Booze Linked To 1 In 25 Deaths Worldwide

Alcohol Must Be Viewed More Like Tobacco, Study Concludes

(CBS)  Alcohol consumption is linked to one in every 25 deaths worldwide, according to a study that concludes the effects of drinking are as harmful as smoking.

In a series of articles published in The Lancet, alcohol is linked to behavioral deaths, like violent injuries, as well as medical conditions like cardiovascular disease, cancer and liver disorders like cirrhosis.

The study found that 3.8 percent of deaths around the world in 2004 (the most recent year for data) were related to drinking - 6.3 percent for men, 1.8 percent for women.

Globally, average weekly consumption was around a dozen 10-ml units of pure ethanol - each unit being the equivalent of a bottle of beer, medium glass of wine or shot of liquor.

But consumption fluctuated regionally - Europeans imbibed 22 units a week; North Americans, 18. Figures were lowest in eastern Mediterranean countries, where consumption was just 1.3 units a week.

Indeed, alcohol consumption is rare in many parts of the world, the study finds.

"Worldwide, more people abstain than drink," principal researcher Jurgen Rehm, a senior scientist at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health in Toronto, said Thursday according to a report in the Canadian Press.

"It's not only Muslim countries - of course they contribute to this - but also countries like India where about 95 percent of the women abstain, where about 80 percent of the males abstain."

"And India has more than one billion inhabitants, so they really count."

Alcohol-related death rates were highest in Europe - 10 percent. Within Europe, Russia tallied the highest proportion - 15 percent of deaths were linked to alcohol.

Risks are also increasing in developing economies, particularly Asian countries like China and Thailand, the report notes.

Researchers said alerting the world to the real dangers of regular alcohol use is difficult because of its entrenchment in many cultures, it poses health risks comparable to smoking a decade ago.

"The big message is treat alcohol like tobacco," not as a substance that is relatively benign except for "those bad alcoholics," Rehm said. "That is not true."

"So we need to rethink alcohol completely as a risk factor. Of course, we will not prohibit alcohol, but we should make it more expensive so it's consumed in smaller quantities and in quantities which are actually not as detrimental for health."

[JamesStreet]

This article is really about social control and not health.
First, it's clear that obesity, over consumption of animal fats and sugar, and lack of exercise, among other things (including over consumption of alcohol) leads to poor health.

But, even though some of us are tempted, we don't yank fatties off the street and plunk them down in fat farms until they are svelte, good standing members of the skinny community.

We value freedom far more than equality in America and it will do no good to deny it. Frankly, I need a couple of drinks every night just to put up with this mass conforming, pop culture called America where it is considered geeky to eat health foods and take vitamins and supplements for health not to mention doing anything else that isn't approved by the herd.

If you don't tell me what to do, I wont tell you what to do.

[mzwild]

why were we, the American Pubics, not told about this much sooner??? Again and again we fail as a so-called free society. Behind the Russkies, again. It wa'nt the Shrub who let us down in the Global Community, it was non-drinkers.

[ribbie149]

"If you want to know the secret to good health, the words you are looking for are "Everything in Moderation".

Thank you for being the voice of reason. Addictive and/or irresponsible usage of substances is the real cause of death, not the availability of the substances. (The exception to this is cigarettes, since they are a delivery system for nicotine, which causes the addiction which can eventually kill the smoker). The comparison between excessive alcohol use and cell phone use while driving is more apt than it would first seem. Neither alcoholic beverages or cell phones are inherently dangerous in themselves- it is HOW THEY ARE USED that kills.

[element51]

Anyone out there who thinks that any steps will be taken to even manage alcohol consumption must surely still believe in the tooth fairy. The liquor lobby spends millions to buy our fine politicians to make sure that it is the evil marajuana that is kept illegal and innocent alcohol is not touched. And don't you find it odd that the tax on tobacco keeps rising but alcohol remains steady? In the area where I live a pack of cigarettes costs around 4.25. A can of beer is less than a dollar. And one marajuana cigarette will get you 3 years in prison. As they continue to raise the tax on cigarettes it is the low wage segment of the population who are hurt. If someone is making 75 to 100 K per year another buck a pack isn't going to have much impact but to the guy making 8.00 per hour it will hurt. And I love the arguement that says, "if you can't afford to smoke, just quit." If everyone did that, where would they go to replace the tax revenue? It all comes back to the slimy corrupt politicians that run our lives and the lobbiest that own them. As long as they get theirs the rest of us don't matter. We truly do have the best government money can buy.

[kansas1946]

as well as medical conditions like cardiovascular disease, cancer and liver disorders like cirrhosis.
******************************

Cirrhosis, ok. Heart desease, cancer, horse pucky. In fact, it helps with cardiovascular desease. Leave us the eff alone. Alchohol has been around since humans have been around and it is NEVER going away. Moderation in all things and everyone will be fine.

[dragon8me]

I can see it now. The prohibitionist will be up in arms. That's the answer to everything. We need to end all prohibition and seek to help the ones who need it. The rest, just leave them alone. Notice how much higher consumption is in industrialized countries? Capitolism, at least our kind of capitolism does not bring happiness. People are happer when they don't have to work long hours, and are told they need to buy this and that and when you get it home discover you really don't need it but now you have a credit card to pay and have to get another job to keep from going bankrupt. America, I love ya but you've become a joke.

[debinok1]

This will fade into the background because you will never convince the great politicians that alcohol is as deadly as tobacco, just like you will never convince them that a natural substance like marijuana may have ANY proven benefit. After all they scream and holler about tobacco ads being aimed at kids. When was the last time anyone actually viewed a tobacco ad in print or on tv? Now kids don't see the marlboro man and joe camel, they see the Mojito, Captain Morgan, and all of the other popular alcohol commercials that make drinking look cool and sexy.

[payasyougo]

"Booze Linked To 1 In 25 Deaths Worldwide"
----
Yeah but booze is also linked to 6 in 25 birhts so it kinda works out.

[realitychec6]

... It's about TIME !! ... I have always wondered why alcohol never gets any bad press. The only thing we have seen in the past is how a "certain amount" is good for you... right. I have always known how bad this stuff is and couldn't believe nobody had the nerve to tell it like it is. They should give the statistics of how many marriages have been ruined, how many children have suffered by living with a drunk parent, how many people have been killed by drunk drivers, how many people have been killed by drunks period, and how many suicides have resulted from people drinking, and add that to the others. Of course, most of the people in power are drinkers, so they have kept this quiet. Cigarettes and tobacco products have been maligned dramatically, but "don't mess with my booze" has prevailed. TV commercials glorify drinking. These advertisements and people guzzling at sporting events certainly encourage our youth to drink. Yet there are no restrictions at all. Alcohol is worse than tobacco!

[AttentionDeficit]

formrusmcsgt: all i ask is that pot and alcohol both be legal, and let the market decide. pot will prevail

[johninpennsyl]

If you actually believe that the people who lie to you,steal from you,and allow shysters to rob your retirement funds give a rat's A$$ about your good health-then your as dumb as they think you are.

[formrusmcsgt]

Booze Linked To 1 In 25 Deaths Worldwide
---
And marijuana is related to how many deaths worldwide?

The wrong drug is illegal.

[Benton09]

The Boozehounds in Congress will always find an excuse for their booze no matter how many people it kills. And the doctors and pharms keep pushing the drugs. And marijuana (a natural herb) is bad? Please!

[nasadawg]

This is just BS!!! First they go after my cig's. Well, a lot of people quit smoking - the money dried up and now they will go after my beer!! Boy, I can't wait to vote again. I am keeping a list. They can put out all the number and figures all they want. All most all are garbage. funny how the story starts as if something was happening around the would, but really it's about taking more of what we have left.

What does FREEDOM Mean?

[WiseWidget]

This is great news for all those greedy government workers who become millionaires on the basis of lavish retirements they pay themselves. The rest of us go without and the government workers can't find enough places to go vacation all over the world-at our expense! This is especially true in California. Now these slimy people can add some more taxes for the rest of us to pay, taking us farther down Poverty Road.

[AttentionDeficit]

legalize weed and make the alcohol pushers compete with a more pleasant, less toxic drug

[xlib]

Leads you to the munchies.

[nasadawg]

This is just BS!!! First they go after my cig's. Well, a lot of people quit smoking - the money dried up and now they will go after my beer!! Boy, I can't wait to vote again. I am keeping a list. They can put out all the number and figures all they want. All most all are garbage. funny how the story starts as if something was happening around the would, but really it's about taking more of what we have left.

What does FREEDOM Mean?

[rbbowser]

A couple of things -

(1) If you start with a bisas, you will prove your point. I noticed the lead investigator is from an addiciton treatment center.

(2) Assuming a link between consumption of something and behavior has not a lot to do with attributing death to that substance. Lots of people die in car accidents. I think we could easily show that people who had just eaten food then died in car accideents. This does not mean, the food caused the accident. The linkage betwwen aloohol and car accidents is based on this sort of analysis.

(3) When you include a third factor, actions from car detaths, which is one of the most dangerous elements of modern society, you start to confuse the underlying impact of the substance on your body.

(4) Substances also have benefits. You really have to look at the whole picture. For instance, most of the people in these alcholo laden countries (Europe, US) live far longer then people in countried like India or the MIddle East.

(4) Tobacco is a substance that causes disease directly, not indirectly via subsquent actions. Alchol, in moderation, does not cause liver failure etc. The reserach points to an overall positive benefit.

I may have to have a drink right now to just deal with this level of bias and/or lazy thinking in this research.

[jseymouriii]

From the first breath you take ... everything you come in contact with will eventually kill you. So the worst we can do for our bodies is breath and eat. Each will eventually kill us. So lets put a stop to these vises as well.

[lawabiding_usa]

I find this hysterical. First, we had to ban smoking in the US because it was 'directly responsible' for 30% of all cancer deaths -- and cancer is responsible for 30% of all deaths worldwide. (so smoking is responsible for 9% of deaths). It's an EMERGENCY -- we MUST BAN INDOOR SMOKING NOW!" (even if you own your own place & you smoke! Tragic/funny how the economy crumbled within a couple years of that nationwide ban everywhere it was enacted. (Remember that sub prime mortgages, the 'usually named' culprit for our current recession have been around for many more years than the smoking ban!). I can just hear all the hypocrites out there now -- "oh, your breath smells like a booze bottle, you stink" "Your drinking is dangerous to MY LIFE". And of course, everyone's favorite: "For the SAKE OF THE CHILDREN alcohol must be banned!"

I am SO grateful to our big brother society for making our lives safe & boring and let's all rally around one more reason to stay home & sink our economy...