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U.S. alcohol-related deaths have doubled, study says

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Re: U.S. alcohol-related deaths have doubled, study says

#271

Post by samcodes »

cactus2093 wrote: post #156

I'm not at all trying to lessen all the stories of alcoholism in the thread. I know everyone's experience is different, and addiction and alcoholism are genuine diseases that become incredibly physiologically difficult to overcome. But I find it a complicated topic. I've had so many great times drinking - sitting around with friends, late into the night, making real connections, debating things, laughing, and not bei…

For me, it’s weddings, holidays, and funerals. The proper way to celebrate those (this is culturally relative, and I’m talking about whatever sub-culture I come from in the US) involves alcohol. Which sometimes makes quitting alcohol feel like cutting off your nose to spite your face.

Re: U.S. alcohol-related deaths have doubled, study says

#272

Post by likemybooze »

guerby wrote: post #264
likemybooze wrote: post #169

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am now realizing when doing the math I misremembered and the US CDC unit of alcohol is 14g, so I am consuming 3 units/day whereas their guidelines are no more than 2 units/day. The UK in contrast says a unit is 8g, and suggests no more than 2 units a day (so slightly more than half the US guideline). Some countries call a unit 10g. If I recall correctly France suggests no more than 40g/day, so around 2/3rds of a bo…

From France official health insurer web site : https://www.ameli.fr/assure/sante/themes/alcool-sante/defini... "No more than 10 glass a week, with no more than two glass a day." A glass = 10g alcohol, so 14g/day. The web site also say there is no alcohol consumption without risk.

Interesting, perhaps some of the guidelines have been revised down in recent years. I distinctly remember both France and Italy having higher recommended daily limits and the only explanations I could find were that wine was part of the culture and thus the governments were reluctant to recommend substantially less than what people were actually drinking in practice.

Re: U.S. alcohol-related deaths have doubled, study says

#273

Post by samcodes »

vasilipupkin wrote: post #168
likemybooze wrote: post #158

It seems very difficult to get reliable information about what constitutes problem drinking. I think the best answer might be “if it’s interfering with your life in ways that bother you, you have a problem.” I am what my doctor would term a “heavy drinker” since I probably average 20 units (10g by weight) per week. That’s two cocktails, or half a bottle of wine, or three beers, every night. I would say maybe once eve…

there is pretty strong evidence that moderate drinking is beneficial, It isn't just one study, it's multiple studies done over many years in multiple countries. https://www.insider.com/drinking-health-benefits-heart-nutri...

I thought the latest studies hypothesized that there was a hidden variable - social interaction. Moderate drinkers were more likely to have consistent social interaction, which is strongly correlated with positive outcomes - enough to cancel out the negative health effects from drinking.

Re: U.S. alcohol-related deaths have doubled, study says

#274

Post by samcodes »

LeonM wrote: post #232

Alcohol culture differs per region. In most western Europe countries (Netherlands, Germany) alcohol free / low-ABV beer has been gaining a lot of popularity. More and more people, myself included, prefer alcohol free over regular beer, because you get the social benefits without the all the downsides of alcohol. However, during my visit to Canada last year I asked a waiter at a bar for an alcohol free beer and she ba…

Partake, a Canadian brewery, makes an IPA that is the best non-alcoholic beer. Because all the grain carbs are converted to alcohol, when they remove the alcohol hey remove almost all the calories too. I don’t know if I could have stopped my 6 pack per day habit without pounding those.

Re: U.S. alcohol-related deaths have doubled, study says

#275

Post by DanBC »

samcodes wrote: post #273
vasilipupkin wrote: post #168

Earlier quoted context omitted.

there is pretty strong evidence that moderate drinking is beneficial, It isn't just one study, it's multiple studies done over many years in multiple countries. https://www.insider.com/drinking-health-benefits-heart-nutri...

I thought the latest studies hypothesized that there was a hidden variable - social interaction. Moderate drinkers were more likely to have consistent social interaction, which is strongly correlated with positive outcomes - enough to cancel out the negative health effects from drinking.

I agree with you. Here's a recent well run study, in a respected journal, paid for by Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6...

> Alcohol use is a leading risk factor for global disease burden and causes substantial health loss. We found that the risk of all-cause mortality, and of cancers specifically, rises with increasing levels of consumption, and the level of consumption that minimises health loss is zero. These results suggest that alcohol control policies might need to be revised worldwide, refocusing on efforts to lower overall population-level consumption.

Re: U.S. alcohol-related deaths have doubled, study says

#276

Post by sadfklsjlkjwt »

dan-robertson wrote: post #224
sadfklsjlkjwt wrote: post #189

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Rather than blaming men for not living longer consider how much less is spent on treating and researching male health issues than female. For example in the UK boys were offered the HPV vaccine 10 years after girls. Yet during that period male death rates from HPV related throat cancer were comparable to female death rates from HPV related cervical cancer.

I don’t really buy this claim. I think there are also examples of this the other way round (eg endometriosis affects many women but little research was done into it for a long time and people were turned away being told they were just imagining their pain instead of being given a diagnosis). I don’t think I’m in a good position to guess at which sex is treated worse by medical research but I don’t think it’s obviousl…

It is not a 'claim' just google the spending rates.

Re: U.S. alcohol-related deaths have doubled, study says

#277

Post by sadfklsjlkjwt »

ericmay wrote: post #260
dan-robertson wrote: post #224

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don’t really buy this claim. I think there are also examples of this the other way round (eg endometriosis affects many women but little research was done into it for a long time and people were turned away being told they were just imagining their pain instead of being given a diagnosis). I don’t think I’m in a good position to guess at which sex is treated worse by medical research but I don’t think it’s obviousl…

I’m not sure medical research treats one gender better than the other - not something I have a strong opinion about. But if the person you’re responding to is truthful, it’s odd that if the rates were similar why we only hear about one of the two groups being affected, isn’t it? I think if you search you can find a lot of these across both sexes, actually. I’m not sure what the cause of throat HPV is, but if it’s ora…

As far a public health is concerned it's settled fact and has been for some years. The main risk seems to be for men that have sex with men rather than oral sex with women. Men that have sex with men can now (finally) get the vaccine on the NHS up to the age of 35.

Re: U.S. alcohol-related deaths have doubled, study says

#278

Post by dhconnelly »

samcodes wrote: post #269
dhconnelly wrote: post #126

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My father is also an alcoholic, went to AA for a while, has had two divorces since because of drinking. My sister is an alcoholic, my mother is a prescription drug addict. The way this manifests in me is that I'm obsessed with Not Being An Alcoholic. So I drink. Because it's Not A Problem! Sometimes I drink too much, sometimes it lasts for months. And then I Prove To Myself that I'm not an alcoholic, and I stop for a…

Whoa, great description of this dynamic. Is the desire to drink consistent, or does it vary? Does it vary with the cycles of healthy / unhealthy consumption, or with a different period?

It’s not consistent. It mostly varies with levels of stress and anxiety, but there’s also a strong feedback loop.

Re: U.S. alcohol-related deaths have doubled, study says

#279

Post by swagasaurus-rex »

dpark wrote: post #266
mpclark wrote: post #265

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wherever two or more people assemble, somebody gets to make a profit from it?

Okay? But that doesn’t make any sense because most assemblies (see: employment) of people don’t involve alcohol.

Well, employment would mean social interaction at the workplace is privatized.

Unless its government work. Then it would be fraternizing.

Re: U.S. alcohol-related deaths have doubled, study says

#280

Post by agumonkey »

0x8BADF00D wrote: post #143
ccsnags wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Number of drinks is not a good way, in my experience. It’s a detail that isn’t important unless you are trying to game your own standard. You will convince yourself that your arbitrary line makes you ok. Hangovers turn into waking up drunk at some point. For me, they were a reason to drink. Withdrawal is like a hangover that lasts for weeks. The whole time, you will want a drink. My bottom was the realization that my…

Taking a bath as they say (my uncle used to do it until he developed cancer) is indicative of a problem IMO. When you wake up at 9 AM and start drinking, get drunk the whole day, sleep and repeat the whole cycle, that's when you definitively have a problem.

Pardon the side step but it reminds me of my life not long ago. Replace browsing with drinking. Obviously less harmful 'addiction' but the 'do a single thing to somehow avoid life everyday' sounds like an interesting diagnosis pattern.
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