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REAL LIFE NEWS: SEE, I TOLD YOU ALCOHOL WAS GOOD FOR YOU

by Hazed

Better open another bottle, because a new report gives us some very good news: alcohol can double-life span.

An increase in longevity among test subjects given moderate levels of alcohol have stunned the scientists conducting the study. "This finding floored us," said Steven Clarke, UCLA professor of chemistry and biochemistry.

The only thing is... those test subjects were worms, not humans. Oh well.

The discovery was an accident. The scientists were actually testing the reactions of the C elegans worms to cholesterol. They used tiny amounts of ethanol to dissolve the cholesterol in the liquid surrounding the worms, and were then amazed to see that the worm larvae's lifespan doubled from an average of 10-15 days to 20-30.

Further experiments established that the effect was caused by the alcohol, not the cholesterol. What's more, the effect was more marked in worms that were put into stressful conditions.

Like humans, the key to all this is moderation - if the worms are given much higher concentrations of ethanol, they experience harmful neurological effects and die. Yes, just like humans.

Source: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/01/20/alcohol_doubles_lifespan/.

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