GOOD NEWS! - Alcohol sharpens your brain, say researchers

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2004/08/01/nalco01.xml&sSheet=/portal/2004/08/01/ixportal.html ^

[tjwmason]

Comparing coffee and tea to alcohol and other drugs, you have to admit is quite a stretch. If you keep on stretching, drugs could probably be found in the natural foods we eat.

I have consumed alcohol and caffeine at a pretty constant high-moderate level for a number of years. I can give up alcohol without any problems (e.g., during lent); but get headaches by midday if I don't drink coffee.

The problem is that in many parts of the world a ghastly form of puritanism has made many consider alcohol to be an extreme boogyman. On the contrary, it has been a constant part of the human diet for millennia. Certainly more so than caffeine.

My point was (effectively) that to call those who consume alcohol 'drug-users' was to apply a pejorative label to those who are doing that which is perfectly normal - in effect stretching the label. Perhaps you have proved my point.

[spodefly]

... drinking half a bottle of wine a day can make your brain work better, especially if you are a woman.

I have known this for years. Once women have had at least half a bottle of wine, they realize that I am a charming, witty, and incredibly sexy man and they must have me.

That's smart!

[Billthedrill]

The researchers were unable to test the effect of higher levels of alcohol consumption...

BtD here, reporting for duty...

[Paridel]

I agree wholeheartedly with your post. I frequently enjoy a beer or glass of wine with my dinner and occasionally few rounds in a pub with my friends.

However I have friends who think that I'm just one misstep away from becoming an alcoholic, or who think that my thought process is somehow greatly impaired by the one pint of beer I have consumed. For an example look at post #35 where wiz makes it sound like if I'm not careful one day I'll slip and and kill myself or someone else.

I too get irritated by flagrant displays of public intoxication, but I get just as irritated by non-drinkers that expect me to behave the same way after a beer or two.

The fact that alcohol is abused by some does not mean that it is impossible to consume alcohol in a safe and responsible fashion.

-paridel

[Mad Dawgg]

“Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy” - Benjamin Franklin

[Mad Dawgg]

"Once women have had at least half a bottle of wine, they realize that I am a charming, witty, and incredibly sexy man and they must have me."

"I drink to make other people interesting." - George Jean Nathan

[Junior]

I must be a bloomin' genius!

[cjshapi]

After the day I've had I'm gonna go home and add about 30 points to my IQ!

[NormB]

Prolly dance better too. :)

[XBob]

Youall may think you are joking, but I found, as a military officer and a manager, I could divide my people up into three groups1

1. Alcholics
2. Normals
3. Pot Heads

And as far as performance went (generalizing, to be sure) the alcoholics were always normally my best performers. Most all the time, but then every now and then they wouldn't make it to work at all.

2. The Normals, were, well 'normal' in performance.
elly
3. And the 'pot heads' were, well, "Duhhhhh !!!!", basically completely worthless.

[HankReardon]

Defending and rationalizing one's drug use is very common.

[utahagen]

Did I read this article right? Is it talking about women drinking four or five bottles a WEEK?!

[Zack Nguyen]

LOL!

[Feiny]

" (Spanish) champagne "

No such thing exists....Spanish call it Cava....Frenchies won't allow anything NOT from the Champagne region to be called champagne.....which is why most other areas call it "sparkling white".....

I had a tasty Cava election night too!!

[Publius]

I know. The brand was Freixenet, but most folks see any sparking white wine as "champagne".

[Feiny]

Well, I am doing my fair share!!!


"A bottle a day keeps the soberness away"
~Feiny

[Jorge]

I know this article is true.

After I drink few 6 packs I am an expert on EVERYTHING.
Ask anybody who knows me.

[Feiny]

Benefits of Drinking Outweigh Harm from Abuse
by David J. Hanson, Ph. D.

Research by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) reveals that the benefits of moderate drinking outweigh the harms from abusive drinking.

The NIAAA calculates that if all drinkers in the U.S. became abstainers, there would be an additional 80,000 deaths per year. Abstaining dramatically increases the risks of heart attack, ichemic stroke, and many other diseases and life-threatening conditions.

The CDC calculates that abusive drinking lead to about 75,766 deaths from all causes in 2001, a number that continues to decline. Therefore, these analyses indicate that moderate alcohol consumption saves more lives than are lost as a result of alcohol abuse.

This has been found in other countries as well. For example, light and moderate drinking saves more lives in England and Wales than are lost through the abuse of alcohol according to scientists at the University of London.

The researchers determined that if everyone abstained from alcohol, death rates would be significantly higher. In the words of the lead author, "alcohol saves more lives than it costs."

Other researchers, led by Dr. Ian White, found that, in the United Kingdom, 15,080 deaths were prevented through the use of alcohol, while 13,216 were caused by its abuse. Thus, the use of alcohol led to a net gain of 1,864 lives.

[Feiny]

See, we have nothing to feel guilty about.....wee....at least about drinking wine.

[mlocher]

drinking half a bottle of wine a day can make your brain work better, especially if you are a woman.

sounds rather sexist to me...