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!!BJiYgff8zf2 10/01/11(Sat)09:16 No. 55336590 •
The supposed cardiovascular benefits of a low level of alcohol intake
in some middle-aged men cannot be taken as proof that alcohol is
beneficial. To do that one would need a randomised trial where part of
this group drink no alcohol, others drink in small amounts and others
more heavily. Until this experiment has been done we don't have proof
that alcohol has health benefits. A recent example of where an
epidemiological association was found not to be true when tested
properly was hormone replacement therapy. Population observations
suggested that HRT was beneficial for post-menopausal women, but when
controlled trials were conducted it was found to cause more harm than
good. • For all other diseases associated with alcohol there is
no evidence of any benefit of low alcohol intake – the risks of
accidents, cancer, ulcers etc rise inexorably with intake. Hopefully
these observations will help bring some honesty to the debate about
alcohol, which kills up to 40,000 people a year in the UK and over 2.25
million worldwide in the latest 2011 WHO report. We must not
allow apologists for this toxic industry to pull the wool over our eyes
with their myth of a safe alcohol dose, however appealing it might be to
all us so-called "safe" drinkers. Remember these words of a man whose
great family wealth and influence was built on illegal alcohol: "The
great enemy of the truth, is very often not the lie – deliberate,
contrived and dishonest – but the myth – persistent, persuasive and
unrealistic. Belief in myths allows the comfort of opinion without the
discomfort of thought." John F Kennedy