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Alcohol is poison no matter which side you come down on in this discussion. Very occasional use is OK (for you, but not for me) and not likely to cause you harm

Alcohol is poison no matter which side you come down on in this discussion. Very occasional use is OK (for you, but not for me) and not likely to cause you harm. Just like getting high once a year is probably not going to kill you or cause you any type of irreparable damage. But I'd be hard pressed to be convinced that drinking in any form, at any given frequency- is going to be good or beneficial for the majority of people anyways. If what's in wine is so healthy for you, why isn't it in pill form? Why haven't we found how to extract those sought-after polyphenols, flavonoids, et. al. sans alcohol and served that up yet? Oh, right- we need to support the alcohol industry. I'm a teetotaler, and former recovering alcoholic from a family with a history of alcoholism. So there's probably my bias. I also don't believe we should be consuming as much coffee, or rather caffeine, as we are as that is probably a leading contributor to increasing anxiety and depression. I realize I am unlikely to be very unpopular here. But I don't care. The alcohol and caffeine industries are propped up by those who are addicted - 80% are funded by the 20%; people who handwave this away are forgetting the harm it's causing some and ignoring the damage these individuals go through because they are so normalized in our lives these day. And yes, you can add chocolate to that list (having some caffeine to a small extent). There are huge lobbying and advertising mechanisms in place to ensure it keeps going. I.e., Coca Cola depends on caffeine being present in their drinks. Just take a gander at the top 5 food&beverage companies in the world. Top Food & Beverage Co. in the world (2022) #1 - Nestle (caffeinated drinks, chocolates, addicting food) #2 - PepsiCo (caffeinated drinks) #3 - Anheuser-Busch (alcoholic drinks) #4 - Coca-Cola (caffeinated drinks) #5 - Mondelez international (chocolates, caffeinated drinks)

gnicholas 3y ago
> But I'd be hard pressed to be convinced that drinking in any form, at any given frequency- is going to be good or beneficial for the majority of people anyways. The point of the article was that it's unwise to only consider health consequences of alcohol, particularly when they are so uncertain/ever-changing. Instead, it makes sense to factor in enjoyment (personal utility), which for many people weighs in favor of drinking sometimes. As for your point about pills, I think there are pills that contain distillates from certain types of wine, which supposedly are good for you.

gnicholas 3y ago

> But I'd be hard pressed to be convinced that drinking in any form, at any given frequency- is going to be good or beneficial for the majority of people anyways. The point of the article was that it's unwise to only consider health consequences of alcohol, particularly when they are so uncertain/ever-changing. Instead, it makes sense to factor in enjoyment (personal utility), which for many people weighs in favor of drinking sometimes. As for your point about pills, I think there are pills that contain distillates from certain types of wine, which supposedly are good for you.