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No safe level of alcohol for brain health: observational cohort study [pdf]

medrxiv.org

71–80 of 102 posts

Re: No safe level of alcohol for brain health: observational cohort study [pdf]

#71
post #11

Submission title gets it wrong. What the study found was that of the total variance in the amount of gray matter, only 0.8% of that variance could be explained by alcohol consumption.

So basically the result from this study could be re-stated as "alcohol consumption has no significant influence on grey matter volume"?

No, it was found to have a statistically significant influence on grey matter volume.

Re: No safe level of alcohol for brain health: observational cohort study [pdf]

#72
post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> he cop became immensely excited when she thought she'd get me for a DUI That alone is pretty messed up. A cop should be annoyed and disappointed to be in that situation. Arresting and booking someone should be a big hassle that they shouldn't want. And let's say you had been drinking alcohol; who knows how long you might have been drinking before you got pulled over... who knows who you might have killed. And a cop…

Your narrative still makes it seem not unreasonable for the cop to be happy. After all, arresting a drunk driver before they manage to kill someone is the kind of goal that should motivate cops to get out of bed in the morning. I'd personally rather have them excited to take an intoxicated driver off the street than letting them go because the paper work is a hassle.

Real cops are not like the cops on TV. If their motivation truly was to help people, they would have a different job. People who want to be cops these days want power over other people.

Re: No safe level of alcohol for brain health: observational cohort study [pdf]

#73
post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When I was in Amsterdam just before Covid I went to the Heineken factory and they gave us samples of their Heineken 0.0 which is brewed entirely without alcohol rather than the usual “non-alcoholic” beer approach of brewing it and then removing the alcohol. It was surprisingly good! Unless you do a side by side comparison of the regular and the 0.0 I doubt you’d ever know. Tangentially related, I wish I could remembe…

"Tastes as good as regular Heineken" is not exactly high praise. :)

Much of the problem with many skunky lagers lacking taste is storing them in bottles that don't block UV (green, for example) for extended periods of time.

Not saying it's exemplary, but freshness is probably a factor sometimes

Re: No safe level of alcohol for brain health: observational cohort study [pdf]

#74
post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

ketamine? weed once your frontal lobe is developed?

Not sure why you're being downvoted. Both are extremely safe compared to ethanol — in terms of both self-harm and harm inflicted upon others.

My guess is because they're not really an alternative because they don't produce the same numbing effects many people seek in ethanol consumption. Also, they are still illegal, stigmatized, and difficult to find in many places.

Re: No safe level of alcohol for brain health: observational cohort study [pdf]

#75
post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

ketamine? weed once your frontal lobe is developed?

Not sure why you're being downvoted. Both are extremely safe compared to ethanol — in terms of both self-harm and harm inflicted upon others.

Tons of studies show that weed effects emotional processing, increases risk of of sudden psychosis, and yes, even gray matter loss. [1] This idea that weed is safe due in part to its associations with "Nature" is really a social fabrication. People just fought for another thing they wanted to imbibe that wrecks us in another, not necessarily equivalent, way.

Personal experience is it's one of the few recreational drugs I can't handle as I experience extreme paranoia, rarely terrifying out of body experiences, and always an inability to speak, which is extremely uncomfortable as I deeply value my ability to communicate.

[1] https://www.nature.com/articles/npp201467

Re: No safe level of alcohol for brain health: observational cohort study [pdf]

#76
post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can buy earplugs specifically made for music. I recommend to actually tailor make them for your ear channel. Whenever I used them, the music volume felt like I was standing in a quiet-ish elevator. You can dance without using your knees if you have knee issues. My point with both of these is: you can patch these issues. When you smoke weed, your lungs will be hit. When you drink alcohol, your brain will be hit. I…

So then if you eat weed... what then?

Eating weed is IMO a completely different experience than smoking it due to a different onset experience. But fair enough, it might not be as damaging. It could be though, when one eats weed it's almost never a light dose. When one smokes a joint you can do a very small puff. Since the onset with space cake is like an hour to 90 min. you can't really do light dosing.

The first time I took space cake I almost got kicked out of a nightclub because I couldn't handle it (in Amsterdam). Space cake is always such a hell of an impact. Taking one puff isn't.

But I guess one could research all of this and find a way to make it so that you can dose quite well and not take the lung damage. In that case, it would seem fine to me.

Re: No safe level of alcohol for brain health: observational cohort study [pdf]

#77
post #56
post #19

Median alcohol intake was 13.5 units ( 102g) weekly That was among people who drank at all; for reference, that's just under two standard drinks per day, which is apparently what the UK considers the threshold of "low risk".

> Glasses were converted to UK units as follows: red or white wine = 1.7 units; fortified wine=1.2 units; pint = 2.4 units; spirits = 1 unit; other (e.g. alcopops) = 1.2 units. Amounts were also converted to grams pure ethanol (1 UK unit=8g) to aid international comprehension and comparison. Can someone explain these numbers to me? They claim to measure one “standard drink” (all of which are equal), yet each variant…

They are multiplying the size of a wine glass by the ABV of red wine, the size of a shot glass by the ABV of vodka, the size of a pint glass by the ABV of beer... it's all estimation, but it's what they've got.

Re: No safe level of alcohol for brain health: observational cohort study [pdf]

#78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I thought soda water (or sparkling mineral water) with lemon or lime was the official no-I'm-not-drinking-but-I-am-familiar-with-bars-and-don't-bug-me-about-it drink. Fake-sipping a beer would be bizarre.

That's news to me, IMO indeed a more fun alternative than drinking pure water. Thanks for mentioning it :)

In certain crowds you could also get away with still water w/o ice, since it looks like a vodka-water, especially if you're a woman (tends to be a women's drink—not pushing that norm, just observing it).

In either the still-water or sparkling/soda-water case, just get it in a highball or Collins glass and you'll fit right in. The glass is what sells it. 99% chance you won't be the first one to make this request to a given bartender. Unless they're a jerk they won't charge you for soda water from the bar's tap, and a slice of lemon or lime.

You could also ask for a coke without ice served in whatever they serve jack & coke in (collins glass, lowball glass, old-fashioned glass, could be any of several). Even if someone hears you order any of these, unless they're socially clueless this will signal some things to them and they'll know you are pointedly Not Drinking, for whatever reason, and they won't bug you about it or offer you anything. This is assuming you're around people who care that others aren't drinking, to begin with (I'd still use the specific-glass trick just not to look out of place, regardless, personally).

Re: No safe level of alcohol for brain health: observational cohort study [pdf]

#79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not sure why you're being downvoted. Both are extremely safe compared to ethanol — in terms of both self-harm and harm inflicted upon others.

Tons of studies show that weed effects emotional processing, increases risk of of sudden psychosis, and yes, even gray matter loss. [1] This idea that weed is safe due in part to its associations with "Nature" is really a social fabrication. People just fought for another thing they wanted to imbibe that wrecks us in another, not necessarily equivalent, way. Personal experience is it's one of the few recreational dru…

I didn't say it was safe — I said it was safer than ethanol. With that said, I appreciate your comment. I didn't know all of this specifically.

Re: No safe level of alcohol for brain health: observational cohort study [pdf]

#80

Haven’t had a drop in fourteen years after being a weekend binge drinker. I don’t begrudge the substance, but it has been transformative being this far removed from it. The downside? Dear god have I missed the taste of beer. La Croix and other products don’t fill the gap. There has thankfully been an explosion in the NA craft beer scene in the last few years, and some of them are good enough that I’ve had friends who…

Same here, quitting changed my life. I started https://stopping.app/ to make it easier to quit

Love this. Quitting changed mine as well and I always thought there were a few ways I could give back. Would love to swap ideas some time. Love the concept.
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