[johnloeber]

I'm amazed that this is still an ongoing discussion. All of these "studies" have been distracting with muddied data from a very simple, unambiguous scientific fact: alcohol is a poison. By its immediate biological effects, it literally is a poison. And you shouldn't drink poison.

Decades of studies rationalizing that "actually, people who drink two glasses of wine a day live longer" and their ilk, have only ever distracted from this simple truth, obviously so hard to contradict by first principles.

[cdrini]

It's not quite so black and white, since poisons are generally defined in conjunction with their dose. Eg "The dose makes the poison".

With alcohol, we don't really have a dose, like we do with eg vitamin A, which is toxic beyond a certain level. And as the article states, there are social benefits with drinking alcohol which could, if the dose of alcohol is low enough, offset the cost-benefit analysis of drinking.

> But he points out that it doesn’t consider the social aspects of moderate drinking. “It is healthier to socialise without the need for alcohol, but the benefits of spending time with others is still likely to be greater than the risk from the consumption of one to two units of alcohol,” he says. “The challenge being perhaps limiting alcohol intake in this way.”

And socialising is one of the controllable variables that can reduce the risk of dementia: https://www.thelancet.com/article/S0140-6736(20)30367-6/full...

But also: excessive alcohol is a controllable variable that can increase the risk of dementia! https://www.thelancet.com/article/S0140-6736(20)30367-6/full...

It's a complicated balance.

[d0mine]

While the conclusion looks like a good general guideline, the logic is flawed. There are things that are beneficial (or even necessary) in appropriate amount that are bad in larger dosage: resistance training, cardio, sauna, sulforaphane, food in general, fasting, even water..

Some of it works due to hormetic effect. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hormesis

[RhysU]

Capsaicin is also a poison so clearly "poison => always avoid" has deficiencies as a model. Hence, studies.

[Unbefleckt]

I figured this was a religious thing. I have spoke to a lot of Christians who were big on health and abstained from all kinds of things, but insisted that alcohol was healthy in small amounts, specifically a bit of red wine every other day or something. Took me longer than it should have to realise this was due to not wanting to acknowledge thst something cultural or promoted by Jesus/the church could be objectively bad.

[archagon]

FWIW, prosciutto and other cured meats are also carcinogenic. So is barbecue. Lots of things that we ingest are poison. I’m not sure why alcohol should be singled out here.