Last call for alcohol? 🍹
If you are planning to drink this weekend - read this before you pour.
Whenever a new study comes out on a food or beverage, a drug, or anything - you always have to consider who is funding the research.
Many studies have an agenda behind them. Multiple “studies” have come out over the past three decades, for example, that touted the health benefits of drinking alcohol - wine, beer, hard liquor - in moderation, of course.
Eventually, the truth came out: alcohol companies fund research to convince you that drinking is healthy.
For whatever reason, 2018 appears to be when the alcohol propaganda came crashing down. Four years ago, Vox published an article exposing the alcohol industry’s practice of giving the government money to prove moderate drinking is safe.
These studies always get plenty of media coverage between beer and wine ads.
Of course, many people loved hearing these reports. It was the equivalent of doctors’ encouragement to eat cotton candy and donuts for better health. Just make sure you don’t overindulge.
Seeing headlines hailing the healing properties of alcohol for years must be why two new studies in today’s headlines stood out to me.
There’s no way the adult beverage industry funded these new studies!
Here is each one:
Are you under age 40? Forget about drinking this weekend - Alcohol is never good for people under 40, says a global study reported The Guardian.
“Alcohol carries significant health risks and no benefits for young people, but some older adults may gain from drinking a small amount, according to the largest study of its kind.
The conclusion comes from the authors of the Global Burden of Diseases study, a rolling project based at the University of Washington in Seattle, which produces the most comprehensive data on the causes of illness and death in the world.
Four years ago, the study said that even the occasional drink was harmful to health, and suggested governments should advise people to abstain entirely.
But after a major new analysis of global data, the experts behind the study have reached fresh conclusions. Young people face higher health risks from alcohol consumption than older adults, they say. But they add that adults aged 40 and older without underlying health conditions may benefit from limited alcohol consumption, such as a small glass of red wine a day, including a reduced risk in cardiovascular disease, stroke and diabetes.
Their findings, published in the Lancet, are the first to report alcohol risk by geographical region, age, sex, and year. They suggest that global alcohol consumption recommendations should be based on age and location, with the strictest guidelines for men aged 15-39, who are at the greatest risk of harmful alcohol consumption worldwide.
“Our message is simple: young people should not drink, but older people may benefit from drinking small amounts,” said the senior author, Dr Emmanuela Gakidou, professor of health metrics sciences at the University of Washington’s School of Medicine. “While it may not be realistic to think young adults will abstain from drinking, we do think it’s important to communicate the latest evidence so that everyone can make informed decisions about their health.”
Beer drinkers are not going to like this - a study published by PLOS MEDICINE concluded that even two to three beers a week may cause brain changes, cognitive decline.
UPI reports: “People who drink in moderation faced sobering news on Thursday from a large British research study: Even that amount of imbibing may be linked to brain changes and cognitive decline.
Specifically, drinking seven or more "units" of alcohol per week is associated with higher iron levels in the brain -- and iron accumulation is linked with Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease. It also is seen as a potential mechanism for alcohol-related cognitive decline.”
"The significance is this is the first study showing higher brain iron -- and in turn this is associated with worse cognition -- in 'moderate' drinkers," Anya Topiwala, the study's lead author, told UPI in an email.
Topiwala explained just how modest a person's alcohol intake may have to be to avoid ill health effects.
One unit of alcohol in the United Kingdom is defined as 8 grams (10 milliliters) of pure alcohol/ethanol. "So seven units is approximately two large, 250 ml., glasses of 14% wine or two to three beers a week," she said.
The study found that alcohol consumption above seven units per week was "associated with markers of higher iron in the basal ganglia, a group of brain regions associated with control of motor movements, procedural learning, eye movement, cognition, emotion, and more," according to a news release about the study.
Topiwala said she found the results surprising, adding, "I did not think we would find evidence of higher brain iron at such low drinking levels."
In fact, the study found much higher levels of drinking among the 20,965 participants, who self-reported the amounts -- a method researchers said was needed in such a large group but conceded most likely resulted in underreporting.
Although 2.7% characterized themselves as non-drinkers, the average intake was around 18 units per week, which translates to about 7½ cans of beer or 6 large glasses of wine, according to the news release.”
We’re all too young to remember when health experts told Americans straight-faced that Coca-Cola and cigarettes provided health benefits.
We know how ludicrous those claims are today.
Then what are we to make of these new studies that throw water on the alcoholic drinks/good health connection we’ve heard for so long?
The studies certainly don’t appear to benefit the beer, wine, or spirits industries.
Who funded these studies?
I was ready to give these studies credence as long as the funding source was trustworthy.
But I discovered something quite surprising - Study #1, according to The LANCET, was funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
**Record Scratch**
Wait…the same folks that want us to stop eating meat and devour bugs instead?
Poof. The trust factor just evaporated.
This is why you always check the funding sources behind studies like these.
You have every right to be skeptical of a study funded by the B&M Gates Foundation after what’s transpired over the past two and a half years.
Perhaps the study started with no plan and came to some honest conclusions.
Sadly, many people will dismiss the results solely based on who provided the research funding.
In this case…
**Raises Glass* To your health.
Cheers!