Re:‘Moderate’ drinking guidelines are too loose, study says
by Cthulhu_ on Monday April 16, 2018 @09:15AM
(#16848710)
A healthy dose of skepticism for every claim of what is good for you is... er... good for you.
Glass of wine good for you? This message or research was sponsored by the wine industry.
Avocados good for you? Avocado industry.
Smoking good for you? This is literally what the tobacco industry said until it was finally stopped by legislation and counter-evidence.
With every claim you have to assess who would benefit from it. In the case of alcohol, it's both the alcohol industry AND the state, due to high and extra taxes on alcohol (in my country at least), which are intended to discourage heavy drinking but which at the same time contribute a lot to tax income. The same weirdness is done with smoking; it's not banned because of obvious health reasons, just heavily taxed and packaging and advertising are tightly regulated, because outright banning it would cause it to go underground.
Glass of wine good for you? This message or research was sponsored by the wine industry. Avocados good for you? Avocado industry. Smoking good for you? This is literally what the tobacco industry said until it was finally stopped by legislation and counter-evidence.
With every claim you have to assess who would benefit from it. In the case of alcohol, it's both the alcohol industry AND the state, due to high and extra taxes on alcohol (in my country at least), which are intended to discourage heavy drinking but which at the same time contribute a lot to tax income. The same weirdness is done with smoking; it's not banned because of obvious health reasons, just heavily taxed and packaging and advertising are tightly regulated, because outright banning it would cause it to go underground.