I think there's more to it than that. You hardly hear about smoking anymore, and while it's true neither smoking or alcohol are good for you, but how do we explain these people that drink like a fish and smoke like a chimney at 90 years old? I think genetics may have a role in it.

[–] cmhe@lemmy.world 6 points 16 hours ago (1 children)

[–] solidheron@sh.itjust.works 1 points 9 hours ago

The lower life expectancy in the past has nothing to do with all the healthy 90 year olds that drink and smoke

[–] Buddahriffic@lemmy.world 5 points 1 day ago

The risk in this case is 1 in 25 from consuming up to 14 drinks per week.

There was another one a little while ago that said "even 1 drink a day isn't safe!" ... With a 1 in 1000 chance of dying to some alcohol related cause.

These never give any kind of timeline to the risk, too. Like is that a 1 in 25 chance of dying slightly sooner than normal but with alcohol related to that death or a 1 in 25 chance your life will be cut drastically short? My guess would be a mix.

Even with smoking, I remember seeing a stat of something like a 1 in 2 chance of developing a major smoking-related illness in your life. Which means half of smokers do it without any major consequence. Though I also think these studies miss something on the other side: everything adds up and if smoking makes your lungs slightly weaker, that could still be the difference between life and death if you end up with pneumonia or something that would have otherwise just brought you to the brink before recovery. Those 90 year old smokers are just lucky to avoid the major and minor issues.

Though there's always a chance that smoking took the fall for the oil industry because car exhaust isn't good to inhale either.