Not all and a little?
A study has revealed the benefits of alcohol for some people
A large-scale meta-analysis of the data revealed the groups of people most vulnerable to alcohol abuse, as well as those to whom small doses of alcohol can be useful. The article was published in The Lancet (Population-level risks of alcohol consumption by amount, geography, age, sex, and year: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2020).
The study was conducted within the framework of the Global Burden of Disease project, based in Washington and funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
The authors studied the health risks of alcohol consumption, including injuries, cardiovascular diseases and cancer. Data on men and women aged 15-95 years from 204 countries of the world were used.
It turned out that 1.34 billion people (1.03 billion men and 0.312 billion women) abused alcohol in the world in 2020. The analysis showed that for people aged 15 to 39 years, alcohol brings only harm. At the same time, 59.1% of all those who took a dose of the drink that exceeded the safe level belonged to this category. 76.7% of alcohol abusers were men. They account for 60% of alcohol-related injuries, including road accidents, suicides and homicides.
In this regard, scientists are calling for a review of the recommendations on alcohol consumption, stating the need to lower the permissible doses for people under the age of 40.
At the same time, it turned out that people over forty who do not have concomitant diseases, the consumption of a small amount of alcohol (for example, from one to two glasses of red wine) can bring some benefit. For example, to reduce the risk of cardiovascular diseases, stroke and diabetes.
Doctors believe that it is necessary to treat information about the benefits of alcohol with caution. Narcologist, psychiatrist Mikhail Tetyushkin notes that, although alcohol is indeed more dangerous for teenagers whose personality has not yet formed, it remains a poison in any case.
"There are a lot of factors that affect how dangerous or safe it is for a particular person," he says. — Even if we take some kind of conditionally harmless dose of alcohol, it remains so exactly if it is completely neutralized by the body at the level of the digestive tract. If the liver is coping, and alcohol destroys only it, and this happy person has a lot of liver, then we can talk about some potentially positive aspects of alcohol. For example, red wine: antioxidants, cardioprotective effect (which is very relative in terms of evidence)."
And yet, the doctor notes, the overall harm from alcohol still outweighs the possible benefits. According to Tetyushkin, the information from the new article may be useful for scientific research, but in terms of health education, it causes enormous damage.
"Our doctors, especially those who have no idea about narcology and psychiatry, like to tell patients that "drinking red wine is good for the heart," the expert explains. — But patients often completely ignore the reservation about one glass. As much as it fits, so much is useful. And then vodka also becomes "useful" for something, and hawthorn – it is generally sold in a pharmacy. That is, a person who has at least minimal problems with alcohol will not stop at one or two glasses. He will continue the banquet with unambiguously negative consequences."
The authors of the study themselves also recognize some of the shortcomings of the article. For example, the study did not study alcohol consumption patterns, so no distinction was made between people who occasionally drink alcohol in large quantities and those who drink regularly. In addition, the amount of alcohol consumed was reported by the respondents themselves, which could lead to an error in calculations.
Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru