Posted on 07/28/2024 10:04:56 AM PDT by ConservativeMind
Probably everyone has heard the conventional wisdom that a glass of wine a day is good for you. The problem is that it's based on flawed scientific research, according to a report.
However, not all studies have painted such a rosy picture—and the new analysis sheds light on why.
In a nutshell, studies linking moderate drinking to health benefits suffer from fundamental design flaws, said Tim Stockwell, Ph.D.
The major issue: Those studies have generally focused on older adults and failed to account for people's lifetime drinking habits. So moderate drinkers were compared with "abstainer" and "occasional drinker" groups that included some older adults who had quit or cut down on drinking because they'd developed any number of health conditions.
"That makes people who continue to drink look much healthier by comparison," Stockwell said.
And, he noted, looks are deceiving.
Stockwell and his colleagues identified 107 published studies. When the researchers combined all the data, it looked like light to moderate drinkers (that is, those who drank between one drink per week and two per day) had a 14% lower risk of dying during the study period compared with abstainers.
Things changed, however, when the investigators did a deeper dive. There were a handful of "higher quality" studies that included people who were relatively young at the outset (younger than 55, on average) and that made sure former and occasional drinkers were not considered "abstainers." In those studies, moderate drinking was not linked to a longer life.
Instead, it was the "lower quality" studies (older participants, no distinction between former drinkers and lifelong abstainers) that did link moderate drinking to greater longevity.
"If you look at the weakest studies," Stockwell said, "that's where you see health benefits."
In reality, he said, moderate drinking likely does not extend people's lives.
(Excerpt) Read more at medicalxpress.com ...
As well it would have.
How can so many doctors and researchers not have caught this, decades ago?
It looks like another Cochrane Study / meta-study failure, that required some critical thinking to unpack, in yet another meta-study.
Doctors say they can’t act on anything until a meta-study makes it “true.” It takes decades for the “Medical Science Establishment” to agree to the then accumulated studies. As we see, time and time again, they are wrong (sodium is bad, food cholesterol is bad, saturated fat is bad, “margarine with trans fat is good,” etc.). These findings can be true in limited applications, but not as blanket expectations.
Sanity check your doctors. Even doctors say you should—by encouraging second opinions. With your opinion also educated, go forward with the accumulated knowledge and wisdom and get the best outcome you can have.
This study will be ignored so as to not impede drinkers
Some things...
- A glass of red wine a day = heart health
- A glass of beer a day = digestive health
- 9 gin soaked raisins a day for 9 days = cure a cold
- A glass of white wine a day = less kidney stones
- A shot of whiskey(with an “e”) a day = reduced cholesterol
- A shot of vodka a day = reduce risk of Alzheimer’s
I am now healthy as a thoroughbred but I have to go to these damn meetings,
We should prohibit alcohol.
It is working so well with drugs. 🤡
Yeah this is a pretty inconvenient study for many. I always thought any level drinking does some harm. Of course it does actually
I have no idea about its effect on longevity, but wine and bourbon have absolutely increased my quality of life. Friday pizza, too! YMMV.
And coffee is good for you. And coffee is bad for you, etc.
I’m 70 and pretty much ignore all those studies now. It’s in the vein of “fool me once...”. ‘course, I can because I’m pretty old, and WAY healthier than most people my age. Couple that with I’m fine with the Lord taking me at the time of his choosing, and I’m golden. Prolongation of life is not a key goal of mine. Life is a mist.
Well, alcoholics usually have pretty clean arteries. 🤣
And ice cream.
Got a health problem? Here’s a pill. Have side effects from that pill? Hey, we’ve got a pill for that, too. Get to the root cause of what caused the problems in the first place and recommend some healthy lifestyle changes? Sorry, don’t have any time for that.
I had chest pains after eating steak during my mid-50’s. I began exercise routine of walking 30 miles every weak playing golf on a hilly golf course. Not only my chest pains disappeared, but my blood pressure dropped to normal, my border line diabetic condition went down to normal, panic attacks disappeared, and strangest was my hip joint pain disappeared. I was getting ready for hip joint replacement. No longer necessary after 30 years of walking exercise. As for alcohol, my limit is one drink every couple of weeks when dining out.
BINGO! MD stands for Doctor of MEDICINE. Not doctor for avoiding health problems.
“The problem is that it’s based on flawed scientific research, according to a report”
My Maternal Grandparents came from Romania after WWI. They had a small fruit farm and hired older men from Hungry or Romania to work for them. According to them that time the water in those countries wasn’t too good so they usually had a 8 to 10 oz glass of wine for lunch and one for supper. Let’s see, they all died early deaths ... actually no. Most of them were in their 70s and 80s and very healthy.
A Dr.Pepper ice cream float with a double of bourbon.
Preceded with a big bowl of Pasta Putanesca
Give it a few years and they’ll change their minds again based on new research. It happens all the time.
“The problem is that it’s based on flawed scientific research”
Everything they push on is is “flawed scientific research”
Your liver needs exercise too!😀
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