UK - There is no such thing as a safe level of alcohol consumption

[edgarshade]

Guardian

David Nutt 7 March 2011

With reader comments

http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2011/mar/07/safe-level-alcohol-consumption

The idea that drinking small amounts of alcohol will do you no harm is a myth, claims Professor David Nutt

Last week I attended a discussion group chaired by the Observer's health correspondent Denis Campbell where one of the other experts, a public health doctor, asserted that alcohol should be treated differently from tobacco (and by inference other drugs) because there is no safe dose of tobacco whereas alcohol is safe until a person's drinking gets to "unsafe" levels. Its health benefits for the cardiovascular system are also often used to support the claim that in low doses alcohol is safe, for how else could it be health-promoting?

The myth of a safe level of drinking is a powerful claim. It is one that many health professionals appear to believe in and that the alcohol industry uses to defend its strategy of making the drug readily available at low prices. However, the claim is wrong and the supporting evidence flawed.

 

[edgarshade]

Apologies for posting three threads in a day. I just couldn't let this article pass.

 

[Dedbeet]

It's not safe then for my mom to have a sip of champagne at her daughter's wedding? What nonsense.

 

[edgarshade]

It's not safe then for my mom to have a sip of champagne at her daughter's wedding? What nonsense.

I liked one of the reader comments as I thought it seemed to sum it up quite nicely.

FinneyontheWing
7 March 2011 1:42PM
I don't think he's saying that you shouldn't be allowed to drink, just that 'there is no such thing as a safe level of alcohol consumption'.

Fair enough, no?

Like saying, 'Bash your face against a wall if you want, but there is no such thing as a safe level of face bashing.'

I know that Prof Nutt admits that he himself is a moderate drinker, so I don't think he's on any Carrie Nation style crusade against it. Just putting drugs into perspective from both ends, legal and illegal.

 

[pete+carl]

think it depends on what they define as safe and everyone is free to interperate safe how ever they wish

IMO everything in moderation should be okay but saying that i drink to much

 

[7zark7]

It's not safe then for my mom to have a sip of champagne at her daughter's wedding? What nonsense.

I am pretty sure the title and subject of the article says "safe level"…

…yes it does, I just checked.

 

[nuke]

This pretty much craps all over the epidemiological research into red wine.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3023893/?tool=pubmed
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11831110

 

[NeighborhoodThreat]

This pretty much craps all over the epidemiological research into red wine.

I was about to say the same thing.

Of course there is no such thing as a "safe dose" of any of the other drugs I'm doing, so what's new?

Interesting research though, just another reason why alcohol should be treated just like other "controlled" drugs.

 

[qwe]

i think, by safe, they mean physiologically.. AKA even though it may have a couple health-promoting properties, it has even more health-destructive properties, and these effects occur at any dose, not just high doses.

so: drinking a glass of wine a day, while it may make you live a few years longer, will make those last few years (and more years) quite unpleasant.

 

[pofacedhoe]

the only reason people are so into alcohol is because the comedown is easy to function on. compared to speed or mdma or morphine the alcohol day after is surprisingly functional. its not your mental stability thatb alcohol destroys, its your whole body, BUT that doesn't have to affect you all that much mentally.

 

[Vader]

If the beneficial effects of red wine are not present with other alcoholic beverages, doesn't that suggest that they are caused by something other than alcohol? If so, arguing that red wine is healthy seems a little like claiming that a mixture of omega-3 fatty acids and cocaine is good for your heart.

Interesting research though, just another reason why alcohol should be treated just like other "controlled" drugs.

Or another reason that controlled drugs should be treated more like alcohol.

 

[qwe]

the only reason people are so into alcohol is because the comedown is easy to function on. compared to speed or mdma or morphine the alcohol day after is surprisingly functional. its not your mental stability thatb alcohol destroys, its your whole body, BUT that doesn't have to affect you all that much mentally.

100% false.

see stats about alcohol's role in rapes, child abuse, crime, losing one's job, psychotic breaks, violence, etc.

alcohol is the worst recreational drug for society in the long run, *psychologically speaking*.

i know what you're saying, though... if you don't develop a physical dependency, you're right... but if you don't develop a dependency to the other drugs you mentioned as well, it's quite possible to function on those other drugs (and they tend to have afterglows rather than hangovers).

 

[Vader]

^I'd hardly call the long, grinding hours of slowly losing the plot that follow a speed binge an "afterglow", but that's just me.

 

[davez]

The only dangerous amount of alcohol is none imo.

 

[shishigami]

^ So unappreciated.

 

[qwe]

^I'd hardly call the long, grinding hours of slowly losing the plot that follow a speed binge an "afterglow", but that's just me.

i prefer opiates myself, i was thinking of those. if you binge excessively, any drug will screw you like that.

 

[7zark7]

the only reason people are so into alcohol is because the comedown is easy to function on. compared to speed or mdma or morphine the alcohol day after is surprisingly functional. its not your mental stability thatb alcohol destroys, its your whole body, BUT that doesn't have to affect you all that much mentally.

This obviously differs from person to person. I cannot function the day after alcohol - I feel like death. In fact, getting drunk will take between 5 days and a week to recover fully.

With other stuff, as long I get some sleep, I'm fine the following day. I'm just fortunate not to get comedowns. As I said though, sleep - as well as food and hydration - are essential to feeing normal, quicker