link to the study.

http://www.thelancet.com/journals/la...134-X/fulltext

I read both article and what was stated there is the same as this study...

From the study-

We characterised dose–response associations and calculated hazard ratios (HRs) per 100 g per week of alcohol (12·5 units per week)

Show were 100g or 12.5 units per week equals 'one drink a day'. And show where that is 'deadly'.

None of the OP articles or this study does.

Even these studies add so many caveats such as age, gender, overall health and even socio-economic factors. To make general ...over-all statements is great for news articles but have no relationship to the real world.

Originally Posted by Wonderer

I've stopped paying attention to studies like this. Everything (or most things) in moderation.

I say: Everything in moderation, including moderation.

Originally Posted by Ian Jeffrey

Giving up those things does not make you live longer. It just makes it seem longer.

Correct.

I had a friend who smoked a lot, drank too much, chased wild women, drove like a maniac.

He used to say he had a brother who never did any of that stuff, but "that's not really living".

My friend lived into his 80's.

He seemed to enjoy life to the end...

Originally Posted by bajisima

People who follow government guidelines to have a drink or so a day could be drinking themselves into an early grave, researchers said Thursday.

Any more than five drinks a week on average can take years off a person’s life, the new study of more than half a million people around the world shows.

That’s less than what's recommended in many countries. For instance, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the American Heart Association both say men can safely drink up to two alcoholic drinks a day and women up to a drink a day. An international team of researchers looked at data from 600,000 people in 19 countries, who were asked about drinking habits dating back as long ago as 1964. They were followed for years afterward.

People who reported drinking more had higher rates of stroke, heart disease, deadly high blood pressure and fatal aortic aneurysms, the team reported in the Lancet medical journal. The most people can get away with and not raise their risk of early death was about five glasses of wine a week or the equivalent, the researchers found. Drinking raises the risk of both cancer and heart disease, and one study suggested that drinking accounts for 15 percent of breast cancer cases.

They found that the more people drank, the higher their risk of death compared with people who drank less.

If a 40-year-old man dropped his intake from two drinks a day to around five drinks a week, he could expect to add an average of a year or two to his life, the researchers projected.


https://www.nbcnews.com/health/healt...-finds-n865471

I think I'll just wait until the next study proves the opposite of that. Lay studies like that end to end, and they all point different directions.