Study: Alcohol Kills as Many as Tobacco

FOX NEWS.com | Friday, February 04, 2005

By Salynn Boyles

Alcohol abuse kills as many people around the world as tobacco and high blood pressure, a new study shows.

And researchers charge that popular alcohol control measures, such as school-based abstinence programs, have proven to be ineffective.

“These programs may reduce drinking in the short-term, but within two or three years they have no discernible effect,” study researcher Robin Room, PhD, tells WebMD. “This has been shown in study after study.”
 

Getting Drunk Not Heart Healthy

The news about alcohol and health has been largely favorable in recent years, with an increasing number of studies touting the health benefits of light to moderate alcohol consumption. But the new research sheds light on the downside of drinking.

Room and colleagues report that alcohol is responsible for 4 percent of worldwide disease, contributing to more than 60 different medical conditions. Tobacco is responsible for 4.1 percent and high blood pressure, 4.4 percent.

Moderate drinking, up to two drinks a day for men and one drink a day for women, is now widely believed to help protect against heart disease. But binge drinking has the opposite effect.

“If you get drunk on the weekends you are not helping your heart,” Room says.

Room added that most people probably drink more than they need to reap alcohol’s health benefits.

“One of the special things about alcohol is that you can be both benefiting from it and harmed by it, or harming others, at the same time,” he says. “The same drink can have both effects.”
 

75,000 Deaths in U.S.

CDC alcohol researcher Robert Brewer, MD, says binge drinking was responsible for more than half of the 75,000 deaths due to excessive drinking in the United States in 2001.

Binge drinking is commonly defined as five or more drinks at one sitting for a man and four for a woman.

In a study published last September, Brewer and CDC colleagues reported that three-quarters of those who died from alcohol abuse were male and 6% were under the age of 21.

Figures from the World Health Organization suggest that alcohol abuse is responsible for roughly 1.8 million deaths annually worldwide.

Brewer tells WebMD that binge drinking is on the rise in the United States, increasing by almost 30 percent since the early 1990s.

“(The CDC) is not in the business of telling people that it is wrong to drink,” he says. “Our focus is on excessive drinking, and our study affirmed that excessive drinking is a very serious public health problem.”
 

Getting Drunk Cheaper Than Movie

In the Lancet review, Room and colleagues outlined several measures that do seem to help curb alcohol abuse, including strengthening drunken driving laws and increasing taxes on alcohol. Room researches the public health impact of substance abuse at Sweden’s Stockholm University.

The problem of excessive drinking is of particular concern on college campuses. Henry Wechsler, PhD, conducts studies at the Harvard School of Public Health about drinking among college students.

Wechsler blames the alcohol industry for targeting young drinkers and fighting legislation that could help reduce alcohol abuse. He says ease of availability and price are major factors in the culture of college drinking.

“It is cheaper to get drunk on the weekend than to go to a movie,” he says. “And around college campuses most bars and liquor stores have price-based specials.”

The promotions have gone beyond the traditional two-for-one drinks and "happy hour." Wechsler says they may now involve supersizing alcoholic beverages and single price "all-you-can-drink" specials.

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By Salynn Boyles, reviewed by Michael W. Smith, MD

SOURCES: Room, R. The Lancet, Feb. 5, 2005; vol 365: pp 519-530. Robin Room, PhD, Center for Social Research on Alcohol and Drugs, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden. Robert Brewer, MD, alcohol team leader, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, CDC. Henry Wechsler, PhD, director, Harvard School of Public Health College Drinking Study.

END


Jacqueline Saburido (pictured above)

Teens Drink One-Fifth of U.S. Alcohol! | Flying and Alcohol

Beer Soaks America (exposing the lying propaganda of the beer industry)

The above picture speaks 1,000 words. The beer industry hypocritically tells teens not to drink alcohol until they are 21, while those same companies saturate American culture with booze, booze, booze! Consequently, underaged drinking is an epidemic problem in America!


Scriptures Condemning Drinking Strong Drink

Judges 13:4, Now therefore beware, I pray thee, and drink not wine nor strong drink, and eat not any unclean thing.

1st Samuel 1:15, And Hannah answered and said, No, my lord, I am a woman of a sorrowful spirit: I have drunk neither wine nor strong drink, but have poured out my soul before the LORD.

Proverb:20:1, Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging: and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise.

Proverb 31:4, It is not for kings, O Lemuel, it is not for kings to drink wine; nor for princes strong drink.

Isaiah 5:22, Woe unto them that are mighty to drink wine, and men of strength to mingle strong drink.

Isaiah 24:9, “They shall not drink wine with a song; strong drink shall be bitter to them that drink it.”

Isaiah 28:7, But they also have erred through wine, and through strong drink are out of the way; the priest and the prophet have erred through strong drink, they are swallowed up of wine, they are out of the way through strong drink; they err in vision, they stumble in judgment.


“I've stood for more sneers and scoffs and insults and had my life threatened from one end of the land to the other by this God-forsaken gang of thugs and cutthroats because I have come out uncompromisingly against them.” —Billy Sunday

Alcohol Kills!

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Hear Billy Sunday's "Booze Kills!" (MP3)

Hear Billy Sunday on Prohibition (MP3)

The Salvation of a Nation (by Pastor Jack Hyles)

Jesus and Wine (No, Jesus did NOT make alcoholic wine!)

Watch Billy Sunday preach! | More Sermons by Billy Sunday

Alcohol is the Most Dangerous Drug! | God is Against Alcohol, Period!

The Truth About Booze — Part 1 | The Truth About Booze — Part 2 (Pastor Jeff Owens)

Click to hear the needful MP3 sermon, Alcohol Public Enemy #1 (by Pastor Danny Castle)
Download MP3 Sermon | Download MP3 with gospel singing before sermon

Anti-Saloon League Quitters! | Watch Billy Sunday preach! | More Sermons by Billy Sunday


“I tell you that the curse of God Almighty is on the saloon.” —Billy Sunday

“Whiskey and beer are all right in their place, but their place is in hell.” —Billy Sunday

“The man who votes for the saloon is pulling on the same rope with the devil, whether he knows it or not.” —Billy Sunday


“Preaching will close more taverns than Alcoholics Anonymous will.”

—Pastor Jack Hyles (1926-2001), quoted from chapter seventeen of Dr. Hyle's inspiring book, Teaching on Preaching.

Billy Sunday (1862-1935)
 

Beer is for fools!!!

"Whiskey and beer are all right in their place, but their place is in Hell." —Billy Sunday


Ye Must Be Born Again! | You Need HIS Righteousness!