I basically never drink, but it looks like the evidence is continuing to mount that very light alcohol consumption can greatly reduce the risk of heart disease. Seeing as how one of my grandfathers died from a heart attack, this is something that concerns me.
The Danish study included 27,178 men and 29,875 women volunteers who were free of coronary heart disease at the start of the study. They filled out questionnaires and underwent interviews about their eating and drinking habits, recording how many drinks they had per week. A drink was defined as containing 12 grams of ethanol, a little less than one-half ounce. ...For men, the more they drank, the lower the risk. One drink a week lowered the risk by about 7 percent, two to four drinks by 22 percent and five or six drinks a week by 29 percent. Those who drank every day had a 41 percent lower risk of heart disease than those who did not drink at all. Even among men who had up to 35 drinks per week, the protection persisted.
With women, the trend was different. One drink a week lowered the risk by 36 percent, but daily drinking lowered it by 35 percent. In other words, for women, alcohol consumption had a significant protective effect, but the frequency of drinking had none.
I don't drink for three reasons: I'm concerned about my Christian witness to the people around me, I don't like the taste of alcohol, and I'm incredibly afraid of becoming an alcoholic. I've known alcoholics, and it's tragic. I feel like it would be easy for me to get addicted, and so I stay as far away as possible. Me or my wife becoming addicted to alcohol or drugs would be one of my nightmare scenarios.
There's some really good health advice near the end:
The researchers also stressed that their data said nothing about binge drinking or about the number of drinks per occasion, and Dr. Gronbaek said that drinking was not a substitute for exercise or good diet. "You shouldn't avoid exercise," he said, "and then try to compensate by drinking."
Darn.
I enjoy a cocktail made with top-shelf liquor as much as the next guy.. and enjoy the buzz and relaxation too.. but it's purely something to be done socially.. and not as an attempt to cure one's problems.
Grey Goose Martini, anyone? Absolut Citron and Cointreau Cosmopolitan? :)
Michael, I have exactly the same view of alcohol: The risk and harm of alcoholism are too large to be worth any benefit. Surely there are other ways to minimize heart attack risk.
I find it hard to believe that either Michael Williams or Ben Bateman would be at a significant risk of "alcoholism" under any circumstances.
Mike, I think alcohol is not something to be scared of. It's not a problem for Christian witness, Jesus drank sociable, provided wine at that wedding etc. Just don't get drunk, that's not too pretty.
In terms of becoming an alcoholic, as far as I can see you really have to go at it hard to get addicted. Once an alcoholic, then it's difficult and often tragic, but you wouldn't become one from regularly having a glass of wine. That's just not going to happen. We're not talking about crack here.
On the other hand, take a look at http://www.procon.org/AddictChart.htm
Interesting. I think "reinforcement" is the most relevent column. I have never met an alcoholic who never got drunk. Just don't get drunk and you'll be fine.
As for the taste of alcohol, it is an aquired one. Trust me, though, it's delicious and interesting. I'm all for extending the palette and enjoying the variety of bounty available here.
41% is impressive, and the biggest number I've heard in relation to this effect. Ben: I'd actually be surprised if there was anything else that decimated risk like this. I'm interested to know if it's alcohol itself at work, or just antioxidants. Tea and coffee have the same effect, but to the same extent?
btw, if you want to live longer, you could consider castration. Gives you 11 extra years, apparently.
I'm not sure how "up to 35 drinks per week," or an average of 5 drinks a day, translates into "very light alcohol consumption," but I guess it's all a matter of perspective.
As far as the taste for alcohol being aquired, some people are born with it.
I don't see to much a problem with being Catholic and drinking, its more of an issue of what you do while you're drinking than the act itself.
Grey Goose Martini is not a martini. Martinis do not contain vodka. A real martining is 2.5 parts Gin, 0.5 parts dry vermouth stirred with ice, strained and served straight up. Served in a glass with a twist (or olive), if you serve with a onion its a "Gibson". Being proper if you use Grey Goose, its a "Vodkatini" or "Kangaroo", if its shaken its a "Bradford".
tP: There are lots of drinks called "martinis" that contain vodka. Since Grey Goose is vodka, its a vodka martini.
I've never been a drinker--generally, a glass or two of champagne at a wedding, or half a glass of champagne at software release parties when I worked in startups. On average, I would guess that I drink about a glass of champagne a year. I don't think that I have a genetic predisposition towards alcoholism. Still, there have been times in my life when raising my daughter has been so painful that had I been in the habit of drinking, it could well have led to alcoholism. A little caution with alcohol is wise.
I've worked for functional alcoholics--people who by their own admission, had a drinking problem, and often came to work with a hangover. Yet they were able to do their jobs (perhaps not as well as they could have done them otherwise).
I don't see that consuming alcohol is moderation is a bad Christian witness. The Bible teaches about the evils of drunkenness--not of alcohol.
CEC: Why? Because they're both very principled and disciplined people. I'd be surprised to learn of any particular "addictions" they may have.
There is both a physical and a psychological component to addiction. I've been physically addicted to caffeine in the past--where if I stopped drinking coffee, I would end up with headaches and lethargy. I've had to taper off of caffeine several times in my career. "An engineer is a device for converting coffee into firmware." Many of the controlled drugs have serious physical addiction components to them--where attempting to withdraw from their use causes unpleasant to even occasionally lethal results.
There's a psychological component. Drugs such as marijuana may not have a physically addictive aspect, but there's certainly a psychological component. Alcohol, and many of the illegal drugs, have both. Even if you kick the physical addiction, the psychological addiction enslaves many people--and that's why the real measure of how successful a program for treating addiction is not measured by looking at the 90 day results, but the one year and five year results.
I suspect that people of strong principles and self-discipline will be able to break the psychological addiction more easily than people who are not self-disciplined. In that respect, addiction can be a moral failing. But it is both disrespectful to those fighting addiction, and I think inaccurate to assume that moral rectitude is sufficient protection.
CEC: Yes, yes, yes.. all of that I already knew. Perhaps you didn't get it that I was saying these things about Ben Bateman and Michael Williams with my tongue firmly planted in my cheek.
Your cheek eh? Didn't know you were that flexible.
Oh, I am.. and it's a talent of mine that could be of service to you as well.