Orshe

Conventional wisdom says a drink or two a day is a healthy habit, likely to reduce the risk of heart disease and, perhaps, other maladies. But as this morning’s New York Times notes, that idea comes from the kind of observational studies that can be misleading — prompting some experts to question the conventional wisdom.

The basic problem is that people who have a drink or so a day may also be more likely to have other healthy behaviors, as compared with people who never drink.

“Moderate drinkers tend to be socially advantaged in ways that have nothing to do with their drinking,” a CDC researcher who has studied the issue told the NYT. They tend to be healthier, wealthier and get better health care (though they’re also more likely to smoke). “These two groups are apples and oranges.”

The way to clearly answer the question is to gather a group of similar people and randomly assign half to drink moderately, and half to abstain. As we noted last month, a Harvard doc is doing exactly that. The placebo group drink plain Crystal Light every day; the treatment group will drink Crystal Light mixed with grain alcohol. The pilot study won’t be the last word on the question, but it’s a step in that direction.

Photo by D.L. via Flickr

Original post: 
Drinking Alcohol and Staying Healthy