HOW DANGEROUS ARE BUTTER AND ALCOHOL?

 Before butter and alcohol, a couple of news items:

• Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said he won't block the Republican funding bill, incurring the wrath of other Democratic leaders. Trump's spending bill subsequently passed today. 

• 
  Major storm with potential for baseball-size hail and tornadoes are expected today for Missouri and Illinois, also the South to Wisconsin.
• 
  Mark Carney was sworn in as Canada's new prime minister.  
• He will call for a general election in the coming weeks, but this will not affect his leadership, as the governing Liberal Party will still remain in control.
• Canada's political system is like the UK.  A constitutional monarchy recognizing the Queen/King as the head of state, with the Prime Minister as head of government.  
• They have a Parliament.  Their Senate has 105 seats appointed by someone called the Governor General, who represents King Charles.  The House of Commons has 338 members elected by citizens of Canada.
• There is no president.

No one eats butter while drinking alcohol.  Actually, why not, for cheese and wine are fine as an appetizer.  Actually, there are recipes combining butter and hard liquor.  For example, have you tried vodka butter?

• Any vodka will be okay.  Any butter will work fine.
• Take 3 ounces of vodka, add two sticks of butter, and blend in a food processor.
• Feel free to be adventurous and add whatever you want.  Salt?  Pepper?  Garlic?  Herbs?
• Serve on top of toasted bread or crackers or hard potato chips or...

Anyway, that is not the reason for the title of this posting.  I'll be looking separately about the health danger of these popular consumables.  Up front, I love butter and drink too much alcohol, of all types.

• Authorities now are advising that you should eat less butter to improve your health and protect against heart disease and cancer.  
• They suggest that you use plant-based oils like from soybean, canola and olive oil.  Doing so, you are less likely to die prematurely.
• How serious is this?
• Plant-based oils are associated with a 17% higher longevity.  That is significant for anyone say at the age of 25.  For me, being old, not so much.
• This is a report published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
• Researchers at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston analyzed data from 221,054 nurses and health professionals for 33 years.
• During those years, 50,932 participants died, 12,241 from cancer and 11,240 from heart disease.
• They accounted for lifestyle factors such as body mass index, smoking, family history, etc.  
• The high butter consumption was 13 to 14 grams (three pats) per day individuals died at a 15% higher rate than those who only consumed almost no butter.
• To quote:

That’s in contrast to a 16% lower risk of dying in those who consumed the highest amount of plant-based oils (around 25 grams, about five teaspoons a day) compared to those who consumed the least (around 3 grams per day, or 1 teaspoon).

• I might be misreading that quote, but are they saying that the more plant-based oil you consume, the longer you'll live???  Like a gallon a day?  Nah, I think researchers mean that the butter you normally use should, as much as possible, be replaced by a plant-based oil.  And no more, for weight and other factors come into play  Another quote:

When the researchers examined causes of death, they found that each additional 10 grams (roughly 2 teaspoons) per day of plant-based oil was associated with an 11% lower risk of death from cancer and a 6% lower risk of death from cardiovascular diseases.

• Something can't be right there, for again, the more oil you consume, the longer you'll live.  Researchers should more specifically qualify the limit.
• Those who consumed the highest daily amounts of butter were 21% more likely die prematurely, while those who used plant-based oils were 16% less likely to die prematurely.  I guess this means that the difference is 31%.
• One more quote:

The American Heart Association recommends getting less than 6% of total daily calories from saturated fat. For example, if someone is consuming 2,000 calories a day, no more than 120 calories of them should come from saturated fat. That’s about 13 grams or less of saturated fat per day.

• 
  So should you stop consuming butter?
• According to Dr Marie-Pierre St-Onge, people should focus on the health benefits of plant-based oils, but it shouldn't scare them from using butter.  The harm comes from using too much butter.  Having a pat of butter is not going to be the end of the wold.
• Dr. Alice Lichtenstein says that if you're careful about other dairy fats, it's OK to have a little butter.
• 
  But what about those wellness influencers who warn of staying away from the Hateful Eight:  canola, corn, cottonseed, grapeseed, rice bran, safflower, soybean and sunflower oil?
• RFK, Jr, your Health Secretary, for example, has argued that Americans are being unknowingly poisoned by seed oils.
• Most claims about the dangers of seed oils tend to focus at least in part on inflammation — more specifically, that seed oils contain large amounts of omega-6s relative to omega-3s. Current seed oil skeptics say this ratio is pro-inflammatory and can lead to chronic illness.
• But nutrition experts say the worries swirling around seed oils are, in essence, a reheated, repackaged wellness fad. “This has been coming and going for 20 years,” said Dr. Dariush Mozaffarian, the director of the Food Is Medicine Institute at Tufts University. And the focus on seed oils, Mozaffarian and other experts argue, misses the bigger picture when it comes to improving Americans’ health.
• “Omega-6s, in dozens and dozens of randomized controlled trials in people, improve blood cholesterol levels — multiple aspects of blood cholesterol levels, from increasing the good cholesterol, like HDL, reducing LDL cholesterol, reducing triglycerides to improving glucose and insulin levels,” Mozaffarian said. “And it’s ironic, because many of the influencers talk about diabetes — and there’s well-established randomized trials showing that omega-6 fatty acids actually improve glucose, improve insulin resistance, improve insulin secretion by the pancreas. “They’re extremely healthy,” he added.
• 
  The big deal is to stay away from unsaturated fats, which come from animal products.  You find them in cheese, pizza, ice cream and eggs.  What?  I thought eggs were good for you. Note, though, that the American Heart Association advocates eggs in your diet.  
• Eating can get so complicated.  For example, as potato is not a fat, and if sliced or cut, but prepared in a plant-based oil, what's the problem?  The answer is that they contain too much salt, and the process of frying produces acrylamide, which is terrible for your health.  Okay, but only in high doses, which is not so for fries and chips.  So I'm confused.  Well, salt and calories, but not related to this subject today.

• Above are saturated fats or junk food, which are bad.  Below, unsaturated fats, mostly good.

As I earlier said, I do like butter, makes my life better, and there are benefits.

But I get the point made by medical professionals.  And worse, while the old margarine was terrible, most margarine these days are made from unsaturated fats, so are actually better for your health than butter.  And well not so bad, they just don't have that magical butter taste!

The very latest from medical sources is that alcohol (ethanol) is bad for your longevity:

• Their analysis involved 107 observational studies with over 4.8 million participants and 425,564 recorded deaths, featuring a diverse range of ages and backgrounds. However, studies on individuals with certain illnesses or problematic drinking habits were excluded.

• 
  They broadly defined low-volume (moderate) alcohol consumption as 1 to 14 drinks per week, which equated to 1.30 grams (g) to 25 g of ethanol daily.  For females, max of 7 drinks/week.

• 
  Moderate alcohol consumption has previously been associated with potential health benefits, including reduced mortality risk.

• However, recent research suggests that these findings were flawed and, compared to abstaining from alcohol, moderate alcohol consumption has no significant benefits for longevity. 

• 
  One study in adults aged 60 and over found that even ‘low-risk drinking’ was linked with a higher death risk among older adults who already face health issues. 

• 
  Experts are increasingly encouraging alcohol-free lifestyles and urging a shift in public health messaging to align with this new understanding.
• Many observational studies have previously suggested that moderate drinkers live longer and face fewer health issues than non-drinkers. However, the new research proposes that these comparisons may be misleading.

• 
  The findings suggest that, after adjusting for key study characteristics, the perceived health benefits of light drinking for longevity diminish.
• In another study of 134,103 adults aged 60 years and older:

The study found that even low-risk drinkers had a higher death risk associated with alcohol use, and that the risks were the highest for older adults who also faced health or socioeconomic risk factors.

• To iterate this point, no major health organization has ever endorsed a risk-free level of alcohol consumption, and this study supports that stance by highlighting potential biases in previous research.
• 
  Donald Trump is a total teetotaler, probably because he saw what happened to his older brother.  Shows how well a sober president can ruin the country.  Could be a good case for some alcohol. Incidentally, Joe Biden also did not drink.  Same.

Further:

In early 2023, the World Health Organization (WHO)

Trusted Source

 declared that “when it comes to alcohol consumption, there is no safe amount that does not affect health.” Additionally, WHO statistics indicate that over half of the 3 million annual deaths linked to alcohol.

Trusted Sourceare due to non-communicable chronic diseases, including cancer.

Then, again, this is less than 5% of all deaths.

So should you quit drinking alcohol?  From Harvard:

• Humans have been drinking fermented beverages for 10,000 years and longer.  There has always been debate about alcohol being good or bad.
• The medical and most professional organizations have always thought drinking was bad, for it was essentially unhealthy, could affect your daily and family life, and should be avoided.
• According to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism.
• In 2014, about 61 million Americans were classified as binge alcohol users (5 or more drinks on the same occasion at least once a month) and 16 million as heavy alcohol users (5 or more drinks on the same occasion on 5 or more days in one month). [6
• Alcohol plays a role in one in three cases of violent crime. [7]
• In 2015, more than 10,000 people died in automobile accidents in which alcohol was involved. [8]
• Alcohol abuse costs about $249 billion a year. [9]

• 
  Looks like that moderate drinking argument (probably mostly financed by wineries and their ilk) has now been discredited.
•  The active ingredient in alcoholic beverages, a simple molecule called ethanol, affects the body in many different ways. It directly influences the stomach, brain, heart, gallbladder, and liver. It affects levels of lipids (cholesterol and triglycerides) and insulin in the blood, as well as inflammation and coagulation. It also alters mood, concentration, and coordination.

• 
  But aren't there some mental and physical health benefits of alcohol at a "moderate" level?
• More than 100 studies show that moderate drinking reduces heart attack, stroke, peripheral vascular disease and cardiovascular causes by 25-40%.
• The idea that moderate drinking protects against cardiovascular disease makes sense biologically and scientifically. Moderate amounts of alcohol raise levels of high-density lipoprotein (HDL, or “good” cholesterol), [37] and higher HDL levels are associated with greater protection against heart disease. Moderate alcohol consumption has also been linked with beneficial changes ranging from better sensitivity to insulin to improvements in factors that influence blood clotting, such as tissue type plasminogen activator, fibrinogen, clotting factor VII, and von Willebrand factor. [37] Such changes would tend to prevent the formation of small blood clots that can block arteries in the heart, neck, and brain, the ultimate cause of many heart attacks and the most common kind of stroke.
• In a meta-analysis of 15 original prospective cohort studies that followed 369,862 participants for an average of 12 years, a 30% reduced risk of type 2 diabetes was found with moderate drinking (0.5-4 drinks a day), but no protective effect was found in those drinking either less or more than that amount. [32]
• The social and psychological benefits of alcohol can’t be ignored. A drink before a meal can improve digestion or offer a soothing respite at the end of a stressful day; the occasional drink with friends can be a social tonic. These physical and social effects may also contribute to health and well-being.
• Given the complexity of alcohol’s effects on the body and the complexity of the people who drink it, blanket recommendations about alcohol are out of the question. Because each of us has unique personal and family histories, alcohol offers each person a different spectrum of benefits and risks. Whether or not to drink alcohol, especially for “medicinal purposes,” requires careful balancing of these benefits and risks.
• That above report was published in 2022.  In 2024 the school said just about the same thing.  Let's see what the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health says in the near future.
• 
  About me, I'm old and feel better (happier??) with a drink or two.  If I can maintain my current health, I'll probably continue what I've been doing my whole adult life.  If I were 20 years old, I would probably more closely follow this latest warning from the medical profession.

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