7 ms·

> Our study highlights the contribution of even relatively low levels of alcohol to the risk of new cancer cases, "relatively" is doing a lot of heavy lifting

> Our study highlights the contribution of even relatively low levels of alcohol to the risk of new cancer cases, "relatively" is doing a lot of heavy lifting here. I'm always amazed when filling out health surveys where it considers one alcoholic drink every single day a "low level".

hrh 5y ago
Had friends that had to have 4-6 beers to chill out every night and had been doing that for 20 years. I feel fucking terrible the day after drinking a six-pack; I can't imagine what that does to the body (a lot of the same stuff as sugar). You're slowly killing yourself. Having not known a grandfather due to alcoholism (don't be so hard on the boomers, their fuckups are the fuckups of a generation that went through ww2), and slowly realized why my father is the way he is....it's kind of fucking terrifying. I don't recall if this was precovid or postcovid, but there was a 60 minutes where they were talking about the impact that understanding the genome has had on health research, but specifically curing some cancers and longevity. They had a harvard prof on there that firmly believed that within 7 years that we'll be seeing real advances (that the public will have access to) on that. 7 years is nothing. You know it's not going to take 7 years, it's going to take 25, but stop pickling yourselves so you can make it that far. I have 45 year old friends that act like they are going to die tomorrow. edit: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/harvard-geneticist-george-church-goal-to-protect-humans-from-viruses-genetic-diseases-and-aging-60-minutes-2019-12-08/ https://www.cbsnews.com/news/harvard-geneticist-george-churc... This is the 60 minutes in question. Keep in mind academic timelines. It's longer than seven years, money quote, among other interesting stuff: > Scott Pelley: What's the time horizon on age reversal in humans? George Church: That's in clinical trials right now in dogs. And so, that veterinary product might be a couple years away and then that takes another ten years to get through the human clinical trials.
- jbigelow76 5y ago
  (don't be so hard on the boomers, their fuckups are the fuckups of a generation that went through ww2) Pretty sure the boomers are the ones that came after WW2, the aforementioned "boom" of their namesake being progeny of those that didn't die during the blitz, Normandy, Stalingrad, and everywhere in between.
  - hrh 5y ago
    I was being obtuse: what I was trying to say is there are a lot of GIs and people at home that were damaged. Their kids got the worst of it.
  - WalterBright 5y ago
    The boom comes from "baby boom" which means a sudden increase in the birth rate. This happens normally after wars end that have high casualty rates. I recall reading that the day WW1 was declared over, people were copulating in the streets of London. People have an urge to rebuild the population.
    - mhh__ 5y ago
      They were probably thinking less strategically at the time
      - WalterBright 5y ago
        It's a biological imperative, not a rational thought process.
  - midasuni 5y ago
    Typically Boomers parents fought in ww2. Boomers fought in Vietnam. Boomers had parents suffering from post ww2 problems, problems likely dealt with by alcohol.
  - zoover2020 5y ago
    Best troll of 2021 yet
tomjen3 5y ago
That is a six pack a week? Yeah, that seems pretty low to me. You can certainly go lower than that, without not drinking at all, but you can also go much higher without it having any noticeable effect on your life and without being drunk at any point: One beer to celebrate sitting in your garden at the end of the work day, one glass of wine at dinner, one scotch before bed.
- rob74 5y ago
  Congratulations, if you do that every single day, that makes you a heavy drinker. Drinking alcohol every single day is already one red flag, and drinking more than one "drink" (one small bottle of beer, one glass of wine or one small glass of whisky/vodka/etc.) per day is a second red flag. Of course you can get much worse than that, but it will still negatively impact your health long-term.
  - wbl 5y ago
    It's also completely unremarkable across much of Europe to drink that much.
    - SteveNuts 5y ago
      That absolutely does not mean it's a healthy thing to do.
      - refurb 5y ago
        Driving a car, eating meet, BBQing, living near a road are unhealthy things but we don’t always choose to avoid them.
  - davnn 5y ago
    Well, it's not so clear cut. If you live your life according to a Mediterranean lifestyle and drink your glass of wine each day (mostly in a social setting, which is especially important when you grow older), you will be healthier than most other people.
laurieg 5y ago
The biggest difference is if alcohol is part of your routine or just for special occasions. If it's part of your routine you might have a glass or two of wine with dinner most nights. Or a couple of pints in the pub after work. Maybe you never really get drunk, but you're drinking a lot of alcohol. I used to drink pretty infrequently. Sure, I'd have a six pack a party every now and then but most of the time I was busy with other things. Now that there's not so many 'other things' to do I do find myself drinking more and more regularly.
- Engineering-MD 5y ago
  But it seems that a small number (ie 10-20ml of ethanol) a day is less dangerous than binge drinking occasionally.

hrh 5y ago

Had friends that had to have 4-6 beers to chill out every night and had been doing that for 20 years. I feel fucking terrible the day after drinking a six-pack; I can't imagine what that does to the body (a lot of the same stuff as sugar). You're slowly killing yourself. Having not known a grandfather due to alcoholism (don't be so hard on the boomers, their fuckups are the fuckups of a generation that went through ww2), and slowly realized why my father is the way he is....it's kind of fucking terrifying. I don't recall if this was precovid or postcovid, but there was a 60 minutes where they were talking about the impact that understanding the genome has had on health research, but specifically curing some cancers and longevity. They had a harvard prof on there that firmly believed that within 7 years that we'll be seeing real advances (that the public will have access to) on that. 7 years is nothing. You know it's not going to take 7 years, it's going to take 25, but stop pickling yourselves so you can make it that far. I have 45 year old friends that act like they are going to die tomorrow. edit: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/harvard-geneticist-george-church-goal-to-protect-humans-from-viruses-genetic-diseases-and-aging-60-minutes-2019-12-08/ https://www.cbsnews.com/news/harvard-geneticist-george-churc... This is the 60 minutes in question. Keep in mind academic timelines. It's longer than seven years, money quote, among other interesting stuff: > Scott Pelley: What's the time horizon on age reversal in humans? George Church: That's in clinical trials right now in dogs. And so, that veterinary product might be a couple years away and then that takes another ten years to get through the human clinical trials.

jbigelow76 5y ago
(don't be so hard on the boomers, their fuckups are the fuckups of a generation that went through ww2) Pretty sure the boomers are the ones that came after WW2, the aforementioned "boom" of their namesake being progeny of those that didn't die during the blitz, Normandy, Stalingrad, and everywhere in between.
- hrh 5y ago
  I was being obtuse: what I was trying to say is there are a lot of GIs and people at home that were damaged. Their kids got the worst of it.
- WalterBright 5y ago
  The boom comes from "baby boom" which means a sudden increase in the birth rate. This happens normally after wars end that have high casualty rates. I recall reading that the day WW1 was declared over, people were copulating in the streets of London. People have an urge to rebuild the population.
  - mhh__ 5y ago
    They were probably thinking less strategically at the time
    - WalterBright 5y ago
      It's a biological imperative, not a rational thought process.
- midasuni 5y ago
  Typically Boomers parents fought in ww2. Boomers fought in Vietnam. Boomers had parents suffering from post ww2 problems, problems likely dealt with by alcohol.
- zoover2020 5y ago
  Best troll of 2021 yet

tomjen3 5y ago

That is a six pack a week? Yeah, that seems pretty low to me. You can certainly go lower than that, without not drinking at all, but you can also go much higher without it having any noticeable effect on your life and without being drunk at any point: One beer to celebrate sitting in your garden at the end of the work day, one glass of wine at dinner, one scotch before bed.

rob74 5y ago
Congratulations, if you do that every single day, that makes you a heavy drinker. Drinking alcohol every single day is already one red flag, and drinking more than one "drink" (one small bottle of beer, one glass of wine or one small glass of whisky/vodka/etc.) per day is a second red flag. Of course you can get much worse than that, but it will still negatively impact your health long-term.
- wbl 5y ago
  It's also completely unremarkable across much of Europe to drink that much.
  - SteveNuts 5y ago
    That absolutely does not mean it's a healthy thing to do.
    - refurb 5y ago
      Driving a car, eating meet, BBQing, living near a road are unhealthy things but we don’t always choose to avoid them.
- davnn 5y ago
  Well, it's not so clear cut. If you live your life according to a Mediterranean lifestyle and drink your glass of wine each day (mostly in a social setting, which is especially important when you grow older), you will be healthier than most other people.

laurieg 5y ago

The biggest difference is if alcohol is part of your routine or just for special occasions. If it's part of your routine you might have a glass or two of wine with dinner most nights. Or a couple of pints in the pub after work. Maybe you never really get drunk, but you're drinking a lot of alcohol. I used to drink pretty infrequently. Sure, I'd have a six pack a party every now and then but most of the time I was busy with other things. Now that there's not so many 'other things' to do I do find myself drinking more and more regularly.

Engineering-MD 5y ago
But it seems that a small number (ie 10-20ml of ethanol) a day is less dangerous than binge drinking occasionally.