131–140 of 167 posts
It would be better to know at what age this increases risk. If a lifetime spent drinking delicious, delicious red wine ends up taking me out 5yrs before Alzheimer's would, so be it.
The N.Y. Times once reported on the lifespans of the people of Ikaria, who apparently have the longest recorded lifespans, as a group, in the world. Their diet includes moderate amounts of wine. “Wine — in moderation — had been shown to be good for you if consumed as part of a Mediterranean diet, because it prompts the body to absorb more flavonoids, a type of antioxidant” Not a medical research study, but I wonder h…
> Not a medical research study, but I wonder how oncologists would reconcile their recommendations with reports such as this.
They would point to all the actual studies that show a drink a day is harmful, not beneficial.
It would be better to know at what age this increases risk. If a lifetime spent drinking delicious, delicious red wine ends up taking me out 5yrs before Alzheimer's would, so be it.
How old are you? I'm just a touch over 40 and even at this age the poignancy of life really starts to reveal itself to you. You would trade 5 years of your life for being able to drink wine? Because it's that delicious, right? Sorry, but this is either hyperbole to the point of silliness or you have no idea the value of your life.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Some large fraction of the adult population consumes alcohol on a fairly regular basis so I imagine society would collapse if it was as harmful on a per capita basis as something like cocaine or heroin. That's a rather dishonest comparison to make. Alcohol consumption is very well recorded and tracked due to its legal nature, the same can't be said about cocaine, heroin and pretty much all the other illegal drugs.…
What is your argument?
That's why it's dishonest to make comparisons along the lines of "If all the people drinking alcohol would instead be taking cocaine/heroine the situation would be worse" because nobody can say with any certainty how many of these people drinking are already also regular users of illegal drugs. It also doesn't say anything about responsible use, which exists for alcohol just like it does for cocaine and even heroin.
It might just be my anecdotal experience, but the vast majority of users, especially the responsible ones, are very rarely public about their use, even to friends and family. Usually, you only find out about their habit by accident or if you share a similar "hobby" and know what to look for.
It's a common misconception that illegal drug users all are easily spotted by their lack of body hygiene/low economic standing/whatever other myths the "War on Drugs" has spread to make the illegal stuff seem so much worse than the "good" legal stuff.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
How old are you? I'm just a touch over 40 and even at this age the poignancy of life really starts to reveal itself to you. You would trade 5 years of your life for being able to drink wine? Because it's that delicious, right? Sorry, but this is either hyperbole to the point of silliness or you have no idea the value of your life.
How patronizing. I would happily trade five extra years at the very end of my life in return for fulfillment and enjoyment in the run up. Maybe by some fluke you have not, but I’ve seen advanced old age up close and personal and in most cases, it ain’t pretty. You have the luxury of being young and (presumably) relatively healthy now. Come talk to me in 40 years when you are immobile, incontinent, arthritic and/or de…
I have indeed experienced it up close and personal. My experience is that there is no magical "shaving X number of years off the end of your life". It doesn't work like that, unfortunately. Come talk to me in 40 years when your daughter is due with her first child in a month and you don't want to live to see that. Maybe we have too different of lives to be able to empathize with each other, but I wouldn't willingly give up those years of my life if I answer the question posed with no caveats (i.e. - well, but what if I lose my mind? What if I become incontinent? Etc.)
Earlier quoted context omitted.
People talk about obesity all the time. The problem is nobody knows what to do about it.
I suspect the answer will turn out to be the same for food and alcohol: have periodic breaks from both to allow the body to recover. In the case of food this is now called intermittent fasting but it applies to both. In particular to allow the immune system, which captures many incipient cancer growths, to reset. One of the reasons that smoking is so harmful I think is that people do it continuously whereas most drin…
It would be better to know at what age this increases risk. If a lifetime spent drinking delicious, delicious red wine ends up taking me out 5yrs before Alzheimer's would, so be it.
possibly alcohol will accelerate neural deterioration - so you will still have your Alzheimer and die sooner.
Citation needed.
As someone who has never drank and often has discussions with people about alcohol, it's amusing to see how many people go straight to defending their choice to drink alcohol in this thread.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yes and no. I think what's missing is the general awareness about the connection between excess weight and other ills: diabetes, cancer, etc., etc. Most people believe extra weight is natural, (socially) acceptable, and just a basic modern inconvenience. It's just not wise for established leaders to say "stop drinking soda or die young." Not to get off topic but look at Obama and healthcare. He could have tied person…
>I think what's missing is the general awareness about the connection between excess weight and other ills: diabetes, cancer, etc., etc. Really? I don't know anybody who doesn't realize that connection. It's hard to imagine you wouldn't if you had a television or an internet connection.
I was just at the local supermarket last night and nearly every cart seemed to have soda in it. And I'm not talking about fit ppl the cart.
Maybe they know? And they're just in denial? Perhaps. The ends is the same...given the choice ppl will blame anything but themselves.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
There's no evidence any of this actually works, and most people aren't interested in a government that tries to dictate what they should eat.
> There's no evidence any of this actually works, There's plenty of evidence that taxing a product reduces demand for that product > and most people aren't interested in a government that tries to dictate what they should eat. That's true, but it just underscores the ancestor comment: Social acceptance can make most any evil the norm. People accept that the government should regulate what we drink and smoke, but not…
Long to short...we want healthcare as a right, but zero responsibility related to that right (i.e., personal health). This isn't working out well.