> ...we examine the associations between alcohol intake and brain structure using multimodal imaging data from 36,678 generally healthy middle-aged and older adults from the UK Biobank...
They were not able to control for previous alcohol consumption. The data only goes back 1 year. And it's self-reported.
I highly suspect many heavy drinkers would under report their drinking but they wouldn't report not drinking.
Interesting you lumped them together: To my knowledge, alcohol and caffeine consumption are quite different in their effects wrt long-term and moderate usage.
There's a substantial amount of evidence suggesting that even moderate alcohol use can be harmful (though this can sometimes conflict with other studies).
On the other hand, I'm not aware of any research indicating long-term negative impacts from moderate caffeine intake (~200 mg a day or so).
I should have been more clear. I developed issues with both later in life and I was diagnosed bipolar type 1 about 6 months later.
A cup of regular coffee will trigger hours of severe anxiety and paranoia if it doesn’t trigger a full-blown manic episode. Decaf anything still contains enough caffeine to be a problem.
I’m similarly affected by alcohol, except I’m depressed instead of manic.
The only people I know who drink daily are the ones that definitely drink more than one beer most days. Most other people I know who drink beer recreationally (i.e. outside social events and somewhat frequently) don't drink every day and rarely drink an average of a beer a day.
I'm very inclined to believe that the former group would likely claim to be drinking "one beer daily" if this is self-reported. I'm also very inclined to believe that the latter would report less even if their average may go over one beer a day in some weeks (e.g. heavy drinking at social events).
Let's keep in mind that even if we're talking about averages that's 356 beers in a year (or 366 this year). Even if you on average only drink once a week that would mean you'd need to drink 7 beers each week, i.e. there would need to be 52 events each year where you would drink an average of 7 beers (or 3.5 gin and tonics, depending on ratio, which sounds more manageable but still like a long evening).
Or to put it another way: a standard glass of wine for statistical purposes is defined as 150ml. An ordinary wine bottle has 700ml. Rounded up, that's five servings of wine per bottle. One drink a day on average would mean a bottle and a half each week or 78 and a half bottles per year. For one person. I like wine and I don't think I've ever bought (let alone drank, by myself) even half that many bottles in one year.
So in other words: I think people who say (self-report) they drink "one beer a day" or "one glass of wine a day" are understating their consumption and people who actually drink that amount on average also underreport their consumption because they likely get there with hard liquor and frequent (but not daily) social drinking.
I’ve only known one person who did drink daily in moderation. My grandfather had exactly one can of Miller highlife per day with lunch for a very long time. He occasionally had a second if he was dining out at a family dinner.
He greatly disapproved of drinking enough to impair judgement or reduce your ability to drive. Basically if you can feel it, you’re drinking too much.
Just to paint a more complete picture of him. I’d say he was a good man. A bit stubborn and stern, but always supportive and never treated people poorly. He never understood racism or sexism and hated it. :)
Exploring Psychological Benefits Associated with Moderate Alcohol Use: A Necessary Corrective to Assessments of Drinking Outcomes?
https://peele.net/lib/exploring.html
I believe that. We're well-calibrated to handle some amount, and some people really need that beer or two to bring them down to earth. Definitely contributes to overall happiness.
> ...we examine the associations between alcohol intake and brain structure using multimodal imaging data from 36,678 generally healthy middle-aged and older adults from the UK Biobank...
They were not able to control for previous alcohol consumption. The data only goes back 1 year. And it's self-reported.
I highly suspect many heavy drinkers would under report their drinking but they wouldn't report not drinking.