Drug
for Sleepless Vet Raises Questions
August 30, 2010 - Associated Press
One of the most contentious issues in the vast literature about alcohol
consumption has been the consistent finding that those who don't drink
tend to die sooner than those who do. The standard Alcoholics Anonymous
explanation for this finding is that many of those who show up as
abstainers in such research are actually former hard-core drunks who
had already incurred health problems associated with drinking.
But a new paper in the journal Alcoholism: Clinical and
Experimental
Research suggests that — for reasons that aren't entirely
clear —
abstaining from alcohol does tend to increase one's risk of dying, even
when you exclude former problem drinkers. The most shocking part?
Abstainers' mortality rates are higher than those of heavy drinkers.