• tmyakal@infosec.pub
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    40
    ·
    7 hours ago

    OP is referring to the j-curve historically seen in studies about drinking. Because researchers didn’t control for people who stopped drinking after years of abuse or people who couldn’t drink because of other health issues, it looked like having 0 drinks per day led to worse health outcomes than 1-2 drinks per day. Because of that, many health organizations spent decades telling people that 1-2 drinks per day was better for you than 0 drinks per day.

    Someone finally controlled for those variables a few years ago, and the j-curve vanished. Most health organizations now say they’re is no amount of alcohol that is safe to consume.

    So it’s got nothing to do with Gen Z drinking habit specifically, and the science has been corrected since. But a lot of people still internalized and parrot the “1-2 drinks is healthy” thing.

    • jdr@lemmy.ml
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      1
      ·
      6 hours ago

      No amount of alcohol is safe? Is that like saying no amount of driving is safe?

      • Dave@lemmy.nz
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        2
        ·
        1 hour ago

        Sure. Any driving you do increases your risk of death. But it’s likely you need to drive for other reasons that reduce your risk of death (like buying food).

        Drinking is different because no one needs to drink.

        • jdr@lemmy.ml
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          1
          ·
          3 hours ago

          Exactly!

          I meant that plenty of people drink reasonable amounts alcohol all the time with no apparent issues.

          • GreyEyedGhost@piefed.ca
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            3
            ·
            3 hours ago

            It means that any amount of alcohol increases the odds of you dying sooner or having other negative health effects sooner (which will lead to you dying sooner). There is no amount that won’t increase those odds. It says nothing about how much any given drink would impact your life span. I’m not saying it’s negligible or significant, but I can’t be bothered to look it up.

            • jdr@lemmy.ml
              link
              fedilink
              English
              arrow-up
              1
              ·
              2 hours ago

              Come on, you have to say it’s positively correlated rather than causative that’s the whole point of the thread.

              This isn’t a hill I want to die on, but I don’t think it’s a meaningful claim without a bit more nuance.

              • GreyEyedGhost@piefed.ca
                link
                fedilink
                English
                arrow-up
                1
                arrow-down
                1
                ·
                2 hours ago

                Well, the WHO puts it in the same category as tobacco. Is tobacco just strongly correlated to cancer? And I don’t need to say it is causative, because The Lancet did.

                You can stack that data up against your anecdotes however you like.

                • jdr@lemmy.ml
                  link
                  fedilink
                  English
                  arrow-up
                  1
                  ·
                  edit-2
                  19 minutes ago

                  Did you read that paper? I don’t believe it supports your argument.

                  The mechanism by which smoking causes e.g. lung cancer and the significant rate at which it does so is well understood. I’m not convinced the same can currently be said of alcohol.