How much beer do you consume?

Nice observation MC.

The general rule is a product's quality is inversely proprtional to its advertising budget. Here in Oz, the big brewers make decent ads, but the product is shite. The best brewers (craft brews & of the bigs: Coopers, James Squire & Matilda Bay) don't advertise on TV.

Most people are stupid so if you tell them it's for them they'll buy it.

Beers per week - on average 6-8, often 1 over dinner at home or two when out for dinner,a couple more if out with friends. Don't drink at sporting events because the product's generally mass produced stale crap, but will happily knock down a few decent ales before said event and after if time and finances permit.

Completely agree with MC's take on the beers that advertise on TV. I have my local favorite (summit extra pale ale) that I always have a 12 pack of on hand, then usually try a new 6 pack, or go back to one I've liked before. Usually go to the store every other weekend, so 18 beers in 14 days. Most days 1, some days none, and some 3-4.

No Joke, usually a six pack every night. Might have more on the weekends. Doesnt really affect my running from what I can see.

Uhm, granted, the guy was being condescending about it, but why can't you respect my right not to drink just like I respect your right to drink? I could just as easily throw stats right back at you that say how horrible drinking alcohol is for you, even "in moderation." It, like your presentation of my "borefest" life, would be a completely skewed way to look at drinking alcohol. If you enjoy it, fine! There are plenty of social and health benefits to drinking alcohol. The same goes for not drinking alcohol, so there's really no need to be so rude about it. The OP seemed to want a complete representation of the spectrum, and people who don't drink are a part of that - just on one extreme end. (I'm not the one you responded to, by the way - just another guy who doesn't drink who thinks respect should go both ways.)

To the OP, I know it's not really the question you asked, but unless you're a pro or hyper competitive, enjoy your evening drink and tell your roommate to shove it. Living an enjoyable, balanced life > centering everything around running.

I probably average 15 a week. ~1/day for four days (work days), then somewhere between 2 and 6+ the other days. Mostly good stuff, maybe a six-pack of New Belgium something or other, a six-pack of something I haven't tried before, and three or four cans of swill like PBR or Olympia (usually consumed in the shower after a run).

Yawn! wrote:

Cool, glad you turned this into the teetotaler borefest. Enjoy your statistically shorter lives and increased risk of dementia.

I think I average about 12, with 6-8 of those coming on Saturday nights and the rest with dinner

You may want to stay up on research, instead of just following old news articles. Read the actual papers. More recent work has concluded against alcohols benefits on "cognitive declines." Wikipedia even cites a paper on this (Alcohol in moderation, premorbid intelligence and cognition In Older Adults: results from the Psychiatric Morbidity Survey J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry doi:10.1136/jnnp.2008.163964). I know wikipedia is not the best source, but this is a fairly good journal, and at best, should show you that the "facts" you claim are not actually facts.

See abstract. It points out some of the exact problems I had with the initial study, which is that I doubted they had accurately controlled for socio-economic influences.

Abstract

Aims: To test the hypothesis that the association previously reported between moderate alcohol use and better cognition, is an artefact of confounding by (a) higher premorbid education and socioeconomic status; (b) a lifestyle of moderation (using smoking as a risk marker); and (c) decreased alcohol consumption in people with physical illnesses.

Method: We analysed data from people aged 60-74 interviewed for the 2000 British National Psychiatric Morbidity Survey, representative of people living in private homes.

Alcohol use information was available for 1985 (98.9%) of eligible participants, of whom 1735 (87.4%) who drank moderately or abstained were included in analyses. Our main outcome measures were the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT), the Telephone Interview for Cognitive status screen for cognitive impairment and the National Adult Reading Test to measure crystallised (premorbid) intelligence. Our physical health measures were the number of prescribed medications and physical illness reported and the 12-item Short Form Health Survey’s Physical Component Score.

Results: The relationship between current cognition and alcohol use was reduced and no longer significant after considering premorbid intelligence or physical health. In our final model, the significant predictors of current cognition amongst non-problem drinkers were: age (B=-.13,-.18--.08, p<0.001) and crystallised intelligence (B=0.14,.12-.17,p<0.001). Smoking was not associated with cognition.

Conclusions: In people who were not problem drinkers, higher alcohol intake was not associated with improved current cognition after controlling for premorbid intelligence and physical health. Our findings suggest that, despite previous suggestions, moderate alcohol consumption does not protect older people from cognitive decline.

dd wrote:

Completely agree with MC's take on the beers that advertise on TV. I have my local favorite (summit extra pale ale) that I always have a 12 pack of on hand, then usually try a new 6 pack, or go back to one I've liked before. Usually go to the store every other weekend, so 18 beers in 14 days. Most days 1, some days none, and some 3-4.

Time to ditch that summit in favor of some SURLY goodness.

2 per night, 1 if I'm feeling gay

Guinness aficianado wrote:

My roommate thinks my beer consumption (generally 1-3 beers, 4-5 nights a week) is hindering my running. I disagree and since runners are supposedly a high beer-drinking demographic as a whole, I am taking a poll. How many beers do you drink per week?

(College partiers who slam 10+ beers on the weekends, you're not included in this discussion. Just regular adults who enjoy the taste of beer, no alcoholics please!)

One drink of alcohol per day can inhibit 25% of natural human growth hormone (needed to recover and gain benefits from training) for an averaged weight male. Four drinks per day will inhibit 75% of human growth hormone.

These are reasons enough not to drink regularly for any runner who is serious about competing and/or reach their personal peak levels. Cultural phenomena or no, alcohol consumption sabotages training no matter what justifications one tries to make.

Miles Davis wrote:

I drink one beer pretty much every night. Its rare that I dont drink one. Sometimes I have two on the weekend nights, ie if I am out to dinner at a restaurant...

this is me. plus a little vodka : )

serious runners drink water wrote:

One drink of alcohol per day can inhibit 25% of natural human growth hormone (needed to recover and gain benefits from training) for an averaged weight male. Four drinks per day will inhibit 75% of human growth hormone.

These are reasons enough not to drink regularly for any runner who is serious about competing and/or reach their personal peak levels. Cultural phenomena or no, alcohol consumption sabotages training no matter what justifications one tries to make.

[citation needed]