The Canadians Are Trying To Keep Us From Sleeping Or Waking Up

Current CDC recommendations for the U.S. suggest that two drinks a day for men and one for women is acceptable. Those suggested limits are very similar to the Canadian guidance that was issued back in 2011 which classified fifteen drinks per week for men and ten for women as low risk.

Now, the snowflakes at the Canadian Centre on Substance Use and Addiction are encouraging (Don’t Laugh) no drinking at all, but suggest that two drinks a week will safeguard us from a wide variety of heart disease and cancers.

“Research shows that no amount or kind of alcohol is good for your health. Drinking alcohol, even a small amount, is damaging to everyone, regardless of age, sex, gender, ethnicity, tolerance for alcohol or lifestyle.”

Peter Butt, (Note The Name), a Canadian guideline panel participant, said “This isn’t about prohibition. We wanted to simply present the evidence to the Canadian public, so they could reflect on their drinking and make informed decisions. It’s fundamentally based on the right to know.”

Translation: Let’s get this into the public psyche, so they learn to hate a simple pleasure.

The report went on to state people that have three to six drinks per week risk developing “several types of cancer including breast and colon cancer, while people that have over seven drinks a week have significant increase in the risk of stroke and heart disease.”

Not so fast Peter Butt, not everyone agrees with you.

Dan Malleck, a Professor of Health Sciences at Ontario’s Brock University, thinks the guidance doesn’t take everything into consideration:

“The research they’re using also ignores the enjoyment and pleasure and stress relief and collegiality associated with alcohol. None of those things are in the calculation whatsoever. We aren’t just machines with inputs and output of chemicals or nutrition. We actually exist in a social space, and that has a significant impact on our health.”

As if we needed another form of division, Canada has another study that says coffee is bad for you if you’re a slow metabolizer of caffeine.

Ahmed El-Sohemy, a Professor of Nutritional Sciences at Temerty Faculty of Medicine at the University of Toronto States:

“These findings suggest that heavy coffee intake is associated with increases in the risk of kidney dysfunction among slow metabolizers of caffeine, who genetically comprise approximately half of the population. We made a discovery back in 2006 with a case-control study, where we showed that coffee increases the risk of a heart attack, but only in those who have a particular version of a gene that makes them effectively slow metabolizers of caffeine. Slow metabolizers are less able to get rid of caffeine efficiently from the body, so, it’s more likely to have adverse effects in the people who can’t get rid of it.”

“Often, when I give a talk, someone will say, ‘oh, I’m definitely a slow metabolizer because if I drink a cup of coffee in the afternoon it keeps me up at night, but there’s currently no link in terms of those types of physiological responses to caffeine and speed of metabolism.”

Believe it or not, there is actually a test you can take to find out if you are a slow metabolizer. El-Sohemy believes it’s a waste of time and suggests:

“I’d advise people just assume they’re a slow metabolizer and limit intake to one cup per day.”

All of the coffee crazies are out. Last month researchers at the University of Quebec said that reducing coffee intake (Do Not Laugh, OK Laugh, I Am) could combat climate change because of the reduction in pollution from making a pot.

I’m going to end now, I need a drink and to get my coffee ready for tomorrow morning.