I never did like scientists.
Posted on 12/01/2005 6:34:40 PM PST by blam
Moderate drinking 'may not be good for you'
By Nic Fleming, Science Correspondent
(Filed: 02/12/2005)
Drinking in moderation may not be good for you after all, scientists said yesterday.
Previous research has suggested that light to moderate alcohol consumption protects the heart.
One study suggested drinking the equivalent of up to two pints of ordinary strength beer or three glasses of wine can reduce heart attack risk by a quarter.
However, writing in today's issue of The Lancet, Dr Rod Jackson and colleagues from the University of Auckland in New Zealand, suggest the apparent protective effect of alcohol may be largely due to poor-quality research.
They conclude that any benefit from light to moderate drinking is probably small and unlikely to outweigh any harm to health.
Research pointing to the protective effect of alcohol was first published in the 1970s and 1980s.
These early observations were confirmed by a meta-analysis, the pooling of findings from a number of different studies, which indicated a 20-25 per cent reduction in heart disease risk linked to light drinking.
But the Auckland researchers point out that these studies were not randomised to avoid confounding errors.
For example, people who stop drinking because of heart problems may have be misclassified as "never drinkers" in the studies.
Earlier this year a study of 200,000 American adults found that 27 of 30 cardiovascular risk factors were significantly more common in non-drinkers than light to moderate drinkers. Such risk factors, already present in study participants, could sway the results, it is suggested.
Dr Jackson wrote: "Any coronary protection from light to moderate drinking will be very small and unlikely to outweigh the harms. While moderate to heavy drinking is probably coronary-protective, any benefit will be overwhelmed by the known harms.
''If so, the public health message is clear. Do not assume there is a window in which the health benefits of alcohol are greater than the harms - there is probably no free lunch."
Not The Lancet again!
The benefits of being sober are highly overrated too.
But there are plenty of $4 martini lunches.
Don't care one bit for martinis (and maybe they're not a big thing on the Left Coast), but... please elaborate?
We need a study correlating Lancet reading with life expectancy, insanity and criminality.
and the leading cause of death is birth. we all die
I don't notice alcohol being stocked in the health food section anyway. I don't really care if moderate drinking is good for me or not. It's not bad, so that's good enough.
I never did like scientists.
This just in: Studies reveal that Moderate Drinking May be Good for you; However, May Not Be.
TS
(*) - Secondary purpose is to find out if it's healthy for the 40YOIA Male, at least until his wife finds out.
Ethanol is its own reward.
And since the day I left Milwaukee,
Lynchburg an' Bordeaux, France,
Been making the bars lots of big money,
An' helpin' white people dance.
I got you in trouble in High School,
But College, now that was a ball.
You had some of the best times you?ll never remember with me:
Alcohol; Alcohol.
I got blamed at your wedding reception,
For your best man?s embarrassing speech.
And also for those naked pictures of you at the beach.
I?ve influenced Kings and world leaders,
I helped Hemingway write like he did.
And I?ll bet you a drink or two, that I can make you put
that lampshade on your head.
?Cause since the day I left Milwaukee,
Lynchburg and Bordeaux, France,
I been making a fool out of folks just like you,
An' helping white people dance.
I am medicine and I am poison,
I can help you up or make you fall.
You had some of the best times you?ll never remember with me:
Alcohol.
Yeah, since the day I left Milwaukee,
Lynchburg an' Bordeaux, France,
Been making the bars lots of big money,
(Helpin' white people dance.)
Yeah, I got you in trouble in High School,
But College, now that was a ball.
You had some of the best times you?ll never remember with me:
Alcohol; Alcohol.
(Alcohol.)
(Alcohol.)
Does someone really need a study to tell you these things? Who organized this study, Al Gore?
On a Saturday morning with a dirty glass...one would first rake the yard of leaves and do other outside work. Meanwhile, chilling in the refrigerator, is a conglomeration of variously expensive libations awaiting the time of day in which they would be mixed together...
OK, who typed the title into the keywords? And can I have some of what made you do that?
Fine, heavy drinking it is then.
But there's more old drunks then there are old doctors so I guess we better have another round.
*hic*...I'll...*hic*...drink to that.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.