Individuals Over 50 May Have Less Health Risks When Consuming Alcohol

Drinking Alcohol has been linked to a series of dangerous sickness’s and health consequences, including cancer, liver and heart disease and damage to the nervous system, most importantly the brain.

Despite the dangers of heavy drinking, many studies have suggested that alcohol in moderation produces benefits, including preventative effects to specific health issues.

According to a recent study led by Dr. Timothy Naimi, of the Boston Medical Center in Massachusetts, previous research or claims may be flawed. The experts claim that the studies have previously been generalized on observational experimentation and usually recruit people over the age of 50.

Researchers suggest that this an issue because it excludes individuals that might have died due to alcohol before the age of 50. However, “Deceased persons cannot be enrolled in cohort studies.”

Dr. Naimi first expressed his claims about this inherent preference bias in a paper printed in the journal Addiction in 2017.

“Those who have established drinkers at age 50 are ‘survivors’ of their alcohol consumption who [initially] might have been healthier or have had safer drinking patterns,” a piece from the article read Dr. Timothy Naimi

Around 40 percent of deaths due to drinking occur before the age of 50, according to the authors. This shows that the majority of the research on the risk of alcohol do not account for the deaths that happen in people below the ages selected — underestimating the real dangers.

According to the data, the level of alcohol-related risk is majorly influenced by age. For example, 35.8 percent of alcohol-related deaths happened in individuals age 20-49. When the scientist examined the deaths that were prevented by alcohol consumption, they found only 4.5 percent in this age group benefited.

Although when they studied people over the age of 65, it was a whole different outcome. Even though a similar 35 percent of alcohol-related deaths occurred in this group, scientists found that a whopping 80 percent of deaths were prevented by alcohol in this combination.

In the end, the head authors found that younger people, “are more likely to die from alcohol consumption than they are to die from a lack of drinking,” however, older people are the ones that will experience the health benefits of moderate drinking.

Regardless of the conclusions are not profound, it brings more of an understanding of alcohols true impacts on the body.

In conclusion, moderate drinking may be helpful to people of a certain age, but more importantly, understanding that no matter what heavy drinking is harmful to everyone and anyone.

source http://www.ivdaily.com/individuals-over-50-may-have-less-health-risks-when-consuming-alcohol