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Drinking behind 1 in 10 deaths of working-age adults

usatoday.com

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Re: Drinking behind 1 in 10 deaths of working-age adults

#111

Post by Scoundreller »

throwawaywayway wrote: post #67
ryanmim wrote: post #12

I drink way too much. I've accepted this. What stops me from drinking way too much? Not much, because I'm able to rationalize my drinking with the many beneficial effects touted. There's a lot of information about how drinking a bit is helpful for heart disease and how it basically reduces mortality across the board. More information is needed about how drinking is HARMFUL beyond cirrhosis and the short term effects…

Honest question: How much is too much? I drink about 2-4 fairly strong beers a night (5-7% ABV), almost every night, and while I certainly feel it, I've only been "shitfaced" (or whatever you call "drinking to the point that you lose control") maybe half a dozen times in my life. The fact that I'm not doing the (apparently) normal thing for young folk and getting trashed every Friday night (or ever, really) gives me…

This is more of a general comment, and not by any means specific advice to anyone: "Binge" drinking may give enough time between consumption episodes to allow the liver to heal, avoiding fatty liver diseases and cirrhosis, while daily heavy drinking may not, though this does take a long period of time to start.

Re: Drinking behind 1 in 10 deaths of working-age adults

#112

Post by Scoundreller »

mullingitover wrote: post #45

I've often wondered why we can't replace alcohol with a less damaging recreational drug. We could take a tranqilizer like valium, make a dilute solution of it, add flavoring or whatever it takes to give it alcohol's 'kick' and end up with an acceptable substitute. This isn't to say that valium is 'safe' but it's far less toxic to the body than alcohol.

I suspect a lot of the anti-drug[1] lobby is heavy supported by the legal drug lobby[2]. There's just so much to lose by so many people if safer alternatives emerge (ignoring the fact that new industries will emerge).

Dr. David Nutt is working on this: http://www.theguardian.com/science/blog/2014/feb/27/david-nu... but there are already a large pile of options, just a lack of political will.

[1] Anti-drug referring to anti-illegal-drug. [2] of which consist of drugs that would never pass the medication approval process, but solely exist due to a history of use and grandfathering

Re: Drinking behind 1 in 10 deaths of working-age adults

#113

Post by SilasX »

zo1 wrote: post #19
SilasX wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Phenylethylamine?

We're not all bio-chemists... enlighten us.

Just something that has the high of alcohol without the disorientation, though it's short lived and doesn't work on a full stomach. Legal though.

Re: Drinking behind 1 in 10 deaths of working-age adults

#114

Post by Scoundreller »

chrisdevereux wrote: post #71
paulhauggis wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Isn't this what quaaludes were in the 70s and 80s? (and they were quickly banned)

Habit forming and toxic, so no. But yes, they were banned.

"Toxic" is a misunderstood term. Toxicity is all about dose. The water piped into my residence can be toxic despite meeting drinking water-quality guidelines. If I drank its full output continuously for just minutes, I'd be dead of water intoxication.

Re: Drinking behind 1 in 10 deaths of working-age adults

#115

Post by throwawaywayway »

tangue wrote: post #108
throwawaywayway wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Honest question: How much is too much? I drink about 2-4 fairly strong beers a night (5-7% ABV), almost every night, and while I certainly feel it, I've only been "shitfaced" (or whatever you call "drinking to the point that you lose control") maybe half a dozen times in my life. The fact that I'm not doing the (apparently) normal thing for young folk and getting trashed every Friday night (or ever, really) gives me…

The toxic effects of alcohol are cumulative over time, so in the long run you might be at greater risk than binge drinkers. And if you're drinking 4 beers you 're not far from the threshold for liver disease [1] ( 1 liter of beer at 7% = 56 g of alcohol; the threshold is 50g). Alcohol is also linked to high blood pressure; you should check yours. Besides all that alcohol is also high in calories and you'll have to de…

Thank you for your response. It's a bit of surprise to me, because I had always heard the opposite, that daily drinking lets one build up a tolerance while binge drinking repeatedly hits the liver with more than it can handle, but I suppose that was just folk wisdom. I've cooled off a bit over the years (originally I drank to deal with depression that I eventually "got over"), but maybe it's time I took another hard look at myself.

Re: Drinking behind 1 in 10 deaths of working-age adults

#116

Post by sheepmullet »

indlebe wrote: post #35

Does anyone else find it strange that the definitions of binge and heavy drinking vary so much between the men and women groups? I would think that only body weight would be the heavy influence on this. Is USA Today just being sexist?

"I would think that only body weight would be the heavy influence on this."

Why? Differences in organ sizes, hormones, muscle, etc would surely play a role. E.g. A 35% body fat 65kg woman wouldn't process alcohol the same way a 20% body fat 65kg woman would.

Re: Drinking behind 1 in 10 deaths of working-age adults

#117

Post by morgante »

teddyh wrote: post #26
ryanmim wrote: post #12

I drink way too much. I've accepted this. What stops me from drinking way too much? Not much, because I'm able to rationalize my drinking with the many beneficial effects touted. There's a lot of information about how drinking a bit is helpful for heart disease and how it basically reduces mortality across the board. More information is needed about how drinking is HARMFUL beyond cirrhosis and the short term effects…

You are not the same person while drunk. If you think that the person you are while sober is a better person, you have a perfectly valid reason for not drinking. I’ll just leave you with this: http://www.cracked.com/blog/9-youtube-videos-that-prove-anyo... Not so much to prove that you can do it, but more for the change that anyone can see. You could hardly tell that it’s the same person in the first videos as the la…

> You are not the same person while drunk. If you think that the person you are while sober is a better person, you have a perfectly valid reason for not drinking.

What if I think the tipsy me is a better person? He's much more outgoing, interesting, and far less socially awkward.

Re: Drinking behind 1 in 10 deaths of working-age adults

#119

Post by conroe64 »

mike_esspe wrote: post #109
conroe64 wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What do you think of the study mentioned in this article that indicates that heavy drinkers outlive abstainers? http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,2017200... Here is the study itself: http://courses.ttu.edu/jkoch/ETOH/Readings/Late_life_alcohol...

Looks like confounding factors are the reason. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22152665 CONCLUSIONS: Among older adults who are moderate drinkers, the apparent unique effects of wine on longevity may be explained by confounding factors correlated with wine consumption.

I don't understand what you are trying to show with this study. It compares moderate drinkers among themselves according to the type of alcohol consumed. It doesn't compare drinkers vs non drinkers
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