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Drinking for your health is one thing, however, heavy drinkers are at risk to develop stroke 15 years earlier than their non-drinking counterparts.

The study found that on average, heavy drinkers who experienced a stroke did so at the age of 60, whereas non-heavy drinkers experienced a stroke at the age of 74, on average.

The early occurrence of stroke may be related to diseased or damaged small blood vessels, the authors wrote.

Among stroke patients younger than 60 who had a stroke that occurred in the deep part of the brain, heavy drinkers were more likely to die within two years of the study follow-up than non-heavy drinkers.

The researchers also found that heavy alcohol drinkers were frequently not living independent lives before the stroke.

Other alcohol related issues, including multiple falls, nerve problems, depression and chronic fatigue likely caused their dependence on others.

In addition, more than half of heavy drinkers had high blood pressure.

Although, there is controversy over the actual benefits of alcohol, the key seems to be moderation.

New research has shown that non-alcoholic wine provides greater health benefits than alcohol so this is something to consider when making the choice for your health.

What makes alcohol so addictive?

New studies are attempting to understand the nature of addiction and how to break the cycle with help from our brains.

The University of California study included 13 people who identified themselves as heavy drinkers and 12 people who did not.

Using PET imaging, the researchers were able to measure opioid release in the brain before and immediately after the study participants drank the same amount of alcohol.

Drinking alcohol was found to be associated with opioid release in the nucleus accumbens and orbitofrontal cortex — two areas of the brain associated with reward processing.

Making bad decisions because you’ve had too much to drink can be an easy way out for some.

But research suggests that while inebriated we are still aware that what we are doing is wrong; we simply don’t care all that much.

Surveys show the vast majority of older drug addicts and alcoholics reported first using their substance of choice many years earlier.

However, older people metabolize alcohol differently from their younger counterparts causing more severe damage.

That lifelong use can lead to liver damage, memory loss, hepatitis and a host of other medical issues.

A minority of people find comfort in drugs and alcohol far later in life, fueled by drastic life changes, loneliness or legitimate physical pain.

Seniors use the drugs and alcohol as a coping mechanism whether it is loss and loneliness or feeling of displacement.

Experts have observed a rise in illicit drug use, while treatment for alcohol has dropped even though it remains the chief addiction among older adults. The 2008 statistics show 59.9 percent of those 50 and older seeking treatment cited alcohol as their primary substance, down from 84.6 percent in 1992. Heroin came in second, accounting for 16 percent of admissions in that age group, more than double its share in the earlier survey. Cocaine was third, at 11.4 percent, more than four times its 1992 rate.

You wouldn’t give your child a beer but you might give him a soda.

At the end of the day you’re doing the same damage minus the buzz!

The politics of sugar is far reaching.

The government allows business to poison us perhaps we should demand they heal us!