Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Humanities/2020 October 12

= October 12 =

alcohol and artificially sweetened drinks
according to this helpful guideline for healthy beverages is there any or no specific alcoholic drinks or artificially sweetened drinks they are saying are ok or bad to include if you want to be healthy diet and lifestyle wise? https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/healthy-drinks-full-story/ — Preceding unsigned comment added by 110.151.63.111 (talk) 11:29, 12 October 2020 (UTC)
 * Both alcohol and sweetened drinks are mentioned in that article. It uses slightly different terms, such as "calorically sweetened drinks" for basically sugar and "non-calorically sweetened drinks" for artificial sweetener.  There's a graphic of a pitcher that lists recommendations for daily consumption of those items.  In general, if you read that article, or any guidance at all anywhere from every reliable source, alcohol and sweetened beverages are NOT required for a healthy diet, and if you choose to consume them for pleasure, you should do so in very limited amounts as they introduce a variety of negative health concerns.  -- Jayron 32 13:13, 12 October 2020 (UTC)
 * I think most experts now say that the less alcohol one consumes, the better it is for your health. Not that long ago the consensus seemed to be that one alcohol consumption a day was better for healthy adults than none, so I cannot predict what they'll say a decade from now. Also, the sugar intake of the average health-savvy American is still too high; much of it comes from the high-fructose syrup added to almost everything (bread, soups, sauces), so not adding to that through your drinks may be best. Artificial sweeteners appear to also be quite unhealthy, based on statistical data. --Lambiam 16:34, 12 October 2020 (UTC)
 * That's usually a misinterpretation of what the consensus is on the matter. There's some evidence that some alcoholic drinks (red wine is often floated as an example) are less bad than others because they contain nutrients that may provide some health benefit, but what news sources and pop-sci reviews of this often gloss over is that those nutrients are able to be obtained in other foodstuffs (like eating the grapes instead!) without the deleterious effects of the alcohol.  Alcohol itself is not recommended in any amounts, but insofar as people are going to drink, the health-minded imbiber is often advised to choose less bad options.  -- Jayron 32 17:29, 12 October 2020 (UTC)
 * I don't think that's an accurate summary. There was a considerable body of opinion that alcohol itself was protective against some sorts of cardiac events.  That may still be true; the problem is that you have to balance it out against other risks. --Trovatore (talk) 18:23, 12 October 2020 (UTC)

I should've probably clarified a bit better what I meant to ask was in the end the website link has offered a summary as a guide of how much intake of certain beverages is recommended. In the part for alcohol it says no more than 1 to 2 alcoholic drinks for men and no more than 1 for women. What do they mean exactly? And as for diet artificially sweetened drinks what is meant in the part in brackets when they say (this is adapted from the Beverage Guidance Panel’s original recommendation of up to 32 ounces per day). Also what do they mean by ideally zero diet drinks but up to 1 to 2 glasses. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 110.151.63.111 (talk) 04:25, 19 October 2020 (UTC)