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No amount of alcohol is good for the heart, says World Heart Federation

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Re: No amount of alcohol is good for the heart, says World Heart Federation

#331
post #277

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Same goes for agave syrup and other health fads.

There's a ton of alternative kinds of sugar that are marketed as healthier than sugar but are in fact just sugar extracted from a different plant or other source. Sugar is sugar.

Sugar is sugar but fructose does seem to be particularly hard on humans.

Re: No amount of alcohol is good for the heart, says World Heart Federation

#332

Question one: what is the world heart federation? I have never heard of it before today. Two: > The evidence is clear: any level of alcohol consumption can lead to loss of healthy life. The evidence is not clear. There are plenty of studies showing benefits. “Any level” “can” makes the statement technically true but meaningless, you could replace alcohol with anything and that would also be true. If you want to back…

Let me offer some food for thought:

How many athletes report drinking a bit before competing?

The answer is none because it negatively affects all physical ability.

So would you say it’s likely that in aggregate drinking would be healthy?

Edit: Wow, I guess people really don't like to think about this. To respond to both comments below, yes sure, sometimes it helps to relax just a bit and alcohol can help with that, but obviously you could also just drink some tea or actually train yourself to command better control over your state of relaxation. Alcohol is a shortcut that comes with some penalties, but personal ability might overcome those penalties. That doesn't mean that person couldn't have performed even better without drinking.

And regarding lists of athletes that have been known to drink, well of course a counterexample to any absolute statement can be found, I'll grant that. But in the overwhelming majority you won't find top level athletes at the bar the night before the big event and there's a reason for that.

Re: No amount of alcohol is good for the heart, says World Heart Federation

#333
post #202

I am fine with abstinence as a general recommendation, but critical thinking pointed out two issues with the WHF Policy Brief, which I suppose I have read in sufficient depth: 1. There is no citation on the sentence, "Recent evidence has found that no level of alcohol consumption is safe for health." This is really the only line we are interested in. 2. There is no comparison on the effects of alcohol on the body by…

To point 1. In the brief I find at the red download link [1] contains the line “ Based on recent evidence, it has been concluded that there is “no safe level of alcohol consumption”(5).”

The reference points to an article from The Lancet [2]

[1] https://world-heart-federation.org/wp-content/uploads/WHF-Po...

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

Re: No amount of alcohol is good for the heart, says World Heart Federation

#334
post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

All drugs should be decriminalized. Shooting people in drug raids is far worse for those people than are the drugs. Likewise, locking people in cages with other misfits, criminals, malcontents, and addicts isn’t smart (especially considering that drugs are in the prisons too). If the goal is truly harm reduction, people need to simply work to convince drug users to not use drugs (whether those are opioids, alcohol, t…

Slippery slope. What happens when a drug addict looking his next fix attacks someone? This is why we have drug laws to start with, was to protect people. There are no simple answers here.

Have assaults gone up in the states where marijuana has been legalized?

Re: No amount of alcohol is good for the heart, says World Heart Federation

#335
post #207

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Parent: 'You can drink, but you can't do cocaine.' > Kid: 'Why?' Parent: 'Because alcohol is legal and cocaine isn't; that has several consequences. 'Governmental regulations provide some confidence that alcohol is safe and as-advertised; there is no regulation of the manufacturing quality of cocaine. 'Buying alcohol brings you into close proximity to the liquor supply chain, all of whom can settle disputes by usin…

This isn’t actually a reason, though, as it begs the question. Cocaine could definitely be manufactured legally if made legal.

How does it beg the question?

Re: No amount of alcohol is good for the heart, says World Heart Federation

#336
post #231

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We have already (as a society) decided we will no longer forcibly help people, so what do you do with someone that hurts others to feed their addiction? Put them all in jail for every little offense? Fine them? (they have no money) Force them into rehab? (another form of jail) Let the roam the streets attacking people? (recycle through jail or rehab) No, it's not simple.

Assault is not a "little offense". Anyone convicted of criminal assault should spend a significant amount of time in prison (regardless of whether they're a drug addict or not) in order to protect the rest of society.

It is in San Francisco

Re: No amount of alcohol is good for the heart, says World Heart Federation

#337

Alcohol is one of the worst "drugs" on a personal/societal harm scale - if we're going to tolerate this at large, we should probably consider legalizing everything else that's less harmful to at least be consistent. While we're at it, let's de-stigmatize the abuse of substances and treat it like a real mental health issue.

Well I think there are far more dangerous substances than alcohol which are considered legal and advertised.

Eating sugar for example in excessive amounts leads to way worse diseases - https://www.webmd.com/diabetes/features/how-sugar-affects-yo....

Re: No amount of alcohol is good for the heart, says World Heart Federation

#340

Alcohol is one of the worst "drugs" on a personal/societal harm scale - if we're going to tolerate this at large, we should probably consider legalizing everything else that's less harmful to at least be consistent. While we're at it, let's de-stigmatize the abuse of substances and treat it like a real mental health issue.

The worst thing about alcohol today is how America is letting alcoholics dictate pandemic responses, as if we believe that bars are more important than schools.
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