I actually meant the original article, not a quote from some New York Times summary. I wanted to know whether the study corrected for things like people who are teetotal only due to some other medical condition.
I'm prepared to believe that there's health benefits to a small amount of alcohol every day, but I really can't imagine it being anything on the scale of the health benefits of not-being-morbidly-obese. Morbid obesity is a huge risk factor for just about everything.
You see plenty of 90-year-old teetotallers, but not many morbidly obese folks past their fifties.
"You see plenty of 90-year-old teetotallers, but not many morbidly obese folks past their fifties."
That's true, but then again people also naturally lose weight as they got older. Lower testosterone causes muscles to atrophy, and reduced sense of smell leads to a loss of appetite. I'm not sure how many morbidly obese people live long enough to get to this point, but it's at least worth considering.
I'm prepared to believe that there's health benefits to a small amount of alcohol every day, but I really can't imagine it being anything on the scale of the health benefits of not-being-morbidly-obese. Morbid obesity is a huge risk factor for just about everything.
You see plenty of 90-year-old teetotallers, but not many morbidly obese folks past their fifties.