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Comment by waihtis | Hacker News Reader

Slightly funny when an institution such as Harvard still doesn't understand how extrapolating conclusions from a single variable when dealing with a complex system is janky at best and most of the time worthless

Just compare these two maps:

https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/alcohol-c...

https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/heart-dis...

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Agree, trying to isolate a single variable additionally creates an illusion: that if one removes all the negative variables and adds all the positive variables you get a super-positive result: if all you eat is fibers and anti-oxidants you will surely die a premature death to put it crassly.

It ignores that things work in concert: a healthy life is about balance, i.e. in this case: a Mediterranean diet seems to nullify the impact of alcohol (which I assume is the reason for the low heart disease rates in France and Spain, despite having double the average alcohol intake compared to say the Nordics).

Huh? Isn't the entire point of matched controls in an epidemiological study to isolate the effect of that single variable?

why make a sensationalist article about quitting drinking then?

I didn't find it sensationalist. Obviously, like, being born in a country with a poor healthcare system might have a bigger impact on your morbidity/mortality in some cases than dietary changes, but it's hard for people to change the country they are born in.

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