We have shared many recipes for low-carb cocktails. But we have always urged drinking responsibly and extolled the health benefits of sober months.
The difficulty of observational research is that it can be hard to tell if one thing is the result of another. For long-term research on alcohol, you can’t really ask people never to drink or always drink heavily or have one drink a day every day for years. That would be insanely difficult to run and have questionable ethics. So, researchers have to go off people’s self-reported drinking habits and health records.
In the past, we wrote about how drinking alcohol may be beneficial to older people but not younger. The research showed that 80 percent of deaths prevented by alcohol consumption happen in people over the age of 65. But it also found that young people were far more likely to be killed by alcohol. It was a case of, “If you survive drinking in your youth, it may help you later.”
The researchers on the study pointed out that dead people can’t participate in studies. Therefore, drinking might look healthier than it really is.
A new study adds more fuel to the argument that drinking never benefits health. Studies on alcohol often put people into two groups. They are split into people who don’t drink or drink very little vs. regular drinkers. The problem is that ex-heavy drinkers can be included in the first group.
Ex-heavy drinkers can quit drinking because of health problems directly related to alcohol use. Yet, in alcohol studies, as they don’t drink, they are put into the non-drinking group. Heavy drinking can take a toll on your body and shorten your lifespan. When ex-drinkers are added to the non-drinking group, it can make the regular drinkers look healthier by comparison.
“It’s been a propaganda coup for the alcohol industry to propose that moderate use of their product lengthens people’s lives,” said Dr. Tim Stockwell.
Dr. Stockwell and his team reviewed available research. They looked at studies that used only young people. They only used the highest-quality work that removed ex-drinkers from the non-drinking group. Those papers found no evidence that light to moderate drinking aided longevity.
If ex-drinkers are included in the non-drinker group and die, they bring down the average lifespan. “That makes people who continue to drink look much healthier by comparison,” said Dr. Stockwell. “There is simply no completely ‘safe’ level of drinking.”
We frequently urge our customers to look at who paid for research. This study was funded by grants from both the alcohol industry and an organization that advocates against alcohol use. That makes it as balanced as possible.
Our customers are adults who have to make their own health choices. We know that some drink and others do not. We will continue to share mocktail and cocktail recipes. Having a cocktail every now and then is up to you, and we want to be sure you have recipes for low-carb drinks. But you should be aware that it’s probably not as healthy as older research has led us to believe. So, filling your wine glasses with water most nights might be best.
