Skip to main content

Alcohol may be less harmful for people over 50

First Published

By Tim Newman

Fact checked by Gianna D'Emilio

A recent study examines the health impact of consuming alcohol at different ages. The authors conclude that, for people over the age of 50, the health risks may be less severe.
Older adult wine
If alcohol does have protective effects, they are not distributed evenly across all ages.

Heavy drinking is linked to a range of serious health consequences.
These include certain cancers, liver and heart disease, and damage to the nervous system, including the brain. However, as has been exhaustively covered in the popular press, drinking in moderation might have certain health benefits. A number of studies have concluded that drinking alcohol at a low level could have a protective effect. One study, for instance, found that light and moderate drinking protected against all-cause mortality, as well as mortality related to cardiovascular disease.
It is no surprise that these stories have been well-received and widely read, but not all researchers agree, and the debate is ongoing.

A recent study led by Dr. Timothy Naimi, of the Boston Medical Center in Massachusetts, adds further fuel to an already rampant blaze.
The authors take aim at the methodology used in earlier studies, and they published their findings in the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs earlier this week.

A fresh approach

The researchers argue that the way that earlier studies measured alcohol's impact on health might be flawed. Specifically, they note that the studies are generally observational and usually recruit participants over the age of 50. The authors argue that this is problematic because it excludes anyone who might have died due to alcohol before the age of 50. As they dryly point out, "Deceased persons cannot be enrolled in cohort studies." Dr. Naimi first outlined his concerns about this inherent selection bias in a paper published in the journal Addiction in 2017.
"Those who are established drinkers at age 50 are 'survivors' of their alcohol consumption who [initially] might have been healthier or have had safer drinking patterns."
Dr. Timothy Naimi
According to the authors, almost 40 percent of deaths due to alcohol consumption occur before the age of 50. This means that the vast majority of research into the potential risks of alcohol do not take these deaths into account and could underestimate the real dangers. To reinvestigate, the authors dipped into data from the Alcohol-Related Disease Impact Application which is maintained by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). According to the CDC, this application "provides national and state estimates of alcohol-related health impacts, including deaths and years of potential life lost."

The difference of age

The analysis showed that the level of an individual's alcohol-related risk was heavily influenced by age. In total, 35.8 percent of alcohol-related deaths occurred in people aged 20–49. When looking at deaths that were prevented by alcohol consumption, the scientists found only 4.5 percent in this age group. When they looked at individuals aged 65 or over, it was a different story: Although a similar 35 percent of alcohol-related deaths occurred in this group, the authors found a huge 80 percent of the deaths prevented by alcohol in this demographic.

 The researchers also saw this stark difference between age groups when they looked at the number of potential years lost to alcohol. They showed that 58.4 percent of the total number of years lost occurred in those aged 20–49. However, this age group only accounted for 14.5 percent of the years of life saved by drinking.
Conversely, the over-65 group accounted for 15 percent of the overall years of life lost, but 50 percent of the years of life saved.
The authors conclude that younger people "are more likely to die from alcohol consumption than they are to die from a lack of drinking," but older people are more likely to experience the health benefits of moderate drinking. Although the conclusions are not explosive, they bring us a more complete understanding of alcohol's impact on health: Moderate drinking may benefit people of a certain age group, but heavy drinking is harmful to all.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

LES BRASSERIES DU CAMEROUN: Poised to revamp dying North West Economy.

As the crisis persists in the Anglophone regions of Cameroon, economic sabotage has been part of the modus operandi of the Separatists. One of the companies that have suffered from such sabotage is the Brewery company, Les Brasseries Du Cameroun. However in it’s new program as announced by the company Earlier this year, it seeks to revamp it’s commercial Centre in Bamenda and the 4 Depots of Kumbo, Nkambe, Wum and Fundong. This with a workforce of 400 workers, over 200 in Bamenda and about 50 in each of the 4 Depots, with a majority of the workers hailing from the North West Region. It is calculated that, over 30 Suppliers, two of whom supply the majority of the drinks sold in the Bamenda Commercial Centre, about 3000 regular retailers and over 2000 in the informal sector will get employed. They will be able to develop their families and improve on their livelihood by educating their children, building decent homes, and investing in diverse fields,...
Post a Comment
Read more

NORTH WEST PUBLIC INDEPENDENT CONCILIATOR

The PIC while addressing local masses in Wum Council area, Mr. Tamfu Fai, appealed to the government to create divisional representations.   In the Anglo-Saxon tradition, it is customary to set up independent authorities responsible for settling disputes between users and regional and council administration. In line with this logic, Law No.2019/24 of 24 December 2019 to institute the General Code of Regional and Local Authorities provides for an independent authority called the Public Independent Conciliator (PIC) in the North-West and South-West Regions. The office holder is by no means a legal authority or a judge, as the competences and powers entrusted to him are not of a legal nature. The PIC is responsible, inter alia, for amicably settling disputes between users and the regional and council administration, defending and protecting rights and freedoms with regard to the relationship between citizens and the region or the councils thereof, conducting any investigation on the f...
Post a Comment
Read more

FRENCH PRESIDENT, EMMANUEL MACRON, DISAVOWS DECENTRALIZATION AS SOLUTION TO ANGLOPHONE CONFLICT; OPTS FOR REGIONALISM.

  Image an elephant walked into the room. It's definitely something you would notice. It's also something people would describe in many different ways. Some might see it as a monster or a threat, while others (like The Colbert Factor) might think it's the greatest thing ever. It would ultimately mean something different to everyone, and that would influence the way each person understood it. The visit of the French President was the elephant walking into the Cameroon room.   Emmanuel Macron and Paul Biya in Yaoundé. July 25-27 2022 Last week's visit by recently re-elected French President, Emmanuel Macron, was too substantial to ignore. To most ordinary Cameroonians, his remarks after the close to two hours high-level talks with long-serving President Paul Biya, were great. To others, (especially those in government), they were a threat to what government had given a pat on its back for a fast-track of the decentralization process with a Special Status for the North Wes...
Post a Comment
Read more