4 ms·

This is just wrong. 0.5 liters of beer is already detrimental to health. Drinking a glass of wine daily does not have, on balance, a health benefit. Alcohol is

This is just wrong. 0.5 liters of beer is already detrimental to health. Drinking a glass of wine daily does not have, on balance, a health benefit. Alcohol is not as bad as smoking, but it is a vice at any amount consumed. You do not need to defend an industry of billions for free. I am writing this after having a couple of beers every evening for the past two weeks, and a wine tasting trip too.

krsw 4y ago
>it is a vice at any amount consumed Sounds like you're evaluating it through a moralistic/religious lens as opposed to unbiased scientific one. Vice is such a preachy way to frame it. >You do not need to defend an industry of billions for free. I don't buy from the giants. 90% of my consumption is locally produced beers from small businesses in my community.
TaupeRanger 4y ago
There is no evidence to support any of your claims.
- eptcyka 4y ago
  There is this - https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(18)31310-2/fulltext https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6... There's no evidence of the contrary from your side - drinking alcohol is like any abusing any other organic solvent, I can't imagine why anyone would presume it'd be any healthier.
  - TaupeRanger 4y ago
    Sorry but the study you linked doesn't support any of the specific claims from your initial post, and my other reply earlier in the thread lists plenty of evidence for a protective effect of alcohol consumption for certain cancers.
ksquarekumar 4y ago
>You do not need to defend an industry of billions for free. And you could do better by being a little less preachy and a bit more pedantic, anecdotes and opinions are not facts after all.
- eptcyka 4y ago
  What specifically am I being preachy about?
  - subjectsigma 4y ago
    You called alcohol a "vice". Definition of vice from Merriam-Webster is "moral depravity or corruption; wickedness; a moral fault or failing." You are specifically asserting that people who drink alcohol are bad people. How is that not being preachy?
    - eptcyka 4y ago
      I do apologize then, as this was not my intention when I chose to use this word. Instead, I meant to convey that alcohol is a net negative healthwise, not unlike smoking cigarettes or consuming large amounts of bad food.
    - dTal 4y ago
      There are many shades of meaning to "vice"; it broadly indicates a weakness of character, not necessarily to the extent of making someone a bad person. If you know that alcohol is bad for you (and the people around you) and should not be drunk, and yet you drink it anyway simply because it feels good, is this not a failure of self control?
      - shard 4y ago
        Although the slippery slope is a fallacy, down the road you speak is monkhood and the productivity optimization cult of recent times.
    - bobkazamakis 4y ago
mywittyname 4y ago
I wear a fitness tracker every day, and it is extremely clear on which days I've consumed alcohol because my resting heart rate spikes by at least 5% the day afterwards. And I'm a one-beer drinker. It actually took tracking my entire food intake for about two months to figure out what was causing it. Last time I mentioned this on HN, people here have claimed that the effect was psychosomatic. I think people grossly underestimate the negative health effects of alcohol, and I doubt any amount of research will really change peoples minds.
- xhkkffbf 4y ago
  Yes, I've noticed that I sleep longer and harder after having one glass of wine with dinner. It's a pretty solid correlation because I don't drink that often.

krsw 4y ago

>it is a vice at any amount consumed Sounds like you're evaluating it through a moralistic/religious lens as opposed to unbiased scientific one. Vice is such a preachy way to frame it. >You do not need to defend an industry of billions for free. I don't buy from the giants. 90% of my consumption is locally produced beers from small businesses in my community.

TaupeRanger 4y ago

There is no evidence to support any of your claims.

eptcyka 4y ago
There is this - https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(18)31310-2/fulltext https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6... There's no evidence of the contrary from your side - drinking alcohol is like any abusing any other organic solvent, I can't imagine why anyone would presume it'd be any healthier.
- TaupeRanger 4y ago
  Sorry but the study you linked doesn't support any of the specific claims from your initial post, and my other reply earlier in the thread lists plenty of evidence for a protective effect of alcohol consumption for certain cancers.

ksquarekumar 4y ago

>You do not need to defend an industry of billions for free. And you could do better by being a little less preachy and a bit more pedantic, anecdotes and opinions are not facts after all.

eptcyka 4y ago
What specifically am I being preachy about?
- subjectsigma 4y ago
  You called alcohol a "vice". Definition of vice from Merriam-Webster is "moral depravity or corruption; wickedness; a moral fault or failing." You are specifically asserting that people who drink alcohol are bad people. How is that not being preachy?
  - eptcyka 4y ago
    I do apologize then, as this was not my intention when I chose to use this word. Instead, I meant to convey that alcohol is a net negative healthwise, not unlike smoking cigarettes or consuming large amounts of bad food.
  - dTal 4y ago
    There are many shades of meaning to "vice"; it broadly indicates a weakness of character, not necessarily to the extent of making someone a bad person. If you know that alcohol is bad for you (and the people around you) and should not be drunk, and yet you drink it anyway simply because it feels good, is this not a failure of self control?
    - shard 4y ago
      Although the slippery slope is a fallacy, down the road you speak is monkhood and the productivity optimization cult of recent times.
  - bobkazamakis 4y ago

mywittyname 4y ago

I wear a fitness tracker every day, and it is extremely clear on which days I've consumed alcohol because my resting heart rate spikes by at least 5% the day afterwards. And I'm a one-beer drinker. It actually took tracking my entire food intake for about two months to figure out what was causing it. Last time I mentioned this on HN, people here have claimed that the effect was psychosomatic. I think people grossly underestimate the negative health effects of alcohol, and I doubt any amount of research will really change peoples minds.

xhkkffbf 4y ago
Yes, I've noticed that I sleep longer and harder after having one glass of wine with dinner. It's a pretty solid correlation because I don't drink that often.