Alcohol....lets re-visit the subject

Finally, my isolated view in medical school is now becoming common practice...

One day when on a medical rotation some years ago, a fellow colleague and I were discussing a topic on the health benefits of alcohol. Albeit, there are some founded truths to it's benefits, I begged to disagree. The side effects of this drug outweigh the benefits. Especially when grape juice has the same antioxidant beneficial properties when compared to (a daily glass of) wine.

An older doctor walked into the lounge where we were having our discussion. He gave his two cents by defending the drug by citing studies he had read. I highly doubt he was an Emergency physician or a Trauma surgeon.

I found these two articles on Yahoo, of which sum up my thoughts on the "legalized drug", alcohol.

Royal Australasian College of Surgeons trauma committee head Daryl Wall said booze-fuelled violence was all too common and health workers were left to pick up the pieces.

Professor Wall said the PA Hospital at Woolloongabba had to deal with a steady stream of young victims early on Saturday and Sunday mornings, when people had been drinking for some time and the alcohol was starting to affect their judgment.

"It starts about one in the morning but they come in sometimes as late as Sunday evening because they finally sober up and realise they've been smashed up," he told brisbanetimes.com.au.

"In some instances a drunk male gets provoked by someone who's a superior boxer and the superior boxer gets to belt someone up, but they're cowards.

"Young men come in with very badly smashed faces, lacerated scalps and sometimes glassing injuries.

"We get 10 to 20 young people (on those busy mornings) with face wounds and scalp wounds, injured eyelids and lips waiting to be cared for.

"Surgeons rebuild eye sockets, noses, jaws and reattach portions of ears."

Sometimes, the injuries are so severe the victim dies.

But for other patients, the assaults leave long-lasting injuries that are untreatable.

"It's terrible to permanently lose your smell," said Professor Wall, the PA's director of surgical specialties.

Professor Wall said he despaired at the toll of alcohol-fuelled violence as seen in hospital emergency wings around the nation.

Evidence Against the Health Claim

by Jacquelyn Rudis

When analyzing the suggested benefits of moderate alcohol consumption on longevity, it is important to take into account the health effects of numerous other factors: diet, education and income level, health habits such as smoking and exercise, social engagement, and age. Many of the studies previously described found that although wine drinkers often have lower mortality rates than non-wine drinkers and abstainers, their lifestyles are also healthier overall, so it is hard to tell which factors are having the most healthful effect.

In Denmark (where the Copenhagen Heart Study took place), wine drinkers tend to consume a healthful, Mediterranean-style diet (high in fresh fruits and vegetables, fish, and olive oil, and low in meat and dairy products), and have high socioeconomic status. Klatsky’s California studies recognize that people who preferred to drink wine rather than beer or hard liquor were more highly educated, smoked less, and had more controlled drinking habits. Other studies have found that the benefits of alcohol consumption often depend on drinking patterns: Drinking slowly and with food has been shown to produce the greatest health benefits, and moderate wine drinkers reported consuming their glass or two of alcohol each day with meals.

Many proponents of wine as beneficial to health have pointed to the relatively low incidence of CHD in France, despite the typical French diet which is comparable to (or even worse than) other developed countries with high CHD rates. The French drink the most wine and have the highest level of total alcohol intake compared to 20 other industrialized countries, yet they also experience the second lowest CHD mortality rate. This phenomenon has been termed the “French Paradox”. It is important to note, however, that studies performed at the individual level have not consistently shown a positive connection between moderate wine consumption and longevity among the French. It is not clear, therefore, that a penchant for wine—red or otherwise—adequately explains the paradox.

Conclusion

While the evidence for the favorable health effects of moderate alcohol consumption is intriguing and deserves further study, it is unlikely that doctors will begin recommending a daily glass or two of wine to their patients anytime soon. There are at least three reasons for this.

First, since there are no randomized controlled trials on the subject (and probably never will be), it is not possible to prove a cause-and-effect relationship between alcoholic beverages and longevity. Many researchers and clinicians remain skeptical that that the alcohol itself is conferring the benefit. Patterns of drinking may simply be a marker for an unidentified attribute of the healthy drinker.

Second, the health benefits associated with moderate alcohol intake can also be obtained through safer habits such as exercise and a well-balanced diet. The antioxidant content of red wine is similar to that of fresh fruits and vegetables, and there are medications that can raise HDL levels and thin the blood more effectively than alcohol can.

Third (and most important), it is not currently possible to accurately predict who has a tendency to become an alcoholic and who does not. Recommending that all abstainers start drinking would be placing a significant number of them at unacceptable risk. For some, alcohol is an addictive drug, and alcoholism is a devastating condition that destroys lives and puts the public at risk.

So, my thoughts on legalizing marijuana? Should be evident by now. :) If not, take a moral and ethical pill and call me in the morning.

Reference: http://www.thirdage.com/nutrition/true-or-false-drinking-a-glass-of-red-wine-a-day-can-increase-longevity