Alcohol, how much is too much?

The following link is to an article about a report in the Br.J. Cancer and the relationship between the risk of kidney cancer and alcohol consumption.
http://www.theage.com.au/news/world...f-kidney-cancer/2007/08/25/1187462562881.html


This just emphasises that there are no hard and fast answers and that you cannot live your life according to the results of just one report. Our individual response to alcohol, as just one example, is hard to predict and statistical results don't necessarily apply to a particular individual. The important thing is to try to vary your food intake and not to take any one item to the point, where clear dangers exist. If you don't want to drink alcohol, that's fine but don't evangelise about it. Don't drink to the point, where it affects your ability to function normally or makes you obnoxious - particularly in countries where firearms and violence are common. That can really affect your life expectancy. You can take all the precautions you like, but disease can still rise up and bite you on the backside. To quote from Johnny Mortimer in the guise of Rumpole of the Bailey - "There is no pleasure worth the forgoing in return for an extra 3 years in a nursing home."
 
You've had too much when you manage to pick up a girl, head back to her place, drink too much tequila, and then spend the rest of the night parked in front of her toilet.

Nope, I didn't do that... no sirrrrrre..
 
JoeEllison said:
I remember getting a screening for something-or-other about 10 years ago, and the doctor asked me how many drinks I was having per week. Since I was 22 at the time, the number was probably around 50-60 per week. So, I was diagnosed as being an alcoholic, on top of whatever else I went in for. When I talked to the specialist, he brought it up, and after confirming that I wasn't having alcohol-related problems at work or drinking all 50 beers in one night, we came to the conclusion that the first doctor must have been an incredibly lonely and boring guy when he was in college. :)
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Hmmm. Looking at it another way - the first doc and his moderately drinking friends probably had an enjoyable and productive time at college while the rest of the students were slobbing around being drunk and silly. I would have to ask why you think it is necessary to have a drink in order to enjoy life or be sociable? Sounds like the definition of an alcoholic to me.

As to the harm it does - in the UK at least there is a culture of binge drinking and also a rise in alcoholic liver disease which is increasingly being found in younger people. Certainly the Department of Health is linking the two.
 
Normal Dude said:
You've had too much when you manage to pick up a girl, head back to her place, drink too much tequila, and then spend the rest of the night parked in front of her toilet.

Nope, I didn't do that... no sirrrrrre..
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Or when you wake up in Mexico sleeping in the back of your own truck on top of a bunch of firewood?

I didn't do that either..

>.>

<.<
 
wilks said:
Hmmm. Looking at it another way - the first doc and his moderately drinking friends probably had an enjoyable and productive time at college while the rest of the students were slobbing around being drunk and silly. I would have to ask why you think it is necessary to have a drink in order to enjoy life or be sociable? Sounds like the definition of an alcoholic to me.

As to the harm it does - in the UK at least there is a culture of binge drinking and also a rise in alcoholic liver disease which is increasingly being found in younger people. Certainly the Department of Health is linking the two.
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Nice try. Since both docs managed to graduate, I can't see how you can accuse one of being unproductive or "slobbing around". Sounds to me like you're either jealous or a recovering alcoholic(or related to an alcoholic).
 
Wudang said:
You might wish to consider the UK definition of binge drinking. A statistician wrote an article which pointed out that she'd a "binge drinking session" the night before because she had a sherry before dinner then split a bottle of wine with her husband.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/4200056.stm
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I'd define binge drinking as deliberately drinking enough to lose self-control and self-respect
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I think the NHS is in a better position to define binge drinking than a statistician.
 
I think there was a Canadian article claiming binge drinking was having five drinks on one occasion in the past month... Granted I work at a pub, but we all agreed that five drinks was what we had when we wanted to stay sober for the night...

``Giving up drinking, smoking, and womanizing won't make you live longer. It'll just feel that way'' --- can't remember the attribution (which was probably apocryphal anyway...)
 
I heard that you will live forever if you never drink or smoke or masturbate.
 
I usually drink four beers on Friday after work. I can't drink anymore than that because it mixes up with my meds and makes me feel like Hell the next day. I do enjoy those four good beers a week though.
 
You know when I know I've drank too much? When I can't feel my legs... (1:17)
 
Risk assessment is a tricky thing. There are a few posters who have questioned the endpoint that the NHS is using and that's the real crux of it. They're not always right and it's a very good question to ask. For all we know, they're calculating the risk to a person who is recovering from hepatitis.

I'll stay with my favorite risk assessor, Mark Twain, who wrote:

Too much of anything is bad, but too much whiskey is just enough!
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JoeEllison said:
Nice try. Since both docs managed to graduate, I can't see how you can accuse one of being unproductive or "slobbing around". Sounds to me like you're either jealous or a recovering alcoholic(or related to an alcoholic).
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Isn't there a joke that goes something like
'What do you call the medic that graduated bottom of his class?'
Answer 'Doctor'.

Your post does seem to sum up the attitudes of those immersed in the binge drinking culture though. According to you, if I show the slightest disapproval then I'm either jealous or alcoholic myself.

Jealous of being a drunken slob? Why ever would I be? I do enjoy my occasional glass of wine but I don't want to get drunk :)
No, I'm not alcoholic or related to an alcoholic either - just to someone who deals every day with the consequences of alcohol on a hospital ward. Not pretty.
 
wilks said:
Isn't there a joke that goes something like
'What do you call the medic that graduated bottom of his class?'
Answer 'Doctor'.

Your post does seem to sum up the attitudes of those immersed in the binge drinking culture though. According to you, if I show the slightest disapproval then I'm either jealous or alcoholic myself.

Jealous of being a drunken slob? Why ever would I be? I do enjoy my occasional glass of wine but I don't want to get drunk :)
No, I'm not alcoholic or related to an alcoholic either - just to someone who deals every day with the consequences of alcohol on a hospital ward. Not pretty.
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Are all of your posts so insulting, aggressive, and dishonest? Or just the ones about alcohol?
 
Wudang said:
Argument from authority
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In this case the authority is legit. The NHS and DOH employs large numbers of experts in public health and has access to large datasets. Generaly safe to assume that if they doin't know what they are talking about no one else does either.
 
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