I object to the methodoligy and test populations used to draw the conclusions that this study seems to want to make: monthly averages do not serve as a good baseline for total alcohol consumption over a year, which can wildly fluxuate around holidays and religious observances such as Lent or Ramadan, indexing family salary together to calculate “social class” can lead to wildly disparate assignations, rough BMI calculations cannot capture the full picture of one’s body tissue makeup, and a variance in ethnic groups DEMONSTRATED by physiologists to vary in the body’s natural abilities to process and break-down alcohol will create natural outliers in the subject pool. I excercise two hours a day and run marathons and still would be marked as a “non-active person” under the ridiculous items they used to map physical activity, so it’s no surprise they have difficulty with that correlation. The CRI as a coping indicator also seems highly suspect: Am I really aware of the most stressful problem or stimulus that I encounter month to month and all of the ways my behavior changes because of it? They mention that women were overrepresented in the “moderate drinking” groups but give very little detail of important further confounds like institutional pressures (Military service where one is forbidden to drink), sleep quality (massive metabolism effects), alcohol tolerance levels. C’mon.

Shame on Charles Holahan for suggesting in his study that heavy drinkers live longer than people who abstain. Fox News and Time Magazine both went to town on his study with their title, “Heavy Drinkers outlive Non Drinkers”. Let’s use some common sense. Alcohol is a poison which is why a hangover follows heavy drinking. Alcohol is also a depressant which is why people on anti depressants are told not to drink. Alcohol is also addictive. A heavy drinker is at risk for becoming dependent on alcohol. I cannot believe that an individual who chooses not to drink and has a healthy lifestyle, (doesn’t smoke, is physically active, has a rich social life and healthy eating habits), will have a shorter life than a heavy drinker. I am the mother of a recovering alcoholic/drug abuser and know first hand the debilitating effects of “heavy” alcohol use. And as far as alcohol increasing socialibility, certain illegal drugs have the same effect. Alcohol use is so imbedded in our society that it seems we have to consume it in order to be sociable. I have no problem with people having a glass or two of wine with a meal, (I do myself), but it is not “healthy” and any more than that is harmful.