15 ms·

The problem is that a lot of studies are bogus (p-hacking, deliberately hysterical to gain media attention , etc) so it's becoming difficult to winnow through i

by sp527 10y ago

The problem is that a lot of studies are bogus (p-hacking, deliberately hysterical to gain media attention , etc) so it's becoming difficult to winnow through it all and find the stuff that's meaningful. This is actually the fairly troubling reality of medical research in general. People who have financial interests in achieving particular conclusions have managed to weaponize these kinds of studies. There's a very real risk of important research getting lost in the tremendous amount of noise that's being generated.

TheSpiceIsLife 10y ago
Too true. I'm going to err on the side of caution with ethanol. My reasoning is as follows: Ethanol is a solvent, our brains are mostly fat - this should be a cause for concern. Cell walls are a phospholipid bilayer, which probably, at least partly, explains why ethanol is an irritant to our tissues. Anything that causes irritation over a long enough time can lead to an increase in cell turnover and inflammation. Anything that leads to an increased cell turnover and inflammation has the potential increase the risks of cancer. Additionally, for all the supposed health benefits of drinking [whatever the fashionable number is this week] glasses of wine, all the experiments I've done by pouring wine on to plants and insects has led to a failure to thrive or death, whereas putting green leafy vegetables on a plant or insect typically leads to the organism thriving, or at worst disinterest. Also, ethanol can be used as a toxic agent for the purposes of sterilisation. That doesn't sound like the sort of thing I would want to drink. Additionally, even the organisms that produce alcohol for human consumption, the Saccharomyces yeast organisms, consider ethanol a waste product. I'm not going to wait for conclusive evidence to prove that alcohol does or doesn't cause an increased risk of some types of cancer.

by sp527 10y ago

TheSpiceIsLife 10y ago

Too true. I'm going to err on the side of caution with ethanol. My reasoning is as follows: Ethanol is a solvent, our brains are mostly fat - this should be a cause for concern. Cell walls are a phospholipid bilayer, which probably, at least partly, explains why ethanol is an irritant to our tissues. Anything that causes irritation over a long enough time can lead to an increase in cell turnover and inflammation. Anything that leads to an increased cell turnover and inflammation has the potential increase the risks of cancer. Additionally, for all the supposed health benefits of drinking [whatever the fashionable number is this week] glasses of wine, all the experiments I've done by pouring wine on to plants and insects has led to a failure to thrive or death, whereas putting green leafy vegetables on a plant or insect typically leads to the organism thriving, or at worst disinterest. Also, ethanol can be used as a toxic agent for the purposes of sterilisation. That doesn't sound like the sort of thing I would want to drink. Additionally, even the organisms that produce alcohol for human consumption, the Saccharomyces yeast organisms, consider ethanol a waste product. I'm not going to wait for conclusive evidence to prove that alcohol does or doesn't cause an increased risk of some types of cancer.