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Moderate drinking associated with atrophy in brain related to memory, learning

washingtonpost.com

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Re: Moderate drinking associated with atrophy in brain related to memory, learning

#181

Post by freehunter »

ramses0 wrote: post #156
oliveshell wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Right, but beer varies widely in alcohol content. One "standard beer" might be defined as 12 oz / ~330ml @ 4.5% alcohol by volume, but many IPAs are 6-7% or greater, and in most U.S. states you can find lots of beer in excess of 10% ABV.

'''In general getting much above 10-15%abv requires specialty yeasts or concentration techniques, and getting much above 20% is going to require some sort of concentration.''' https://alcohol.stackexchange.com/questions/110/what-is-the-...

One of my favorites is Founders Kentucky Breakfast Stout, which is a barrel-aged beer and is around 13%. Actually where I live, barrel-aged beers are becoming very common, most craft breweries have them. And they're all above 10%.

Not debating the "specialty concentration techniques" since it's basically infusing the beer with whiskey, but it's certainly very easy to get a beer with an ABV above 10%. Very easy. Your local liquor store likely has several varieties in stock right now.

Re: Moderate drinking associated with atrophy in brain related to memory, learning

#182

Post by delazeur »

DanBC wrote: post #111
prodmerc wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, that makes sense. It reduces stress for a while and postpones suicides.

Alcohol drastically increases suicide rates and self harm rates. https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Jayne_Cooper/publicatio... > Conclusions: The results highlight the importance in a suicide prevention strategy of early intervention after an episode of self-harm. Treatment should include attention to physical illness, alcohol problems, and living circumstances. Self-harm appears to confer a particularly high risk…

Your claim would be supported by evidence that the population of drinkers has higher suicide rates than the population of non-drinkers, which is notably different than evidence that people who commit suicide are likely to be drinkers.

Re: Moderate drinking associated with atrophy in brain related to memory, learning

#183

Post by leephillips »

capkutay wrote: post #121
startupdiscuss wrote: post #4

But they define "moderate" as 2 drinks/day for a man. That is 14 drinks a week which puts you in the second highest decile for Americans! https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2014/09/25/think...

I would consider moderate drinking to be 4-5 drinks a week (drinking socially weekends). 2 drinks/night is practically getting drunk/tipsy every night. In what world is that moderate?

France?

Re: Moderate drinking associated with atrophy in brain related to memory, learning

#184

Post by delazeur »

carbocation wrote: post #23

A Mendelian randomization study that I find convincing suggests that there is no obvious safe level of alcohol intake from a cardiovascular standpoint. This observational study linked by tuxguy points in the same direction, and it seems ripe for follow-up with genetic work that could support (or help refute) the likely direction of causality.

If you are going to talk about a specific study, please link to it.

Re: Moderate drinking associated with atrophy in brain related to memory, learning

#185

Post by nickledave »

thisrod wrote: post #170
ACow_Adonis wrote: post #105

As a stats man, before I read the article I said to myself: "bet it's from a survey". With that kind of methodology, I imagine the "moderate" drinkers are going to contain the group of people who said they (frequently) drink, but not that much. I'd be willing to bet there will be a relationship between reporting that you drink frequently and the negative effects of alcohol that will outweigh the attempt to self repor…

I doubt that they addressed the general problem with this type of recreational drug experiment: the hypothesis that different brains and psychology cause different behaviour is very plausible a priori, the reverse not so much. It would be good to test that with animals. You could control the alcohol consumption of rats in group A, let group B drink as much as they wanted to, and compare how the effects varied with co…

Animal studies of alcoholism is not my main field of study but I'm guessing many such studies have been done, here is one example: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1530-0277.1998....

Re: Moderate drinking associated with atrophy in brain related to memory, learning

#186

Post by blackguardx »

frankquestions wrote: post #122
Symbiote wrote: post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One British pint is 568mL, and one "unit" of alcohol is 10mL -- I think the latter might be a European standard. That makes a ½pt (284mL) beer, at 3.5%, almost exactly 10mL of alcohol (284*0.035 = 9.94). The average beer is stronger than it was 20 years ago, but there's still a feeling that 1pt = 2 units in Britain.

Wow. 3.5% beer...is almost unheard of in the USA, especially in the face of the overwhelming popularity of “craft” and “micro” brews which often click in above the 6% mark

There is a trend right now of "session beers" that clock in at under 5% so that you can drink more or get less drunk.

Re: Moderate drinking associated with atrophy in brain related to memory, learning

#187

Post by blackguardx »

novia wrote: post #141
frankquestions wrote: post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wow. 3.5% beer...is almost unheard of in the USA, especially in the face of the overwhelming popularity of “craft” and “micro” brews which often click in above the 6% mark

Blue moon, which I prefer, sits right at 3.2%.

3.2% by weight or volume? Most of the 3.2% beers are measured by weight because it is related to some state law that specifies alcohol by weight. This translates to about 4% by volume.

Re: Moderate drinking associated with atrophy in brain related to memory, learning

#188

Post by carbocation »

delazeur wrote: post #184
carbocation wrote: post #23

A Mendelian randomization study that I find convincing suggests that there is no obvious safe level of alcohol intake from a cardiovascular standpoint. This observational study linked by tuxguy points in the same direction, and it seems ripe for follow-up with genetic work that could support (or help refute) the likely direction of causality.

If you are going to talk about a specific study, please link to it.

Sorry, got caught up in rounds. The study is here:

http://www.bmj.com/content/349/bmj.g4164

Re: Moderate drinking associated with atrophy in brain related to memory, learning

#189

Post by sundvor »

eduren wrote: post #91
Cyph0n wrote: post #84

I'm always interested to see how people react to a news article or study that criticizes alcohol. I have noticed over time that alcohol consumption is usually a taboo subject to discuss for some reason, and almost everyone I talk to immediately gets on the defensive when I say that I don't drink and never will. Can anyone shed some light on why exactly people don't like it when someone doesn't drink, especially when…

> almost everyone I talk to immediately gets on the defensive when I say that I don't drink and never will Choosing not to drink is your choice to make. But if _almost everyone_ you talk to about it goes into defensive mode, that sounds really weird. Are you around people that don't react normally to social situations? "No thanks, I don't drink" is a common thing to hear for anybody.

"No thanks, I'm driving". Works for me.

Re: Moderate drinking associated with atrophy in brain related to memory, learning

#190

Post by wutbrodo »

wutbrodo wrote: post #174
capkutay wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would consider moderate drinking to be 4-5 drinks a week (drinking socially weekends). 2 drinks/night is practically getting drunk/tipsy every night. In what world is that moderate?

I think alcohol is a pretty horrible drug so I try to minimize my intake, but I know a fair few people who reach this without any behaviors that seem out of the ordinary. 6-8 drinks on a Friday night (this is about what I'd drink back when I used to go to bars), and then one or two drinks scattered across the rest of the evening: beer/wine with dinner or scorch afterwards or a mimosa or two with brunch. Especially wh…

Urgh, it's too late to edit it but it should say "scattered across the rest of the evenings ", not all in the same night...
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