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No level of alcohol consumption is safe for our health

who.int

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Re: No level of alcohol consumption is safe for our health

#61

I despise the WHO generally but this article is solid. There is too much confusion about alcohol in the medical industry. If you ask European doctors having a glass or two of wine "extends health". If you research typical government guidelines, they say a drink or two a day isn't bad or may even say it's "healthy" [1] The facts are facts. Alcohol is a poison that wrecks havoc on your mind and body. If having one drin…

The dose makes the poison - Paracelsus

That’s not really universally true. There are plenty of things where any amount does harm.

Re: No level of alcohol consumption is safe for our health

#62

I despise the WHO generally but this article is solid. There is too much confusion about alcohol in the medical industry. If you ask European doctors having a glass or two of wine "extends health". If you research typical government guidelines, they say a drink or two a day isn't bad or may even say it's "healthy" [1] The facts are facts. Alcohol is a poison that wrecks havoc on your mind and body. If having one drin…

>If having one drink can decompress you after a hard days work, fine, you're not gonna get cancer.

That would seem to contradict the headline, and content, that there's a safe level of alcohol consumption.

In fact, the WHO really takes that claim seriously -- the headline is not a simplification:

>>when it comes to alcohol consumption, there is no safe amount that does not affect health ... Alcohol causes at least seven types of cancer ... "We cannot talk about a so-called safe level of alcohol use. It doesn’t matter how much you drink – the risk to the drinker’s health starts from the first drop of any alcoholic beverage."

But yeah, I agree, in that I'm sure you can find a low enough level of alcohol consumption that can't be discerned in health outcomes. Like, 1 microliter, one time.

It sounds like your comment is more about rejecting claims that there can be a health benefit to alcohol, but the WHO is going much further than that.

Re: No level of alcohol consumption is safe for our health

#63
post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

Do you need sugar, red meat, fat to have a joyful life? You do, don't you. Having a glass of wine or two should be treated the same. If you have religious reservations, please use your energy to fight off islamists who deal drugs, take bribes and marry with young children. Those sin more than people who indulge in a glass of wine or two.

How did we get here from a thread about alcohol prohibition? Are they an existential threat in your country?

Re: No level of alcohol consumption is safe for our health

#64
post #31

I despise the WHO generally but this article is solid. There is too much confusion about alcohol in the medical industry. If you ask European doctors having a glass or two of wine "extends health". If you research typical government guidelines, they say a drink or two a day isn't bad or may even say it's "healthy" [1] The facts are facts. Alcohol is a poison that wrecks havoc on your mind and body. If having one drin…

It gets worse where people get issues and they start looking for some diet supplements or pills for "better liver" ,"concentration problems" or whatever else. When first thing they should do is stop drinking alcohol. In the reddit thread about article there was someone who could not connect the dots that after drinking alcohol they would have hangover the next day.

> In the reddit thread about article there was someone who could not connect the dots that after drinking alcohol they would have hangover the next day.

To me it sounds like you have been trolled.

Re: No level of alcohol consumption is safe for our health

#65

Cool, maybe it'll help debunking those "small amounts of alcohol are healthly (from body standpoint)"

no need to debunk the truth. It's like drugs. Take too many pills, you die. Take them when you need them and their benefit will surpass the risks. Alcohol works the same way. We know for a fact that moderate drinkers live longer than non-drinkers and heavy drinkers. We still don't know why. edit: most people don't want to hear the truth. Moderate drinker live longer than non-drinkers. It's a well known fact For examp…

[deleted]

Re: No level of alcohol consumption is safe for our health

#67
post #15

The thinking is backwards on this. They state there is no scientific safe drinking level. They even compare it to radiation. The goal is to establish an unsafe level. it's like saying there is no safe speed to drive a car - sure that's technically true, but worthless to say.

Meanwhile, there isn't clear evidence that there is no safe level of radiation. Biological systems are buffered in all kinds of ways, including against low doses of radiation, mutagens, and even... acids ! (Contrary to modern health biz ideas "oh your body is so acidic, drink this basic water to fix it!")

Re: No level of alcohol consumption is safe for our health

#68

I despise the WHO generally but this article is solid. There is too much confusion about alcohol in the medical industry. If you ask European doctors having a glass or two of wine "extends health". If you research typical government guidelines, they say a drink or two a day isn't bad or may even say it's "healthy" [1] The facts are facts. Alcohol is a poison that wrecks havoc on your mind and body. If having one drin…

The dose makes the poison - Paracelsus

Sometimes the correct dose is zero

Re: No level of alcohol consumption is safe for our health

#69

Cool, maybe it'll help debunking those "small amounts of alcohol are healthly (from body standpoint)"

no need to debunk the truth. It's like drugs. Take too many pills, you die. Take them when you need them and their benefit will surpass the risks. Alcohol works the same way. We know for a fact that moderate drinkers live longer than non-drinkers and heavy drinkers. We still don't know why. edit: most people don't want to hear the truth. Moderate drinker live longer than non-drinkers. It's a well known fact For examp…

Id be interested in a source as it is my understanding that most of this research was disinformation from the alcohol industry. The small uptick in death rates at 0 alcohol consumption is due to the prevalence of people with severe illness not drinking. The illness causes both the non drinking and the increased risk of death. When this is corrected for, people who drink 0 alcohol live longest.

Re: No level of alcohol consumption is safe for our health

#70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Anecdotally I know a lot of really old people who still drink. Maybe I'd know more if they didn't drink. I know one guy who is ~90, survived cancer 3 times and attributes his survival to daily doses of Japanese Shochu. You might be able to argue that alcohol was the cause of the cancer but I guess we'll never know. Disclaimer: Currently not drinking even a drop. Edit: Maybe I'd know more if they didn't drink. ...is a…

This comment adds nothing to the discussion.

The world is full of people who strongly and honestly believe anecdotes are more important than statistics and statistics are meaninglessly astrological in nature. Its a very popular set of beliefs, majority in some areas.
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