• 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.