There’s a study for everything.
Feeling guilty about dropping your children at day care every morning? Don’t worry, studies say it’ll help the tikes get socialized and help them build immunities against common viruses.
Don’t like exercising? Cheer up, you can slash your chance of death due to cardiovascular and other causes by as much 50% by running for just five minutes a day.
But the all-time best of these dubious studies are the ones that say drinking a bit of alcohol every day is actually good for you.
Many studies say two 12-ounce beers, two 5-ounce glasses of wine or two 1.5-ounce shots of alcohol for men (half that for women) helps our health in numerous ways.
Turns out that’s not at all correct.
A new study published in JAMA Network Open suggests alcohol has no health benefit.
Researchers from the Canadian Institute for Substance Use Research at the University of Victoria reviewed 107 studies published between January 1980 and July 2021 that comprising some 4.8 million participants.
What they found wasn’t good for those who drink every day, even moderately. The researchers found that drinkers who consumed less than an ounce of ethanol — the amount of the form of alcohol found in two beers, two glasses of wine and two shots — had no perceptible increase in their lifespan when compared to non-drinkers.
“The paper provides further evidence that the idea there are health benefits from moderate alcohol use is not based on strong science,” lead researcher Dr. Tim Stockwell, a professor at the Canadian Institute for Substance Use Research, University of Victoria, told Fox News.
The researchers noted that 86 out of the 107 studies erroneously classified former drinkers as abstainers.
“The idea there are health benefits from moderate alcohol use is not based on strong science,” Stockwell said. “These studies make people who continue to drink appear healthy by comparison with people who stop drinking for health reasons.”
The simple conclusion: “Doctors should not advise their patients to drink for health reasons.”
It was nice while it lasted. You could pour that second glass of wine and toast to your own health. You could drink guilt-free every single day — in moderation, of course — convinced that you were actually getting healthier. And sure, if you abstained on school nights, you could even convince yourself that those 10 beers on Friday still puts you inside the healthy quota.
But the simple fact is this: “No amount of alcohol is good for you.”
That’s what Dr. Chris Tuell, clinical director of addiction services at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, says. “The studies that have indicated that one or two drinks can prevent strokes are not true,” the doctor told the New York Post. “Blood pressure and stroke risk rise steadily the more alcohol people drink.”
But how about just a couple of beers, doc?
“A small amount of alcohol can be just as problematic for some people, especially if alcohol has been a ‘go-to’ coping mechanism for life stressors,” Tuell said.
And by the way, if you think dropping your kids all day at a child care facility is good, wrong. Plus, five minutes of exercise won’t make up for sitting 10 hours a day chowing down Cheetos.
But you already know that, just like you already knew that no amount of alcohol is “good” for you.
The views expressed in this piece are the author’s own and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.
Joseph Curl has covered politics for 35 years, including 12 years as White House correspondent for a national newspaper. He was also the a.m. editor of the Drudge Report for four years. Send tips to [email protected] and follow him on Twitter @josephcurl.