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Is alcohol good for you? Harvard, MIT scientists slam door on studies showing ‘health benefits’ of drinking

by iNan-cextra on 18/05/2021 , No comments

It is also important to note that the apparent benefits of moderate drinking on CHD mortality are offset at higher drinking levels by increased risk of death from other types of heart disease, cancer, liver cirrhosis, and trauma. Dietary Guidelines for Americans, have defined moderate drinking as one drink per day or less for women and two or fewer drinks per day for men . In addition, the NIAAA further recommends that people aged 65 and older limit their consumption of alcohol to one https://ecosoberhouse.com/ drink per day. For quite some time now, moderate drinking — especially a nightly glass of red wine — has been considered a healthy habit that might help you live a little longer than people who don’t drink at all. The increased life span seen among light to moderate drinkers compared to teetotalers is mostly due to lower rates of heart disease and possibly stroke and diabetes. But after a major new analysis of global data, the experts behind the study have reached fresh conclusions.

Drinking alcohol was a big cause of cancer in the over-50s, particularly in women. Previous research has shown that one in 13 breast cancers in the UK were alcohol-related. The study found that globally, 27.1% of cancer deaths in women and 18.9% in men over 50 were linked to their drinking is alcohol good for you habits. Keil U, Chambless LE, Döring A, Filipiak B, Stieber J. The relation of alcohol intake to coronary heart disease and all-cause mortality in a beer-drinking population. Meanwhile, some studies have questioned the long-standing idea that moderate drinking is good for heart health.

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So for diabetics, drinking too much can lead to hypoglycemia, or “insulin shock,” or hyperglycemia, an excess of insulin . Cancer.Certain cancers have been linked to excessive alcohol intake. One in particular is hepatocellular cancer, which is a cancer of the liver. Certain esophageal cancers and gastrointestinal cancers have also been related to excessive alcohol use. Numerous studies have come out in support of moderate alcohol consumption because of its potential health benefits only to be countered by similar studies arguing that it’s actually more harmful than beneficial. A 2017 meta-analysis found an association between moderate alcohol consumption — 12.5 grams or less per day — and a reduced risk of dementia. According to the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, moderate drinking consists of two drinks or less per day for men of legal drinking age and one drink or less per day for women of legal drinking age.

  • “There is no safe level of driving, but governments do not recommend that people avoid driving,” Spiegelhalter told the BBC.
  • Excessive alcohol intake can lead to high blood pressure, heart failure or stroke.
  • When the body’s cells do not respond to insulin and take up glucose, a person will have high blood sugar levels.
  • This adds strong indirect evidence that alcohol itself reduces heart disease risk.
  • Most mental disorders occur much more often than expected by chance among people who are abusing alcohol or are alcohol dependent (Kessler et al. 1996).

At the end of the day, determining if alcohol is good or bad for you requires making sound decisions with respect to your health. These recommendations are, of course, based on the assumption that a person is pretty much healthy, with no underlying issues. Here, we explain how alcohol affects your body — both positively and negatively — why all alcohol isn’t created equal, and how to make the right choices for your personal health.

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Some people who have a high risk or family history of medical issues linked to drinking like dementia or certain cancers might also wish to abstain or limit alcohol consumption. In 2020 alone, about 4 percent of all new cancer cases worldwide were attributable to alcohol consumption, or about 741,000 cases, another study found. A few types of cancer — tumors of the esophagus, liver, and breast — accounted for most alcohol-related cases. And while heavy drinking and binge drinking explained the majority of these cancer cases, 14 percent were due to moderate drinking. Another major caveat to most research into the health effects of alcohol is that the vast majority of these studies aren’t controlled experiments designed to prove whether alcohol directly causes specific positive or negative medical outcomes.

Can alcohol be good for your health?

Moderate alcohol consumption may provide some health benefits, such as: Reducing your risk of developing and dying of heart disease. Possibly reducing your risk of ischemic stroke (when the arteries to your brain become narrowed or blocked, causing severely reduced blood flow) Possibly reducing your risk of diabetes.

iNan-cextraIs alcohol good for you? Harvard, MIT scientists slam door on studies showing ‘health benefits’ of drinking

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