It's important to note that it was never a secret that excessive drinking caused many health issues.
I think Cliff is right that there is a serious risk that some tyrants are going to try to attack alcohol and use this dubious study as their rallying cry, but I also expect some additional studies will be coming as a result (since many already exist) that connect moderate alcohol consumptions with reduced rates of cancer and dementia.
However, its no coincidence that the 1/3 of the world that regularly partake in alcohol are also amongst the longest lived. One of the fun things about dubious studies like this is that they can produce any desired outcome.
Last edited by Thunderball; 08-26-2018 at 11:26 PM.
Many things we take for granted today will be regarded as offensive in 30 years, and vice versa. Even a supremely enlightened creature like ResAlien, if he steps out of a time machine in 2048, will be regarded as a backward yokel.
I like how you instinctively take the most uncharitable interpretation of any comment, and are eager to put people into the bigot box. I guess it's easier to paint a tidy caricature than to address the actual points people make.
If you read the study, you'd note that only a third of the people in the world drink at all. As regional variations get smoothed over by globalization, North America will come to be more like the rest of the world (as will China, Brazil, etc.). That's not xenophobic - barring a technological collapse, cultural homogenization is an inevitability.
There are also generational trends at work. Alcohol consumption in Canada peaked in 1978-79. Younger Canadians are drinking less than their counterparts did even 15 years ago.
And those figures are for people who drank at all in the last year. The number of people who drink with any regularity is significantly lower. Governments are already able to relentlessly increase alcohol taxes without much pushback. They will show even less restraint once fewer than half of Canadians drink regularly.
Again, why do you care? Your posts in this thread come across as extremely angry. Why do you think it’s a bad thing if future generations drink less than the current ones?
- at nearly every social event I attend I am usually asked to explain why I don't drink. People generally aren't mean about it, but it's certainly on par with having an 11th finger as far as talking points go. Maybe I just hang out with alcoholics, but I don't see drinking becoming a thing that happens less.
- People will still gravitate to the studies that support their alcohol consumption. There's plenty of studies that people either skim or just read about in the news. Whatever your opinion, there's something for you. It's not correct but it's what people will do.
- It's a tough substance to pin down because on one hand it's basically a toxin you're ingesting. On the other, it acts as a social lubricant, and being social is a huge predictor of health into old age. Many point to areas of Italy with impressive longevity because they drink and eat with reckless abandon. It's also hard to ignore that Italians often cluster with their families, so their social circles are tight. Japan also gets this treatment, and they hold their elderly in high regard, so it's not crazy that they live longer. It rubs me the wrong way when people say "well this group drinks and they're doing great". Drinking is one behaviour amongst thousands.
The Following 2 Users Say Thank You to Russic For This Useful Post:
Alcohol leads to more hospitalizations than heart attacks do in Canada
Last year, about 77,000 hospitalizations in Canada were due to conditions entirely caused by alcohol, compared with about 75,000 for heart attacks.
Alcohol Harm in Canada: Examining Hospitalizations Entirely Caused by Alcohol and Strategies to Reduce Alcohol Harm, a new report released by the Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI), examines hospitalizations that are 100% caused by the harmful consumption of alcohol. Examples include patients who are hospitalized for alcohol poisoning, alcohol withdrawal or liver disease caused by alcohol.
Males age 20 and older had higher rates of heavy drinking and hospitalizations than females in the same age group. However, among those age 10 to 19, girls had higher hospitalization rates than boys, with 63 per 100,000 and 45 per 100,000, respectively.
The majority of hospitalizations were linked to mental health and addictions. Conditions related to mental health and addictions accounted for nearly 3 out of 4 hospitalizations entirely caused by alcohol.
The rate of alcohol-related hospitalizations and deaths is increasing faster for women than for men.
The rate of women who died from causes linked directly to alcohol has increased by 26% since 2001, compared with a roughly 5% increase over the same period for men. In addition, more than 25,000 women had alcohol-related hospitalizations in 2016–2017, representing a nearly 3% increase in the alcohol hospitalization rate for women over the previous year. By comparison, the increase for men was 0.6% over the same period.
I have heard that there's a shift in the youth these days (god am I that old?) towards weed rather than alcohol.
I don't think the alcohol companies really have anything to worry about yet, but definitely soft and hard drugs are the next things to really become big. With the recent deals from the alcohol companies into the weed industry, it's pretty clear that they also see the trend shifting a bit that way.
New study shows that being born eventually leads to death.
I'm an "all things in moderation" guy. I don't think 1 or 2 drinks a week is going to kill me. Neither is that piece of homemade cake, processed cheese, orange juice from concentrate, or one lousy joint. (I recently learned that for insurance purposes if you smoke 1 cigar a month, you are not considered a smoker.)
Drinking isn't going away. - new "buck-a-(awful)-beer" now being introduced in ON. - every vodka distiller advertising flavored offerings - hundreds of craft beer producers - small batch gin making a comeback - Stores dedicated to wine, whiskey, and beer.
so many options, so many social opportunities to try them out.
Sometimes you've got to live life and be a sport.
Last edited by Bleeding Red; 08-27-2018 at 10:16 AM.
We are legalizing marijuana and deregulating alcohol. We have always known that moderate drinking was bad. The trend line is in the opposite direction.
Not only is the trend line opposite DESPITE knowing the negative impacts (the negative effects of alcohol are no secret) but the comparison to cigarettes in social attitudes is almost hilariously bad.
Since the negative health impacts of cigarettes was revealed in the 1960s, tobacco use saw a steady decline until it was banned in public places FIFTY years later. At the time when it was revealed, approximately 50% of Canadians smoked. Today, that number is around 16% (60 years later).
Alcohol use is at over 70% today. To say it could be seen as similar to cigarettes in 20-30 years most definitely is the product of an active imagination, to say the least.
Alcohol has been around for thousands of years and it'll still kick around.
I think some of you dont give booze the generous praise that it deserves!
Look at all great Cities, most are near waterways, well that water was usually heavily polluted with whatever our lunatic ancestors could throw in there and as such it was toxic....unless it was part of beer or wine which killed the nefarious bacteria!
The modern world was founded on booze!
__________________ The Beatings Shall Continue Until Morale Improves!
This Post Has Been Distilled for the Eradication of Seemingly Incurable Sadness.
The World Ends when you're dead. Until then, you've got more punishment in store. - Flames Fans
If you thought this season would have a happy ending, you haven't been paying attention.
The Following 3 Users Say Thank You to Locke For This Useful Post:
We are legalizing marijuana and deregulating alcohol. We have always known that moderate drinking was bad. The trend line is in the opposite direction.
How is alcohol being deregualated? There still seems to be a lot of rules around the sale and public consumption of alcohol. Heck, i can't take my kids to brunch at the pub on the weekend because they might witness someone having a beer.
