Moderate Drinking Linked to Lower Overall Mortality Rate, Says National Academy of Sciences

So let's all enjoy a moderate toast to a Happy New Year!

"When it comes to alcohol consumption, there is no safe amount that does not affect health," declared the World Health Organization (WHO) in 2022. "No, moderate drinking isn't good for your health," headlined The Washington Post citing a 2023 Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) meta-analysis probing the epidemiological association between mean daily alcohol intake and all-cause mortality. Interestingly, two of the co-authors of the JAMA article have been associated with various neo-prohibitionist organizations.

In any case, these pronouncements contradict decades of research that identified a U-shaped relationship in which mortality is greater for both non-drinkers and heavy drinkers than it is for moderate drinkers.

A new report reviewing evidence on moderate alcohol consumption and health outcomes issued earlier this month by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NAS) concludes that the WHO and the JAMA researchers are wrong. Moderate drinking is associated with some health benefits, with one notable exception.

"The report concludes with moderate certainty that compared with never consuming alcohol, moderate alcohol consumption is associated with lower all-cause mortality," notes the NAS press release. All-cause mortality is a measure of the total number of deaths from any cause in a specific group of people over a specific period of time. In this case, the mortality rates derive from a comparison between teetotalers and moderate tipplers.

In addition, the report found that compared with never consuming alcohol, consuming moderate amounts of alcohol is associated with "a lower risk of cardiovascular mortality in both men and women (moderate certainty)."

Some evidence, however, suggests that moderate consumption is associated with a higher risk of female breast cancer. With respect to comparing moderate alcohol consumers versus lifelong non-consumers, no association between moderate alcohol consumption and colorectal, oral cavity, pharyngeal, esophageal, or laryngeal cancers can be made. And no conclusions could be drawn regarding the association between weight-related outcomes and moderate alcohol consumption compared with never consuming alcohol.

So here's a moderate toast to a Happy New Year!

Comments

[JesseAz (mean girl ambassador)]

This is where self delusion and lack of understanding of definitions of words can really come back to bite sarc in the ass.

[Spiritus Mundi]

To help the little guy out:
moderate
1 of 3
adjective
mod·​er·​ate ˈmä-d(ə-)rət
Synonyms of moderate
1
a
: avoiding extremes of behavior or expression : observing reasonable limits
a moderate drinker
b
: calm, temperate
Though very much in favor of the measure, he expressed himself in moderate language.

[Rev Arthur L kuckland (5-30-24 banana republic day)]

I only drank 2...handles...of everclear

[Public Entelectual]

To fully appreciate the Right Reverend's wisdom, his apostles need to drink 3.

[Commenter_XY]

There are a few contributors here that should take heed; moderate drinking is A-Ok (go for it, enjoy life!), excessive is not.

Highly encourage red wine.

[Rev Arthur L kuckland (5-30-24 banana republic day)]

Ha! I always get roasted for wrong spelling, and here you spelled whiskey "r-e-d w-i-n-e"

[Knutsack]

But alcohol is poison!!!!!!!! Any amount!!!!!!

[But SkyNet is a Private Company]

Hey, maybe moderate drinking correlates with personality types who moderately eat, and moderately risk take, and have lower anxiety, and don’t drive drunk or above the speed limit, and don’t take drugs, or sleep around with strangers…

[Cloudbuster]

All journalists should be required to take a class on spurious correlations.

[GroundTruth]

The 2022 WHO report was fundamentally flawed in that it extrapolated from three (IIRC) or more drinks per day down to 1 (or less?) and ran the issues caused in direct proportion.

No high school science student would ever be allowed to get away with that sort of sloppy interpretation (by a competent instructor).

I suspect the WHO has been co-opted by prohibitionists and control-freaks of other colors as well.

[TJJ2000]

Typical.....

Data....
100% Socialism doesn't work.
0% Free-Markets don't work.

Conclusion....
If we remove the 'bias' in the data the study concludes Socialism works better than wet water on a hot surface.

This has been "The Science" standard of every 'government' sponsored research in the last 1/2 century.
Because BS indoctrination is what [Na]tional So[zi]alist[s] do....
It's all about 'popular excuses' for 'armed-theft' and the destruction of *EARNING* and responsibility.

It can't be pointed out enough. D.C. per capita gets 2.24 TIMES more $ than any other State in the USA. Not just TWICE as much over TWICE as much and 5 TIMES more $ than most.

Think about that for a second. What is your pay? Multiply it by 5 and that is the AVERAGE per capita of those in D.C. And what does D.C. provide for 5 TIMES the pay???? NOTHING ... NOTHING at all but laws that STEAL from you.

[Peter Kreeft taught me LOGIC, BEWARE !!!!!!!]

Three considerations. Nothing is pure effect, pershaps not drinking leads to bad health outcomes....Since drinking needs a responsible drinker it is more scientific to hold that what is wrong with those drinkers is not the booze but them. ... THis is Mark Twain's THE MAN WHO CORRUPTED HADLEYBURG : "a town has gained a reputation for incorruptibility. Its population is trained to avoid temptation. An offended stranger seeks revenge against the town's population, and starts tempting them with a reward in gold coins for a supposedly forgotten act of kindness. After receiving anonymous tips from the stranger, nineteen of the town's most prominent couples claim the reward under false pretenses. Their dishonesty becomes evident in a public meeting, and they are publicly shamed. The stranger observes that the townspeople were actually easier than usual to corrupt, because their resolve had never been tested. "
THEIR RESOLVE HAD NEVER BEEN TESTED.
Must the government inform you 'your asss is on fire!"

[Not a Conservative but a Biden LOATHER]

As Hannah Arendt said ( I read it 50 years ago !! ) it is most odd what we remember in life. So for example, related to this booze thing, I remember a cartoon with 2 elderly spinsters dying at the same time. They get to Heaven and the one says to the other "If I'd known about this I'd have ditched all that health food"