One Glass of Wine or Beer Daily May Cause Brain to Shrink (2022)

>They were not able to control for previous alcohol consumption. The data only goes back 1 year.

Probably safe to say most didn't just reach 45 and start.

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.

It's pretty much a question of if the psychological benefit counters the physical harm, then. Works for me, bottoms up!