Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

“Health benefits” of moderate drinking disappear when controlling for wealth

theconversation.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

101–110 of 134 posts

Re: “Health benefits” of moderate drinking disappear when controlling for wealth

#101

Post by nickjarboe »

CM30 wrote: post #21

Honestly, with all this stuff about whether drinking or whatever is or isn't good for you, part of me wonders why I should even care any more. I mean, it's pretty clear that genetics have a huge impact in how long you live regardless of what your lifestyle is like, and it's also clear that the advice seems to change every few years anyway. May as well just live how you like and deal with things as they come. And if t…

Individual DNA analysis is on the way, so hopefully health science can start to study what might best work for you, individually. Maybe for now just weigh the health advise of your genetic ancestors more than some study on millions of people that show only small differences of outcome.

Re: “Health benefits” of moderate drinking disappear when controlling for wealth

#102

Post by icebraining »

Shorel wrote: post #60
CM30 wrote: post #21

Honestly, with all this stuff about whether drinking or whatever is or isn't good for you, part of me wonders why I should even care any more. I mean, it's pretty clear that genetics have a huge impact in how long you live regardless of what your lifestyle is like, and it's also clear that the advice seems to change every few years anyway. May as well just live how you like and deal with things as they come. And if t…

You should care. The issue is to be able to indulge in a bit of self experimentation. You eat and drink what you enjoy, and do regular checks. If you change what you eat and drink, the checks will tell you if it is good or not for you.

What kind of checks?

Re: “Health benefits” of moderate drinking disappear when controlling for wealth

#103

Post by dsfyu404ed »

Moderate drinking -> 2 drinks/day -> 14 drinks per person per week -> 30 pack week for a couple -> $20 per week (assuming cans and light beer)

It kinda makes sense that as people marry and settle down that the people who think $20/week on booze while raising children are either well off or consider booze to be a high priority. The latter former is healthier in general and the latter probably makes other questionable decisions that affect their health.

Re: “Health benefits” of moderate drinking disappear when controlling for wealth

#104

Post by carbocation »

rb2k_ wrote: post #9
carbocation wrote: post #3

Mendelian randomization studies also support the notion that less alcohol intake is probably better for everyone (from a strictly cardiovascular health standpoint): http://www.bmj.com/content/349/bmj.g4164

Isn't Mendelian Randomization prone to pleiotropy? I've never understood how people can control for that without a complete understanding of the genome.

Yes, MR is prone to biased estimates due to pleiotropy. Attempting to unbias the estimators is a relatively hot topic right now.

Re: “Health benefits” of moderate drinking disappear when controlling for wealth

#105

Post by [deleted] »

bcrescimanno wrote: post #48

The great Lewis Black has some wonderfully relevant commentary: "The people who told us about sun block were the same people who told us, when I was a kid, that eggs were good. So I ate a lot of eggs. Ten years later they said they were bad. I went, "Well, I just ate the eggs!" So I stopped eating eggs, and ten years later they said they were good again! Well, then I ate twice as many, and then they said they were ba…

[deleted]

Re: “Health benefits” of moderate drinking disappear when controlling for wealth

#106

Post by dsfyu404ed »

DavidWanjiru wrote: post #88

Since we're talking health outcomes here, how prudent is it to measure these outcomes based on respondents' self assessments of how healthy they are, as this study does, rather than empirically measuring those outcomes?

If they're all sober the people who are just in a bad mood because they're sober and give a low rating probably magnify the variance /s

Re: “Health benefits” of moderate drinking disappear when controlling for wealth

#107

Post by dsfyu404ed »

Tycho wrote: post #50
_m8fo wrote: post #5

I've never drank before, so I'm a terrible person to comment about this: but what exactly is the supposed benefit of drinking? I go to dinner parties, clubs, etc. and it seems that alcohol is everywhere. People mention that its social lubricant, but I just don't get it. I've had great times with groups that don't drink any alcohol: sometimes we just eat great food, play games, etc. I've had similar experiences with m…

Beer has good health benefits. It doesn't have sugar in it, so it's something you can drink without damaging your teeth. It doesn't have caffeine, so it's not going to stop you sleeping (hence why people meet for a coffee during the day and a 'drink' in the evening). Apparently it helps your cholesterol. It also kills germs/bacteria - when I was in India I tried to drink beer every day and I never got sick. In terms…

>It doesn't have sugar in it, so it's something you can drink without damaging your teeth.

I'm keeping this in my mental file cabinet for the semi-weekly "beer, wine or vodka and fruit juice" debate.

>It also kills germs/bacteria

I'd wager that moonshine kills them deader.

>I think it becomes much more appealing in hot weather, as a chilled beer is very refreshing.

>Also, it's something you tend to sip gradually

Those aren't the same drink. Beer can be downed rapidly after finishing a laborious task. IPAs and other "beer inspired" substances are what you slowly sip when you have a lot of time on your hands.

Re: “Health benefits” of moderate drinking disappear when controlling for wealth

#108

Post by dsfyu404ed »

palebluedot wrote: post #43
freecodyx wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

5 small cups... i don't think it's excess. but maybe because it was my first time, i was worried of losing control (i remember i did 40 pushups to prove to my friend i still in control). Anyway never tried again. i hate it

5 small cups... i don't think it's excess. That sounds like a lot of vodka, especially for a first-time drinker! Depending on the size of the cup, that was likely at least 5 drinks, and likely more (1 drink of spirits is usually less than you think, and almost always less than what you see poured on TV). Given that it is also easier to drink liquor faster than something like beer, you likely had quite a bit of alcoho…

>Given that it is also easier to drink liquor faster than something like beer,

The kind of vodka that someone having their first drink does not go down quicker than beer unless you're already drunk.

Re: “Health benefits” of moderate drinking disappear when controlling for wealth

#109

Post by nostrademons »

dmurray wrote: post #19

OK, so moderate drinking is not good for you, it's just that being wealthier and better educated makes people more likely to be moderate drinkers. So, hopefully the causal explanation is that drinking moderately makes you smarter and richer, and eventually healthier.

Causation likely runs the other way. If you are economically comfortable, you are less likely to have problems that you would be tempted to "drink away", and so are more likely to be able to occasionally have a drink without it reaching the level of problem drinking. The article indicated that almost all of the health benefits of moderate drinking vs non-drinking were accounted for by the presence of "sick former drinkers", who were lumped in with non-drinkers in the original studies but had previously had a problem with alcohol abuse that they had been forced to kick for health reasons.

Re: “Health benefits” of moderate drinking disappear when controlling for wealth

#110

Post by PlaceFan »

lngnmn wrote: post #97
watwut wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

According to the very article we comment on, moderate drinking is wealthy person thing. Which is according to article why moderate drinkers are are healthier - they are wealthy. Also, alcohol makes you happy with oneself? It makes you forget if you drink enough of it ...

> moderate drinking is wealthy person thing Cross-culturally? Would the similar results be obtained in Ireland, Poland, Russia? Perhaps my generalizations are somehow better match to reality? You're probably unaware, but some regions has tradition of alcohol consumption deep in their culture and even national identity and nearly everyone consumes alcohol to various degrees.

> some regions has tradition of alcohol consumption deep in their culture and even national identity

New Zealand is one of those places.

> nearly everyone consumes alcohol to various degrees.

That's the point of the study. Wealthy people consume alcohol in moderate amounts, the working class are likely:

1) Consuming it in much greater amounts, or

2) Abstaining from alcohol entirely. Perhaps because of previous problems with alcohol abuse, strict religious adherence, etc. You can think of multiple reasons that might explain seeing such a class disparity.

Post reply on HN