This is interesting. Personally, I'm not worried about binge drinking. I couldn't stay conscious on the way to four drinks, and am probably not drinking enough to get the maximum health benefits out of it. (See, e.g., Why alcohol lengthens your lifespan & How Does Booze Extend Your Lifespan?)
If you're a C elegans worm, a study yesterday provides more conclusive evidence that alcohol (in tiny amounts) is good for you (below). ~ Ilene
Binge Drinking—Especially by Wealthy—Is Surging in US
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Jonnie Miles | Getty Images
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Binge drinking by Americans is much higher than originally thought—especially among the more affluent households, a recent report by the Centers for Disease Control finds.
About 17 percent of the US population—or 38 million Americas—binge drink at least four times a month, the CDS says. The average number of drinks during each sitting is eight.
That’s way higher than the CDC’s definition of binge drinker, which is five or more alcoholic beverages for a man in one sitting and at least four drinks for a woman.
According to the CDC, binge drinking is more common among those with household incomes exceeding $75,000 a year.
“One possible reason why binge drinking is more common among people with higher incomes is that it is not yet widely recognized as a serious health risk,” said Dr. Robert Brewer, the Leader of the CDC Alcohol Program and a co-author of the report. “If it were, we would expect people with a higher socioeconomic status to be among the first to avoid binge drinking, as is generally the case with other risk behaviors, like smoking and obesity.”
Got that? The doctors figure you are out there getting wasted because you don't know it's bad for you.
Alcohol DOUBLES LIFESPAN, helps resist stress
Pour yourself another one, quickly, as scientists have proven that alcohol can double life-span.
Moderate levels of alcohol delivered an increase in longevity among test subjects in a recent study that Steven Clarke, UCLA professor of chemistry and biochemistry and senior author on a study published yesterday in the journal PLoS One, described as "shocking".
"This finding floored us" he told the UCLA newsletter.
The booze boost was particularly strong for test subjects put under stressful conditions, with the scientists noting that the addition of small amounts of pure alcohol produced significantly more robust looking subjects, compared to a control "teetotal" group.
The test subjects in this case were worms, though the scientists, and indeed the Register editorial team believe the research is highly likely to be applicable to humans.
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However, even for worms, binge drinking is not encouraged – if the worms are given much higher concentrations of ethanol, they experience harmful neurological effects and die, the scientists note.
And note, smoking and drinking is a more dangerous combination where the benefits of drinking may be negated by the smoking, as this experiment with Peeps reveals:
1) Alcohol alone
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Methods: The peep imbibed liberally. Note that this Peep is having trouble swimming upright. This same peep bumped into the sides of the experimental chamber several times over the duration of this study. |
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2) Progress check during the Alcohol and Smoking combination.
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Unfortunately, the subject began to show some adverse signs to the combination of treatments. Note in particular the blackening along the lower extremities, the faint flame surrounding the subject, and the mild scent of caramelizing sugar. |
