Comment Re: In next months news: (Score 2) 93
Actually the "moderate consumption" myth has been thoroughly debunked. For more on this look up the "j curve hypothesis". It turns out that properly conducted studies (particularly in scandinavian military cohorts) establish a near linear dose-dependent effect of alcohol. That is, any amount of alcohol consumption increases the risk of many illnesses (cancers included). This is now well established, but the alcohol industry continues to push for softer messaging like, 'a glass of red wine with your meal is healthy'. We now categorically know this is not true.
In some case series analyses, alcohol consumption accounts for approxinately one third of attributable cancers. In many ways, it is a similar public health threat as smoking.
I do believe in a person's right to make bad choices, but I also strongly believe that people should be properly informed amd that governments have an obligation to prevent misinformation (especially when it is for-profit).
Some common-sense changes that will result (eventually) from the evidence are:
- limit or prohibit alcohol advertising (esp. at sporting events)
- include warnings about cancer, brain damage and liver damage on labelling
- consider public health when licensing venues (even without longer-term consequences, there are strong correlations between alcohol-serving venue density and violent crimes)
- standardise measures, prevent free-pouring and enforce responsible serving laws which hold venues liable for serving drunk individuals
-maintain strong controls on drink-driving
These are all common-sense methods of harm reduction. Feel free to keep drinking ), but please don't delude yourself that it is good for your health!