Heavy drinkers live longer than non-drinkers.

[MikePizzoff]

This is great news for myself and a few others on here!

http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,2014332,00.html

[LouCipherr]

"Looks like I picked the wrong week to stop drinking..." :D

[AcesandEights]

This study brought to you by the the Beer & Liquor lobby.

Thank you for drinking!

[JDFP]

Now maybe I won't feel so bad about returning back to my normal amount of beer consumption in knowing I'll live longer (I've cut back the last few weeks to save a few extra bucks more than anything). I don't touch liquor or wine (never cared for any of that) but I go through about 30-40 beers in any given week on average. I love beer.

Just regular old Milwaukee's Best is my favorite or regular Budweiser or Pabst Blue Ribbon. Cheap American piss-beer works perfectly fine for me. I'm not picky. I love just the regular ol' cheap stuff and prefer Milwaukee's Best to expensive beer usually. When I go to my bar (which isn't as often as it used to be -- maybe two or three times a month -- as I generally drink alone at home -- safer that way and less expensive) I usually drink two pitchers of beer at my bar in any one visit or at home go through about 10 beers a night 3 or 4 nights a week (yeah, that's about 30-40 beers a week on average). I don't do "social" beer drinking -- I'd rather have none as opposed to just one or drink it with food or any of that (I can't stand beer with food). If I'm drinking beer it's for a purpose -- to get drunk and enjoy it.

Hmm, I don't know if I would be considered as moderate or as "heavy" drinker at 30-40 beers a week. I guess it depends on the individual. Anyway, it's good to know I'll live longer than all those others out there who abstain. :D

j.p.

[bassman]

Can't wait to show this to my wife....



"Sometimes you drink too much...."

"And I'll still be doing it when you're dead, bitch.":p:lol:

[Tricky]

The thing with all these studies about living longer, it never means you get longer as a young buck, it just means your an incontinent, deaf, blind, impotent old git for longer, false economy in my book! :(

[LouCipherr]

Just regular old Milwaukee's Best is my favorite or regular Budweiser or Pabst Blue Ribbon. Cheap American piss-beer works perfectly fine for me. I'm not picky. I love just the regular ol' cheap stuff and prefer Milwaukee's Best to expensive beer usually. When I go to my bar (which isn't as often as it used to be -- maybe two or three times a month -- as I generally drink alone at home -- safer that way and less expensive) I usually drink two pitchers of beer at my bar in any one visit or at home go through about 10 beers a night 3 or 4 nights a week (yeah, that's about 30-40 beers a week on average). I don't do "social" beer drinking -- I'd rather have none as opposed to just one or drink it with food or any of that (I can't stand beer with food). If I'm drinking beer it's for a purpose -- to get drunk and enjoy it.

Oh lord, JD is going to live forever now! :lol: :D


Can't wait to show this to my wife....



"Sometimes you drink too much...."

"And I'll still be doing it when you're dead, bitch.":p:lol:



:lol: touche'!

[BillyRay]

The thing with all these studies about living longer, it never means you get longer as a young buck, it just means your an incontinent, deaf, blind, impotent old git for longer, false economy in my book! :(

Exactly! That's why I drink so much in the first place!

Who the @#$% wants to live forever, anyway?

[krakenslayer]

That's pretty interesting. However, I'd be sceptical about it until I hear of other studies reproducing the same results: the media is notoriously "unscientific" when reporting on "science".

The media doesn't report on science, it reports on individual studies that seem sensational enough to sell papers. They often take the results of one experiment/study and present it in a way that suggests it's becoming some kind of new scientific consensus, when consensus are actually built up through years of debates, challenges, repeat- and follow-up experiments, etc. and it's not unusual for a single study to throw up an anomalous result just through a flaw in the experimental technique or a non-typical group of subjects. It's the same with all the "x causes cancer" headlines: if you believed all of those stories you'd just keep yourself sealed up in a vacuum sealed container.

It can be dangerous too - take the MMR vaccine thing: one badly executed study suggests (wrongly it turns out) that the vaccine might be linked to autism, and the newspapers reported it as a devastating new discovery causing many people to prevent their kids from being vaccinated against measles, mumps and ruebella, resulting in at least a couple of deaths.

The main problem is that when, some months down the line, a new study comes out that calls into question the previous results, the media won't report on it (because the implications are less sensational this time around), so the public are left believing that cotton causes cancer or heavy drinking is good for you or whatever.

[rongravy]

Cheers.

[blind2d]

"Skeptical".

[clanglee]

Well there have been a few studies in the past that have shown health benefits to light drinkers. . .2 beers or glasses of wine a day. But I've never heard that heavy drinker's have a leg up on non drinkers before. It WOULD explain those old sots that never seem to die. . .that have drank so much that they are effectively pickled. . . ;)

[JDFP]

Well there have been a few studies in the past that have shown health benefits to light drinkers. . .2 beers or glasses of wine a day. But I've never heard that heavy drinker's have a leg up on non drinkers before. It WOULD explain those old sots that never seem to die. . .that have drank so much that they are effectively pickled. . . ;)

Hmm...

This could explain...

http://www.100xr.com/100_XR/Artists/R/Rolling_Stones/The.Rolling.Stones.jpg

j.p.

[Publius]

Can't wait to show this to my wife....



"Sometimes you drink too much...."

"And I'll still be doing it when you're dead, bitch.":p:lol:

Yeah, well I think the longevity benefit from drinking still doesn't match the longevity benefit from having two X chromosomes. :p

[Terran]

Don't dare me....Dont dare me!....
Ill punch!
...erm uh,
me
Ill punch in the face!....Pow!

[DubiousComforts]

The study is based on this:

"The sample of those who were studied included individuals between ages 55 and 65 who had had any kind of outpatient care in the previous three years." (emphasis added)

Just over 69% of the abstainers died during the 20 years,
60% of the heavy drinkers died
41% of moderate drinkers died

So based on these statistics, how does anyone connect "heavy drinking = living longer"? First, you'd need to know how many of the 60% of heavy drinkers that died were due to health issues related to heavy drinking.

How much do you wanna bet that none of the 60% of abstainers died from... (wait for it) heavy drinking? :D

[Publius]

The study is based on this:

"The sample of those who were studied included individuals between ages 55 and 65 who had had any kind of outpatient care in the previous three years." (emphasis added)

Just over 69% of the abstainers died during the 20 years,
60% of the heavy drinkers died
41% of moderate drinkers died

So based on these statistics, how does anyone connect "heavy drinking = living longer"? First, you'd need to know how many of the 60% of heavy drinkers that died were due to health issues related to heavy drinking.

How much do you wanna bet that none of the 60% of abstainers died from... (wait for it) heavy drinking? :D

The study doesn't say that the drinking is the direct cause of death.

[LouCipherr]

Well there have been a few studies in the past that have shown health benefits to light drinkers. . .2 beers or glasses of wine a day. But I've never heard that heavy drinker's have a leg up on non drinkers before. It WOULD explain those old sots that never seem to die. . .that have drank so much that they are effectively pickled. . . ;)

The answer is quite simple, and you nailed it - if you're drinking like a fish, you're pickeling your body anyway, so it's basically just early embalming pre-death. Somehow that must preserve you in life a bit longer than the average dude. Go figure. :lol:

[MikePizzoff]

Hmm, I don't know if I would be considered as moderate or as "heavy" drinker at 30-40 beers a week.
j.p.

Compared to myself and my group of friends, at 30-40 beers a week you'd be considered a light-moderate drinker.


That's pretty interesting. However, I'd be sceptical about it until I hear of other studies reproducing the same results: the media is notoriously "unscientific" when reporting on "science".


I've read other articles, from other sources (some scientific), within the past year that were also stating how drinking more than 2-3 beers a day can actually be okay for you. So I'm beginning to buy it.

I mean, after all, there IS protein in beer... :D

[LouCipherr]

I mean, after all, there IS protein in beer... :D

Calories, carbs and protein, what more do we really need?

Beer. It does a body good. :lol: :D

[krakenslayer]

"Skeptical".

I was using the standard British spelling of the word; it's one of those colour/color, metre/meter, licence/license type things.

[MoonSylver]

http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/NHcottage/Nude01.jpg

HPotD 2060 Reunion photo.

[blind2d]

@kraken: Ah, I was afraid of that. Sorry. But hey, you learn something new every day!
Why are there only four guys in that picture?

[fulci fan]

The study is based on this:

"The sample of those who were studied included individuals between ages 55 and 65 who had had any kind of outpatient care in the previous three years." (emphasis added)

Just over 69% of the abstainers died during the 20 years,
60% of the heavy drinkers died
41% of moderate drinkers died

So based on these statistics, how does anyone connect "heavy drinking = living longer"? First, you'd need to know how many of the 60% of heavy drinkers that died were due to health issues related to heavy drinking.

How much do you wanna bet that none of the 60% of abstainers died from... (wait for it) heavy drinking? :D

Finally. I thought I would have to bring this up but you saved me the trouble. Also, didn't it mention that AA did this study? That is a bit fishy.

[clanglee]

@Why are there only four guys in that picture?

Those are the heaviest drinkers on HPOTD. . .the only one's left man. . .the only ones left.

[krakenslayer]

It's weird, I just can't do heavy drinking anymore. Sometimes I want to, but my body just refuses to let me: once I get three or four pints in me I now develop an instant headache and sometimes indigestion; past six or seven pints and I suddenly feel incredibly fatigued and sleepy and have an uncontrollable urge to go to bed.

It's weird because I used to be a fairly heavy drinker when I was at university, most weeks downing at least as much as JDPF said he did earlier in the thread. Then my tolerance just gradually reduced over time. I don't have any health problems or anything like that, so I have no idea why.

It's also infuriating because it's not like I even get particlarly drunk on six or seven pints, so I'm not even getting a buzz off of it before my body says "no".

[Neil]

This is great news for myself and a few others on here!

http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,2014332,00.html

Dangerous to draw conclusions...

There was a survey that suggested dog owners lived longer than non-dog owners. If I go and buy a dog, does this improve my chances? Almost certainly no... It could well be that people of a certain life style who are predisposed to a longer life are more likely to own a dog.

Likewise, people who are predisposed to a longer life, may also be drinkers...

[LouCipherr]

There was a survey that suggested dog owners lived longer than non-dog owners. If I go and buy a dog, does this improve my chances?

Only if you're getting drunk with your dog 24/7. :D

[Yojimbo]

As most folks here know, I am a Funeral Director. And thought this may only be anecdotal evidence, I would like to share that a large number of cases I handle have causes of death that are alcohol related. Here in California they often list the cause of death as "Ethanolism" which is another term for death by the long term effects of drinking alcohol.

I surely hope that folks who read an article which claims that those who drink on a moderate to heavy basis live longer than those who do not approach this article with a healthy dose of logic and common sense.

Being a dude that likes to have a cocktail or two to take the edge off or unwind from work, please understand that I am not in any way against the use of alcohol. But having seen what folks who pass away from alcohol related ailments go through and the condition that they are in when they end up in my morgue I have got to say that it will take more than this article to convince me that having three or more drinks a day will be good for my long term health.

[Kaos]

Nice threadkiller move there, Yojimbo. :whatever:

Now back to the regularly scheduled abuse of alcohol. :sneaky:

[MikePizzoff]

This song about sums up my feelings on beer.

NAsLG4iBkWs