Study finds drinking excess alcohol can take years off your life

Sporky

Flink_Poyd said:

And a study next month will say it benefits you in some way. 

Red wine in moderate amounts is beneficial. Drinking red wine increases your chance of a heart attack by x%
Milk is good for you. Milk is bad for you.
Bread cures bumache. Bread gives you spots.

These studies just end up being contradicted most of the time.

The problem is that the media distills a complex set of results into a couple of snappy soundbites. It's possible for all of these to be true if you don't go full reductionist on the actual conclusions. 

stickyfiddle

Sporky said:

Flink_Poyd said:

And a study next month will say it benefits you in some way. 

Red wine in moderate amounts is beneficial. Drinking red wine increases your chance of a heart attack by x%
Milk is good for you. Milk is bad for you.
Bread cures bumache. Bread gives you spots.

These studies just end up being contradicted most of the time.

The problem is that the media distills a complex set of results into a couple of snappy soundbites. It's possible for all of these to be true if you don't go full reductionist on the actual conclusions. 

Sorry! Your position is far too complex. Can you rephrase into a snappy soundbite?

prowla

Note the use of "can" and "could" in the linked thread, and its conclusion.

"The key message of this research is that, if you already drink alcohol, drinking less may help you live longer and lower your risk of several cardiovascular conditions."

A while back we were told that the Mediterranean diet, including a glass of wine a day, is why they have a healthier lifetyle.

Tomorrow we'll be told that chips are good for you, or something else.

Sporky

stickyfiddle said:

Sporky said:

Flink_Poyd said:

And a study next month will say it benefits you in some way. 

Red wine in moderate amounts is beneficial. Drinking red wine increases your chance of a heart attack by x%
Milk is good for you. Milk is bad for you.
Bread cures bumache. Bread gives you spots.

These studies just end up being contradicted most of the time.

The problem is that the media distills a complex set of results into a couple of snappy soundbites. It's possible for all of these to be true if you don't go full reductionist on the actual conclusions. 

Sorry! Your position is far too complex. Can you rephrase into a snappy soundbite?

Newspapers are deliberately confusing, study finds. 

RandallFlagg

Breaking news: all humans will die.

A life of boring abstinence vs a slightly shorter life having tasted the joy of all the different foods, beers and wine that the world can offer?

Could fall under a bus tomorrow, I'd be happier passing over slightly sloshed than sober. 

prowla

Phil_aka_Pip

viz said:

If smoking’s so bad for you how come it cures salmon?

world class, mate

Phil_aka_Pip

RandallFlagg said:

A life of boring abstinence vs a slightly shorter life having tasted the joy of all the different foods, beers and wine that the world can offer?

If you don't drink, smoke, eat meat or take drugs you won't live any longer. It will just seem like it.

bluechargeboy

prowla said:

Holy shit I want those green and black stripey trousers!* And that Strat's not bad either!



*I am not currently drunk

Grunfeld

I love beer.
But I don't love being fat so I've stopped drinking beer.
I love abstinence too.  It's really nice to see it from both sides I think.
The thing I don't like about beer is how useful I find it:  if there's stuff in my life which is a bit rubbish, (and who hasn't got that stuff), then beer cheers me up and makes me forget about it for a while.  And the problem is that I find that massively negatively reinforcing:  I'll have lots of beer; because it works.  Kind of. 
The price is that it really piles on the weight, and as it happens I don't think it's so great to be using alcohol to dampen emotions. 
So I'm sober mode at the moment and it feels good, and it's pretty obviously more healthy all around, and the weight is reducing nicely.

VimFuego

I used tp have a bit of a problem with my attitude to beer, then I realised I was thinking about it wrong. Beer isn't a crutch, it's an energy drink, filled with protein, complex carbs and all that good stuff. Basically it's a sports drink, and they have to be good, right?

Danny1969

VimFuego said:

I used tp have a bit of a problem with my attitude to beer, then I realised I was thinking about it wrong. Beer isn't a crutch, it's an energy drink, filled with protein, complex carbs and all that good stuff. Basically it's a sports drink, and they have to be good, right?

Exactly !!!

Fretwired

VimFuego said:

I used tp have a bit of a problem with my attitude to beer, then I realised I was thinking about it wrong. Beer isn't a crutch, it's an energy drink, filled with protein, complex carbs and all that good stuff. Basically it's a sports drink, and they have to be good, right?

My ex-neighbour was told to drink a pint of beer a day by his doctor. My dad has been told a pint of ale is good for you by his GP. Packed with vitamins and nutrients.

On the other hand abstain, get lots of exercise and live to be 100 suffering from Alzheimer's and wearing a big nappy whilst the staff in the cheap state-owned care home stub their cigarettes out on you and pinch your belongings.

monquixote

Fretwired said:

VimFuego said:

I used tp have a bit of a problem with my attitude to beer, then I realised I was thinking about it wrong. Beer isn't a crutch, it's an energy drink, filled with protein, complex carbs and all that good stuff. Basically it's a sports drink, and they have to be good, right?

My ex-neighbour was told to drink a pint of beer a day by his doctor. My dad has been told a pint of ale is good for you by his GP. Packed with vitamins and nutrients.

On the other hand abstain, get lots of exercise and live to be 100 suffering from Alzheimer's and wearing a big nappy whilst the staff in the cheap state-owned care home stub their cigarettes out on you and pinch your belongings.

This argument doesn't stack up.

If you drink a lot, eat shit and take no exercise doesn't mean you will live to 70 in perfect health then go out like a light it means you will probably start losing your mental and physical faculties in your 60's and face an old age with dementia, diabetes, blindness, amputated limbs, etc. 

Bad living generally kills you slowly.

The main thing healthy living does for you is extend quality of life into old age not add additional years to your life.

Sporky

Also, buses are not the prolific killers that some people think them to be. 

Fretwired

monquixote said:

Fretwired said:

VimFuego said:

I used tp have a bit of a problem with my attitude to beer, then I realised I was thinking about it wrong. Beer isn't a crutch, it's an energy drink, filled with protein, complex carbs and all that good stuff. Basically it's a sports drink, and they have to be good, right?

My ex-neighbour was told to drink a pint of beer a day by his doctor. My dad has been told a pint of ale is good for you by his GP. Packed with vitamins and nutrients.

On the other hand abstain, get lots of exercise and live to be 100 suffering from Alzheimer's and wearing a big nappy whilst the staff in the cheap state-owned care home stub their cigarettes out on you and pinch your belongings.

This argument doesn't stack up.

If you drink a lot, eat shit and take no exercise doesn't mean you will live to 70 in perfect health then go out like a light it means you will probably start losing your mental and physical faculties in your 60's and face an old age with dementia, diabetes, blindness, amputated limbs, etc. 

Bad living generally kills you slowly.

The main thing healthy living does for you is extend quality of life into old age not add additional years to your life.

Sarcasm is really lost on this forum.

Chris777

I self medicate with falling over water, that's me bolloxed then!

Chalky

The early birds among you may have spotted that the original headline on this BBC story said "One drink a day can shorten your life" with the pertinent line in the story being "They found people who drank the equivalent of about five to 10 drinks a week could shorten their lives by up to six months."

After a few hours the headline was changed to what it is now and the pertinent line was pushed further down the story.  They also seem to have removed the link to the research article.

Another example of how the BBC fails to properly edit its stories these days before publishing them.

Like the proverbial correlation between ice cream sales and drownings, I bet the study owners failed to look at other lifestyle factors. But probably now want the funding for that...

viz

Phil_aka_Pip said:

viz said:

If smoking’s so bad for you how come it cures salmon?

world class, mate

Awesome isn’t it - though I have to credit viz for it, not me, unfortunately!

richardhomer

John Martyn - who certainly ‘liked a drink’ - said after having a lower leg amputated that he was ‘here for a good time - not a long time’. 

How right he was. Dead at 60....