J50

But I thought moderate amounts of alcohol were good for my heart, and drinkers live longer than non-drinkers???

I saw this in another post: knowing what I know now since being on SR, it's hard to envision drinking again... knowing what it truly does to me.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.usatoday.com/amp/510323002

entropy1964

I think the prevailing wind out of the 'medical' community is that a glass of red wine specifically helps reduce heart disease. Now I don't believe there are any real, scientific studies of this. I think its based on the data that shows that certain people, say from the Mediterranean areas, live longer and drink red wine. He!! I dunno where they get it. Paid for by the alcohol industry? That's more like it.

Ethanol is a carcinogen. If you want the good stuff from the red wine? Take resveratol or drink dark red unsweetened grape juice. Seems counter intuitive to drink a beverage that has one anti cancer agent and one cancer causing agent. Hmmmm. Its like eating sweetened, commercially raised yogurt for the probiotics. Say wha?

warrens

Yes, I noticed this in another publication. Know what? If I read tomorrow that one drink a day increased my life span by ten years, I would NOT do it.

Know why? I can't have ONE drink/day!

Joy,

Warren

Sobertaurus

I was just reading last night that the whole “moderate drinking increases lifespan” is a falsehood. They included former drinkers in their “non-drinker” group, many of which have lingering health issues from long periods of heavy drinking. This lowered the lifespan of the whole group.

When they remove those people and compare people who never drank to people who drink moderately, there is no increased lifespan for the moderate drinkers. It goes without saying that maintaining moderate drinking after heavy drinking would likewise have no health benefit, only danger.

MIRecovery

Regardless of what is true or untrue I know with certainty that life span of alcoholics is significantly shorter than the norm. I have had so many brushes with death I can remember them all.

Arpeggioh

Yeah, I fell for that one once, a long time ago: "Wine is healthy!" Soon I was buying it by the box, and not long after, remembering that large bottles of cheap vodka are even more affordable...

Let them eat grapes!

azwakeupcall

Uhh... the studies clearly show 1 or 2 glasses of wine a day to be beneficial. Those studies are not aimed at alcoholics. They are not suggesting alcoholics live longer, healthier lives. And I doubt you will find anyone touting these studies to people who abuse alcohol. Most can control their intake. Some cannot. The study has nothing to do with addiction or addicts.

Sobertaurus

For addicts it should be a no brainer that alcohol is bad. Period! Absolutely!

I find these studies dangerous, however, because people skirting the edges of addiction often use them as a self-justification to keep drinking.

If anyone is even slightly concerned about their drinking, don’t think you should keep it up for supposed health benefits, please.

From Forbes 2016:

“Stockwell and his team looked over 87 earlier studies, to determine whether moderate alcohol was really better than none. For the majority of the studies, former drinkers were included in the “abstainer” or the “occasional drinker” groups, which poses a lot of problems and biases for the research.

It could be, for instance, that people quit alcohol precisely because they were dealing with health issues. Which would bias the results entirely, making it look like abstinence was the cause of health problems rather than the "result." In fact, the team found only 13 studies that accounted for why the abstainers abstained. And for these studies, there was no benefit in [moderately] drinking alcohol over avoiding it.”

Of course, heavy drinkers had the highest death rates. Quitting drinking lowered them greatly.

bluedog97

I never concerned myself with the health benefits of alcohol. I was always drinking well past 1 or 2 anyway, and I knew that was unhealthy.

If someone can have 1 or 2 and stop, more power to them. I never could. Alcohol’s not the problem, I am.

Dee74

I discovered drinking a cask of wine does not make it 20 times more healthy than one glass.

D

daveglass1

The world about us is full of "fake news" - do NOT go down to the woods today!
Dave 🤠

Berrybean

I don't need any studies to show me that alcohol is detrimental to my life and wellbeing. I did extensive tests myself over many years and the results were conclusive.

b0glerd69

I think the alleged health benefit is related to a chemical from the tannin in the grapes?

I agree with others, I was conscious of the 'health benefit' of red wine but after having consumed 2-3 bottles, stumbled about my place in a drunken mess, scared my kid, scared and argued with my wife and alarmed my cats that I sure wasn't getting any 'health benefit' from drinking it the way I did.

Much better with a fizzy water, thanks.

Rar

I have also seen studies where beer is also beneficial.

FreeOwl

The most compelling study I ever saw was the one where I spent over 25 years drinking, binging, abusing, trying to "moderate", becoming an alcoholic, getting more and more unhealthy and sacrificing more and more of the goodness in my life, suffering more and more consequences for drinking.....

Then embraced sobriety and saw everything in my life change for the better.

From then on, it's the only study that really matters to me.

J50

Did you read the article?

"Even the most casual drinkers among us, including those following U.S. government recommendations, can see months and years taken away by steadily hitting the hooch, according to a new study by an international team of researchers."

Snowydelrico

The French paradox is bollox.
Cheese and wine diet makes you live longer my arse!
J50 look up dr gregger on you tube he gets all the research and shows you the truth in quick fire videos

J50

Obviously, excessive amounts of alcohol are bad for you.

The point of posting the article was that this new study is questioning the previously held beliefs about moderate useage (the recommendations in the article are less).

It makes me wonder if more studies like this will change societies views about alcohol.

ScottFromWI

You can find a “study” to prove anything you like. I have found firsthand experience to be much more valid ��

Snowydelrico

I know what you mean j50
My thoughts are the same as yours.
If everyone knew the truth to start with.
Would there have been as much of a problem than there is now?
It’s money that drives marketing. Anything addictive will be invested in.
Fruits and veg don’t get the same marketing campaigns