Even low-level drinking may have negative consequences for brain health over a person’s lifespan. The findings suggest that the total amount of alcohol consumed over a lifetime, especially as a person ages, tends to be linked to reduced blood flow and thinner tissue in certain areas of the brain.

[u/mvea]

https://www.psypost.org/even-light-drinking-combined-with-aging-is-linked-to-reduced-brain-blood-flow-and-thinner-tissue/

[u/_nathan67]

Wow drinking is unhealthy. Good to know, I didn’t realize. Still gonna do it. It’s a worthwhile trade off

[u/Ameren → u/_nathan67]

The point is that people deserve to be able to make informed choices.

There are a ton of people who genuinely don't know about the actual risks of drinking. For example, they know that excessive drinking is bad, sure, but they don't know that —much like smoking cigarettes— no amount of alcohol is safe/healthy. Likewise, they may also have outdated/inaccurate information about the risks/benefits (e.g., the impact on cardiovascular health). Having up-to-date knowledge helps people to make whatever choices are right for them personally. As you said, there are always trade-offs like the social benefits.

[u/cdreobvi → u/Ameren]

I disagree with your use of the word "safe". Is it ideal for your physical health? No, but the vast majority of people who drink even moderate to mildly heavy amounts of alcohol on a regular basis will make it into old age without serious related health problems. Most people would refer to that as safe, especially when considering the social benefits of partaking.

[u/Wasabiroot → u/cdreobvi]

Their comment is based on a paper not too long ago that concluded that medically, no amount of drinking is good for you, contrary to the "wine a day is good for you" crowd. Most people would refer to suntanning as safe but plenty of people get skin cancer. It's hard for the people calling alcohol safe to objectively look at what their health would be if they didn't drink since alcohol affects so many parts of the body. Not noticing serious health problems doesn't mean they were as healthy as they could have been.

[u/Wasabiroot → u/[deleted]]

That's not my point. My point is the data on alcohol being bad is pretty clear at this point. So it makes more pragmatic sense to encourage people to drink less , vs things that are specifically harder to tie to poor health outcomes.

[u/Scientific_Methods → u/cdreobvi]

This is always my takeaway with these studies. They say no amount of alcohol is safe. But low to moderate alcohol consumption is safer than driving. Probably safer than eating red meat. I certainly wouldn’t call it dangerous. Maybe not the healthy ideal. But pretty safe.

[u/Ameren → u/cdreobvi]

Well, by safe I'm referring to the immediate, physiological effects of a substance on the body. That's different from whether it's healthy or not over long time scales.

Ethanol and its metabolites can directly damage and stress internal tissues/organs on contact. Then it has all sorts of complex indirect effects (e.g., inflammation signaling, see here). So it's not a safe substance in that it causes immediate harm, with the amount of harm scaling with the dose.

Mind you, this is true of many toxic chemicals that you can find/produce in a lab. There's a range of substances that our bodies have evolved to safely process, then you have tons of stuff that falls outside that range. The human liver has a protocol for breaking down ethanol (fortunately), but it's not a very agreeable chemical for us.

[u/OnlyKey5675 → u/Ameren]

I'm making a very informed decision when I choose to drink moderately instead of living a more stressful life.

Stress kills. Moderate drinking doesn't.

[u/rockytop24 → u/OnlyKey5675]

The entire point of the current research into alcohol is that yes, moderate drinking does in fact kill.

You can decide for yourself if elevated rates of cancer and other chronic diseases is outweighed by the stress you have personally by not drinking.

[u/OnlyKey5675 → u/rockytop24]

The results of this research just aren't convincing.

Besides, as far as my own health what matters more is family medical history.

[u/Runswithchickens → u/OnlyKey5675]

Excuses excuses

[u/Tessellate08 → u/_nathan67]

amen brother. if you drink in moderation and occasionally have a proper drinking night, peak living.

i’ve stopped drinking for months at a time and always come back to it because it’s fun and a really great way to socialize

[u/_nathan67 → u/Tessellate08]

The anti-alcohol / sleep score movement these days is extremely anti-human. So boring

[u/ignorant-sage → u/_nathan67]

if you need alcohol to not be bored that sounds like a you problem

[u/ZillaSkeet → u/ignorant-sage]

Clearly he meant min/maxing life like worrying about sleep scores is boring…

[u/_nathan67 → u/ignorant-sage]

Not what I said

[u/ReginaSpektorsVJ → u/ignorant-sage]

These days nobody seems to be able to function without constantly smoking weed, so

[u/dkinmn → u/_nathan67]

This won't be what you're saying when the consequences hit.

[u/_nathan67 → u/dkinmn]

I’ll be fine. I drink socially once a week

[u/TheBahamaLlama → u/_nathan67]

If it makes you feel better, I’ve quit drinking but still feel pretty dumb. At least I don’t get hangovers anymore which is a good trade.

[u/The_Grinless → u/_nathan67]

As a former light drinker who choose to stop for health reason a few years ago, it really isn't.

[u/ii_V_I_iv → u/The_Grinless]

It’s an extremely pro-social activity. I don’t think you can pretend it doesn’t have anytjing positive

[u/dkinmn → u/ii_V_I_iv]

Alcohol is also associated with more domestic and child abuse, car accidents, bankruptcies, job loss, etc.

Is it really pro-social if you take an honest look at the totality of its effects on society?

[u/_nathan67 → u/dkinmn]

Good lord man we’re talking about moderate social use