3 ms·

> The three leading causes of attributable deaths in this age group were tuberculosis (1·4% [95% UI 1·0–1·7] of total deaths), road injuries (1·2% [0·7–1·9]), a

> The three leading causes of attributable deaths in this age group were tuberculosis (1·4% [95% UI 1·0–1·7] of total deaths), road injuries (1·2% [0·7–1·9]), and self-harm (1·1% [0·6–1·5]). TBC is still an infectious disease and road injuries are preventable by simply not driving after having had a drink and self-harm is rather unlikely after a bottle of beer. > and the level of consumption that minimises health loss is zero. That is a triviality. Alcohol has no health benefits. --- Seems to me that it is okay to have a drink a day.

vilhelm_s 8y ago
It's not a triviality. The background is that there have been quite a few studied published which claimed that drinking moderately had health benefits over not drinking at all (you see those headlines every now and then, "a glass of wine/week reduces risk of heart attack", or whatever). The statistics behind those studies are a bit dodgy, because they investigate just one disease (heart attacks, say) instead of total health effect, and because they are confounded by people who are tee-totalers because they were alcoholics (https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2018/04/did-drinking-give-me-breast-cancer/ https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2018/04/did-drinking-gi...). But many people say that they have a big negative impact on public health, because they allow people to rationalize their drinking---instead of thinking it's unhealthy they can go "oh, but it's good for my heart".
- raffael-vogler 8y ago
  As far as I know those studies have been falsified by at least one large meta-study (f.x. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26997174 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26997174) which revealed that those studies (showing benefits of moderate alcohol consumption) are based on a sampling bias. Those studies compare a group N of people who never drink with a group O of people who occasionally drink. Group N usually shows slightly more health issues than group O - hence the conclusion. But the problem is simply that there are reasons why people decide to abstain completely from alcohol. And those reasons are often health issues or problems with alcohol in the past. From that angle it is a triviality. Alcohol is mildly toxic to almost all organs - of course maximizing health will be achieved by avoiding it entirely.
Eric_WVGG 8y ago
"road injuries are preventable by simply not driving after having had a drink" Alcohol impairment is a factor in 31% of auto crashes. That’s a pretty big number, but most crashes are caused by aggressive or inattentive drivers. I thought your line initially read "road injuries are preventable by simply not driving" full stop, I was on board with that.
DanBC 8y ago
> Seems to me that it is okay to have a drink a day What's one drink? One 125 ml glass of wine at 8% ABV would be 1 UK unit. One 175 ml glass of wine at 12% ABV would be 2 UK units, nearly double the alcohol. One of those a day and you're drinking at the UK safe limit levels of 14 units a week.

vilhelm_s 8y ago

It's not a triviality. The background is that there have been quite a few studied published which claimed that drinking moderately had health benefits over not drinking at all (you see those headlines every now and then, "a glass of wine/week reduces risk of heart attack", or whatever). The statistics behind those studies are a bit dodgy, because they investigate just one disease (heart attacks, say) instead of total health effect, and because they are confounded by people who are tee-totalers because they were alcoholics (https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2018/04/did-drinking-give-me-breast-cancer/ https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2018/04/did-drinking-gi...). But many people say that they have a big negative impact on public health, because they allow people to rationalize their drinking---instead of thinking it's unhealthy they can go "oh, but it's good for my heart".

raffael-vogler 8y ago
As far as I know those studies have been falsified by at least one large meta-study (f.x. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26997174 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26997174) which revealed that those studies (showing benefits of moderate alcohol consumption) are based on a sampling bias. Those studies compare a group N of people who never drink with a group O of people who occasionally drink. Group N usually shows slightly more health issues than group O - hence the conclusion. But the problem is simply that there are reasons why people decide to abstain completely from alcohol. And those reasons are often health issues or problems with alcohol in the past. From that angle it is a triviality. Alcohol is mildly toxic to almost all organs - of course maximizing health will be achieved by avoiding it entirely.

Eric_WVGG 8y ago

"road injuries are preventable by simply not driving after having had a drink" Alcohol impairment is a factor in 31% of auto crashes. That’s a pretty big number, but most crashes are caused by aggressive or inattentive drivers. I thought your line initially read "road injuries are preventable by simply not driving" full stop, I was on board with that.

DanBC 8y ago

> Seems to me that it is okay to have a drink a day What's one drink? One 125 ml glass of wine at 8% ABV would be 1 UK unit. One 175 ml glass of wine at 12% ABV would be 2 UK units, nearly double the alcohol. One of those a day and you're drinking at the UK safe limit levels of 14 units a week.