The BBC and temperance campaigners and those who just love ever more regressive taxation - ie taxes that hit the poorest hardest are yet again pushing ALARM about alcohol based on studies in the Lancet headlining with any amount of alcohol, however small, being damaging and conflating smoking and alcohol.
The ALARMIST type headlines from the BBC articles are :
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-47723704
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-47817650
Note Lancet Report title is actually :
#Before rushing off to take the pledge I recommend you read this as an antidote :
https://health.spectator.co.uk/a-glass-of-wine-wont-shorten-your-life-moderate-drinking-is-still-good-for-you/
If you're short of time the summary is :
The figure on the left above shows that among those who drink the ones that drink the least <100g a week are less likely to die from drink associated diseases and that as you drink more the risk goes up. WOW that's a Surprise!. The graph on the right above even still shows that benefits of drinking about 100g a week on reducing the relative risk of cardiovascular disease.
The trick used by temperance campaigners (my so called New Puritans) to undermining sensible public health advice on alcohol is hidden away in an appendix in the Lancet report and is to exclude teetotallers (and ex drinkers) from the results shown above in the main report.
When these are included you get these two graphs below (annoyingly the are swapped around relative to the ones above) but I'm sure you see the point that teetotallers and ex-drinker have much higher mortality rates until you get to at least 300g/week or to make that easier for some that's 16.3 pints of London Pride a week !
The ALARMIST type headlines from the BBC articles are :
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-47723704
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-47817650
Note Lancet Report title is actually :
"Risk thresholds for alcohol consumption: combined analysis of individual-participant data for 599 912 current drinkers in 83 prospective studies"but that's nowhere near as ALARMIST headline grabbing ...
#Before rushing off to take the pledge I recommend you read this as an antidote :
https://health.spectator.co.uk/a-glass-of-wine-wont-shorten-your-life-moderate-drinking-is-still-good-for-you/
If you're short of time the summary is :
- NO - the evidence doesn't support the implied argument that if you're a light drinker stopping drinking will further reduce your risk of drink related diseases
- Their own data (but hidden in an Appendix that you have to have a subscription to the Lancet or a copy of full article to read) still shows that moderate drinking -one or two units per day (= 56g to 112g per week) is "statistically" better than being teetotal ..
So here are some figure - firstly from the main report :
The figure on the left above shows that among those who drink the ones that drink the least <100g a week are less likely to die from drink associated diseases and that as you drink more the risk goes up. WOW that's a Surprise!. The graph on the right above even still shows that benefits of drinking about 100g a week on reducing the relative risk of cardiovascular disease.
The trick used by temperance campaigners (my so called New Puritans) to undermining sensible public health advice on alcohol is hidden away in an appendix in the Lancet report and is to exclude teetotallers (and ex drinkers) from the results shown above in the main report.
When these are included you get these two graphs below (annoyingly the are swapped around relative to the ones above) but I'm sure you see the point that teetotallers and ex-drinker have much higher mortality rates until you get to at least 300g/week or to make that easier for some that's 16.3 pints of London Pride a week !
1 comment:
Phew
Post a Comment