Exposed! The Health LIES About Booze
By
Dr. Scott Olson, ND
Posted December 15, 2017
Q: I’m seeing a lot of research these days about how alcohol is actually good for you. But my doctor says no way. What do you think?
Dr. Scott: You know I’m not shy about taking on mainstream medicine (and other doctors) when I think they are wrong.
But, in this case, I’m more likely to side with your doctor.
Here’s the thing – most of the studies claiming booze is good for you are terribly designed. And they’re not getting much better.
Let me explain.
Most of the “pro-alcohol” research relies on notoriously unreliable population studies.
Typically, population studies work like this: researchers ask people questions about their lives, and use the responses to determine what made those people healthy or unhealthy.
Simple enough, but there are two big problems with this kind of study:
- People don’t remember what they did very well
- People lie
So, really, nobody knows if the positive research about alcohol is reliable or not.
Enter the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
Believe it or not, they’re trying to fix the problem by performing what is called a prospective study.
Basically, they take a group of people and have them drink alcohol every day and compare that to another group that doesn’t drink to see what happens.
This study, The Moderate Alcohol and Cardiovascular Health Study, is now in process.
But guess what? There are a few problems with this stud, too.
In order to make sure the people who are drinking are actually drinking, the NIH has offered to buy their drinks (and that costs money… a lot of money).
So, guess who offered to buy the drinks? You guessed it, Big Alcohol.
The alcohol companies are happy to pour money into this research, especially if it will benefit them.
You can probably already guess the problems with this:
- Once again, people lie: The “drinkers” may or may not drink every night and the “non-drinkers” may be tempted to have a drink every now and again.
- Money changes everything: When big companies fund research, the findings are almost always positive.
So, the NIH Moderate Alcohol and Cardiovascular Health Study is worthless – even before it comes out.
As you probably know, there are a lot of problems with alcohol:
- It is a simple carbohydrate.
- It is stored as fat – in fact, there is a weight loss craze that simply has people stop drinking (and it works!).
- While studies show booze may help your heart, it (even in small amounts) raises the risk of breast cancer in women.
- Alcohol tends to disrupt the digestive microbiome (the collection of bacteria in our guts) and that can have a big effect on our health.
So, should you have that beer or glass of wine?
The answer (as with many things) is determined by how much. An occasional beer or glass of wine won’t hurt you; daily drinking, though, probably will.
Want me to answer your question next? Email askdrscott@livingwelldaily.com
Written By Dr. Scott Olson, ND
Nearly 25 years ago, failed mainstream medical treatments left Dr. Olson in constant pain – and his health in ruins. And that’s when he did something REVOLUTIONARY. He began his career in medicine – and dedicated his life to uncovering the true, underlying causes of disease.
Through his innovative medical practices in Tennessee and Colorado, Dr. Olson has helped cure countless seniors from across America of arthritis… heart disease… diabetes… and even cancer. All without risky prescription drugs or painful surgeries.
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