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UCSF points out flaw in studies tying alcohol to heart health

Researchers at UCSF pored through more than 30 years of studies that seem to show health benefits from moderate alcohol consumption, and concluded in a report released today that nearly all contained a fundamental error that skewed the results.

That error may have led to an erroneous conclusion that moderate drinkers were healthier than lifelong abstainers. Typically, studies suggest that abstainers run a 25 percent higher risk of coronary heart disease.

Without the error, the analyses shows, the health outcomes for moderate drinkers and non-drinkers were about the same. . . .

The common error was to lump into the group of "abstainers" people who were once drinkers but had quit.

Many former drinkers are people who stopped consuming alcohol because of advancing age or poor health. Including them in the "abstainer" group made the entire category of non-drinkers seem less healthy in comparison. . . .

Dr. Tim Naimi, a physician who works for the National Center for Chronic Disease at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, said "the whole field of 'moderate drinking' studies is deeply flawed,'' because of the lack of randomized trials.

In a study published in May 2005 in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, Naimi and other CDC colleagues found that the comparatively higher risk of heart disease in abstainers could be explained by socioeconomic factors rather than lack of protection from alcohol consumption.

Non-drinkers, for example, tended to be poorer than drinkers, had less access to health care, and had less healthy diets.

"Anyone who suggests that people should begin drinking, or drink more frequently, to reduce the risk of heart disease is misguided,'' he said.

Ah, science! It's so objective and conclusive (not). In view of that, I'll just ignore this latest bit of "evidence" and continue to drink to and for my health. (Moderately, of course.)

(Thanks -- or no thanks -- to Alex Tabarrok for the pointer.)

permalink posted by Loquitur Veritatem @ 12:30 PM