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According to the recent study published in the journal Clinical and Experimental Research, epidemiological research suggests that moderate to high alcohol consumption is associated with a reduced overall mortality risk compared to non- and light drinkers.
Their study included over 1,800 people, aged 55 to 65 when the study began. Sixty-nine percent of the participants were men. The subjects were followed for 20 years.
Surprisingly, the group with the lowest mortality rate was moderate drinkers, who had one to three alcoholic drinks per day, followed by heavy drinkers, and then light drinkers, while non-drinkers had the highest mortality rate of them all.
Part of the theory as to why this is so has to do with the modern increase in methanol in food (and cigs), and the physiology by which ethanol helps us to process methanol. Methanol (wood alcohol) is a toxin. Mercola (the first source) offers a good rundown on a variety of possible factors, as well as some warranted warnings about the risks involved in alcohol consumption. Also it is worth noting here that the majority of study participants were male, and females have considerably more difficulty metabolizing ethanol.
SOURCES
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2010/09/14/why-do-heavy-drinkers-outlive-nondrinkers.aspx
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1530-0277.2010.01286.x/pdf
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19896282
( abstract of study on ethanol )
Their study included over 1,800 people, aged 55 to 65 when the study began. Sixty-nine percent of the participants were men. The subjects were followed for 20 years.
Surprisingly, the group with the lowest mortality rate was moderate drinkers, who had one to three alcoholic drinks per day, followed by heavy drinkers, and then light drinkers, while non-drinkers had the highest mortality rate of them all.
Part of the theory as to why this is so has to do with the modern increase in methanol in food (and cigs), and the physiology by which ethanol helps us to process methanol. Methanol (wood alcohol) is a toxin. Mercola (the first source) offers a good rundown on a variety of possible factors, as well as some warranted warnings about the risks involved in alcohol consumption. Also it is worth noting here that the majority of study participants were male, and females have considerably more difficulty metabolizing ethanol.
SOURCES
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2010/09/14/why-do-heavy-drinkers-outlive-nondrinkers.aspx
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1530-0277.2010.01286.x/pdf
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19896282
( abstract of study on ethanol )
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/10318410.stm
Add to this info that not everybody can use the form of B6 that is in cheap vitamins. About 1/4 of us have to buy the fancy B6 that is activated by methylation, because for genetic reasons we aren't good at methylating our own. Methylation is one of the main pathways by which your liver makes toxic lipophilic compounds water soluble so they can be excreted. B6 is key for supporting methylation, but if you can't methylate, you can't activate the B6 you get, so you MUST buy the supplement! For example, B6 is depleted in women who take birth control pills, and remains depleted for years after they stop. Just a FYI! I always have wanted to believe that I could get all the nutrition I needed from food, but I'm not so sure anymore. Considering the increasing insults of toxins and hormonally active substances in our environments, we can use all the help we can get. Provided we can figure out what is helpful and what is not. It is not so obvious....
Add to this info that not everybody can use the form of B6 that is in cheap vitamins. About 1/4 of us have to buy the fancy B6 that is activated by methylation, because for genetic reasons we aren't good at methylating our own. Methylation is one of the main pathways by which your liver makes toxic lipophilic compounds water soluble so they can be excreted. B6 is key for supporting methylation, but if you can't methylate, you can't activate the B6 you get, so you MUST buy the supplement! For example, B6 is depleted in women who take birth control pills, and remains depleted for years after they stop. Just a FYI! I always have wanted to believe that I could get all the nutrition I needed from food, but I'm not so sure anymore. Considering the increasing insults of toxins and hormonally active substances in our environments, we can use all the help we can get. Provided we can figure out what is helpful and what is not. It is not so obvious....
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Public Health and Causes of Death
Jun. 23rd, 2008 07:55 am"...the function of protecting and developing health
must rank even above that of restoring it when it is impaired"
--Hippocrates
( Combo of notes from bearded guy who lectured on 6/3/08 and JAMA article from 3/10/04 called 'Actual Causes of Death in the US, 2000' )
must rank even above that of restoring it when it is impaired"
--Hippocrates
( Combo of notes from bearded guy who lectured on 6/3/08 and JAMA article from 3/10/04 called 'Actual Causes of Death in the US, 2000' )
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http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/575940?src=mpnews&spon=34&uac=89474MT
My takehome message from this is that even in your middle age, stopping smoking is good for you. It's not too late.
( four key findings from the study )
My takehome message from this is that even in your middle age, stopping smoking is good for you. It's not too late.
( four key findings from the study )
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Ventral tegmental dopamine neurons respond only to UNPREDICTED REWARDS. When the goodie is predictable, those particular dopamine cells stop firing. They's the ones that say "Oh YEAH" to something one discovers as enjoyable and satisfying. Smoking a cigarette fires those cells even when it's not unpredicted, it provokes that Oh YEAH chemistry every single time you light up.
It's the dopamine release in the nucleus accumbens that stengthens the links between the stimulus and the wanting. Wanting and liking are not the same.
( boring to most, notes from organ systems class and later added notes from Intoxicating Minds, this reminds me of the wampus game on the old obsorne PC's, draw your twenty rooms and start sketching in the links )
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Suzanne is on day 15 of no cigarettes, no nicotene, after having smoked for more years than many of my classmates have lived. She's been reading about the history and marketing of tobacco. Now it appears that the tobacco companies are planning ahead to HELP PEOPLE QUIT SMOKING while they perpetuate nicotene addiction by offering a variety of Nicotene Replacement Therapy options. Sounds medical, doesn't it? It's nicotene gum, lozenges and 24 hour patches. "How to use nicotine patches: Use a new patch every day! Don't skip a day. Be sure to buy more patches before you run out. " The trademark is Zyban®.
( Random thoughts and how to chew nicotene gum )
( Random thoughts and how to chew nicotene gum )
