CDC and alcohol

January 11, 2023 5:54 PM

Tell me if I'm wrong about this; if I'm right, please give me a cite if you can. I seem to recall reading an article that made an informed argument that the CDC guidelines for safe alcohol usage for women were unscientifically restrictive and reflected a bias against any kind of substance use.

Honestly, I might be wrong, but I really do recall reading that. If it's not true, I may be conflating this unfortunate pronouncement with what I've learned about the almost bullshit nature of the 2000-calorie requirement.

posted by Countess Elena to Health & Fitness (9 answers total)

Even though she has subsequently gotten a certain amount of (deserved imo) flak for being an antivaxxer, Emily Oster’s book “Expecting Better” has a long, detailed breakdown of this very much along the lines of what you’re talking about.
posted by joyceanmachine at 6:45 PM on January 11, 2023 [6 favorites]

Not a direct answer, but you may be interested in research supporting the idea of the J curve for alcohol and cardiovascular health.
posted by latkes at 7:55 PM on January 11, 2023 [1 favorite]

Seconding it's probably Emily Oster, I recall reading this same thing. Here's an Atlantic article she wrote (soft paywall).
posted by hovey at 10:26 PM on January 11, 2023

Paywall free link for the Atlantic article.
posted by ellieBOA at 12:38 AM on January 12, 2023 [1 favorite]

There’s also a recent-ish study that no amount of alcohol is good for health.
posted by kevinbelt at 3:50 AM on January 12, 2023 [5 favorites]

Response by poster: Ah! Well, I have the answer I wanted, but it's not what I hoped for if this is an antivaxxer's opinion. Still, it seems like Oster has a complicated set of viewpoints, so I'll keep looking into that.

Thanks for your help. I asked because a medical professional gently suggested I had been doing "heavy drinking" over the holidays and need to rethink it in general. I felt defensive, but I knew I didn't have the evidence at hand. Generally I don't drink much, but I have a lot of cultural baggage around alcohol use as autonomy, so I felt a bit stung. But they had a point.
posted by Countess Elena at 11:52 AM on January 12, 2023 [1 favorite]

When I worked in cancer research, the scientists at our institute always said that there is 'no safe lower dose for alcohol' regarding cancer outcomes. This was in the early 2000s. Here is a link to some of these conclusions. And another.

You are not alone - this study found that the majority of Americans surveyed (>50%) didn't realise there is a connection between alcohol and cancer.
posted by lulu68 at 3:31 PM on January 12, 2023 [1 favorite]

With apologies for the semi-derail - but this seems to be important to your reaction to the answers you've received - calling Emily Oster an "antivaxxer" is just plain silly, in the sense that (as far as I can tell) she has not once discouraged vaccination, against COVID or anything else (in fact, she wrote at least one article in 2019, pre-COVID, explicitly taking down the anti-vax movement and has written plenty promoting COVID vaccines). She's become a controversial figure because she's an economist, not a public health or medical worker, who was weighing in on COVID from a position of authority very early on in the pandemic, and because she was a strong proponent of reopening schools even before vaccines were available, arguing that the benefits for children's education outweighed the risk that COVID posed to children. She has also immediately gone on the record describing the benefits of COVID vaccines for young people the moment they were approved by the FDA. You can disagree on school reopenings or think that was an irresponsible argument or whatever, but to label her an antivaxxer makes a mockery of the term. And, I'd argue, should play no role in how you think about her writings on women's alcohol consumption.
posted by exutima at 7:57 PM on January 12, 2023 [20 favorites]

Emily Oster is not an antivaxxer. She is vaccinated against Covid. Her children are vaccinated against Covid. She recommends parents vaccinate their children against Covid. She is in favor of vaccinations generally.

It's fair to disagree with her specific viewpoints or more generally to disagree with an economist sharing her views on public health issues, but calling her an antivaxxer is an untrue statement.

Source
posted by vegetableagony at 7:46 AM on January 24, 2023 [1 favorite]