I personally think alcohol is great for you post-stroke, makes your walking much more challenging getting you recovered much faster. Does wonders for social connections. And these others. But since I'm not medically trained don't listen to me.
The negative article here:
Moderate alcohol consumption may not be as beneficial as previously thought.
Researchers from Penn State have examined the drinking habits of
middle-aged adults and found that the widely reported benefits of
moderate alcohol may be overstated because they appear in a vacuum and
did not factor in other health risks.
“Evidence continues to grow that alcohol has many health risks,
including for cancer,” Jennifer Maggs, professor of human development
and family studies at Penn State and one of the study's authors, said in
a statement. “Therefore, it is dangerous to report only benefits of
moderate alcohol consumption.
“Drinking habits are also shaped by our education, health earlier in
life and related lifestyle factors including smoking,” she added. “These
other influences may be the real factors underlying the connection
between drinking and midlife health.”
After analyzing information of about 9,000 people in England,
Scotland and Wales born in 1958 the researchers linked changes to mental
and physical health to an individual’s drinking and cigarette smoking
habits from age 23 to 55.
According to the study, about one-third of participants who reported
drinking at the light-to-moderate level—adults who consumed no more than
14 units of alcohol per week—were very unlikely to smoke and enjoyed
the best health and quality of life in middle age.
However, those who drank lightly to moderately but also smoked
experienced more health problems, as did those who both drank heavily
and smoked and those who either refrained from alcohol or reduced their
drinking over time.
Moderate drinking has long been considered to have some heart
benefits but the researchers believe these reports failed to take into
account other risk factors like smoking or a lack of exercise or
obesity.
“This study provides yet more evidence that any benefits associated
with drinking alcohol are smaller than previously thought,” Sir Ian
Gilmore, chair of the Alcohol Health Alliance in the U.K., said in a
statement. “The most effective ways to reduce harms associated with
alcohol consumption are to introduce pricing measures linked to alcohol
sales, and enable more informed choices through public education efforts
and mandatory labeling of alcohol products.”
The researchers also explained that adults who abstain from alcohol
are not necessarily healthier than light-to-moderate drinkers.
“Alcohol abstainers are a diverse group,” Jeremy Staff, professor of
criminology and sociology at Penn State and the study’s lead author,
said in a statement. “They include former heavy drinkers who quit due to
problems with alcohol, as well as those who quit drinking due to poor
health, and not just lifetime abstainers.
“Medical professionals and public health officials should be wary of
drawing conclusions about the so-called 'dangers' of never drinking
without more robust evidence,” he added.
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