Headline in current Time Magazine \u2013 HEALTH: BOTTOMS UP. NEW STUDY FINDS THAT HEAVY DRINKERS OUTLIVE TEETOTALERS AND MODERATE DRINKERS LIVE ONGEST OF ALL. First, Time published a retraction (apparently online only) that the study does not include any teetotalers (excluded), but that \u201cabstainers\u201d refers to people who said\u00a0 they were no longer drinking \u00a0(20 years ago). Next, when they control for a number of co-variates, the statistical significance is greatly reduced. \u00a0Makes you wonder what if they had identified more co-variates.\u00a0So no-longer-drinking makes you as unhealthy as heavy drinkers. Oops, we can\u2019t consider that a valid scientific conclusion, for as the researches note, this is not experimental data but self-report data. They try to defend self-report validity but oops again, a page earlier they defended not including teetotalers because of problems with self report. The researchers are data-mining work of other researchers and have to deal with whatever was set up previously. There is genuine medical evidence of the dangers of heavy drinking, which this self-report research supports. But there is no science here to support a conclusion that moderate drinking is healthier than not drinking. And considering that heavy drinking demonstrably can cause health problems, moderate drinking could reasonably be suspect. Something is going on, but statistics per se offer no support for the \u201chave a drink.\u201d message of this Time Magazine article, illustrated with a happy and healthy corkscrew caricature hoisting a drink.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n