The Canadian Centre on Substance Use and Addiction just released a new report on alcohol consumption guidelines now advising that a cap should be put on two drinks per week. This is way down from the previous cap of 15 drinks for men and 10 drinks for women. The new report is here. There is also talk of printing health warnings on our beverage bottles/cans like the ones we see on cigarette packaging. More info is here. I’m not sure I could lower my drinking to two drinks a week since I really like my cocktail before dinner on Saturday night, a bevvy with dinner then a nightcap before bed. Any thoughts?
Life is too short for less than two drinks per day, let alone a week. If life is even shorter because of it… so be it. (c;
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I have worked in large cities in the US, New Zealand, Australia, and Canada. By FAR, Canada has the least amount of “get wasted” drinking culture. Then, certain segments of the US. Then Aus. and then NZ, who drink like they think water might actually be poisonous.
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3 - 2 - 1 . . . .
waiting for the counter study that consuming a minimum of xxx per day promotes health and long life . . . .
isn’t that how this stuff always goes?
eggs
red meat
fish
etc
etc
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I have not dug into the study yet. But many studies rely on the no safe level fallacy.
If a bad outcome has increasing risk over all ranges of dose, then there us no safe dose. Things that have no safe dose include any transportation method.
But no one says ban cars because people die in cars and there is no way to eliminate the risk. Instead we manage the risk. Today cars are 95% less lethal than in 1960 because we managed the risk via public health tools.
If 15 drinks raises my risk 1% over 2, I’ll stick with my current drinking.
If your doctor wants you to follow a treatment, you need to know the expected payoff. There are things reliably demonstrated to extend life that i wont do.
There is a doctor in uk, i think, who can reverse diabetes with a severely restricted calorie intake that basically means living on liquid predigested food. As the old joke goes…
Doc. Youre saying if i give up eating, drinking and sex, i can extend my lifespan 10 years. Why would i want to.
On another hand, drinks are not drinks. When i last looked at the data (I was in charge of introducing beer and wine to a region for whole foods so i looked!), 75% or so of drunk driving accidents was from beer, far disportionate to its consumption. Wine accounted for less, and less lethal, accidents. A drink is not a drink. By the way, i think this is a socially conditioned result.
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You know that folk, really smart folk, thought we were the center of creation and then just really near the center. They had science to back it up. Until newton’s revolution. Now no one thinks the earth is flat.
OK! Flat earthers do not think.
You have to do what you have to do. No amount of well meant intentions are going to succeed in reducing anyone’s alcohol consumption - unless they want it to.
I say that as someone whose last drink of alcohol (and last cigarette) was on 31/1/2000.
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I was happy to see that, though I’d also like to see more discussion of the health effects beyond cancer risk, especially to mental health.
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Preach.
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You won’t… it will just feel like it.
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Agreed. It wasn’t too long ago red wine was believed to have certain health benefits but now we can get cancer if we have more than two glasses a week.
We can all get cancer, with or without red wine. I choose with.
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But we are talking about different components of red wine. Both of them have data supporting the claims but as with any food related health claims it us very hard to run real clinical trials to get reliable data and so a lot is based on underpowered studies or meta-studies which both habe their significant limitations.
The full answer from the Doctor is: No, but time will pass much more slowly…
Really depends on where you live in Canada, and what type of job you have. A lot of people rink several beers every day. People that play beer league hockey or rec softball, or go to apres ski, tend to binge drink every time they get together, weekly, into their 50s & 60s.
Calgary and the Maritimes had more of a drinking culture than Vancouver, in my experience.
I realize Australians drink more than Canadians, but a segment of Canadian society drinks like Australians do.
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(post deleted by author)
Yep
Well, it is a guideline report.
Like speed limits are a guideline.
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