ALCOHOL AND LONGETIVITY.

White Ribbon, Volume 30, Issue 361, 18 July 1925, Page 5

ALCOHOL AND LONGETIVITY.

Does alcohol shorten life? A very pertinent question. Where shall w * go for an answer. If we want an unbiassed answer, wholly based upon facts and observations, let us go 1o the Life Insurance Companies. Their tables are not based on sentiment, but on solid, hard business experi-

ence. For very many years a number of British life offices have insured total abstainers in a class by Humselves, and so, these classes can be compared. Seven of the largest companies give their tabulated results of years of experience. In every case the mortality is heavier in the class of non-abstainers. And when the results of the seven companies are added together we find that for every 100 per cent, of deaths calculated upon, every life insured (that is for 100 per cent, in their general experience) the abstainers class under same conditions have 84 per cent of deaths and the non-ab-stainers 114 per cent. But taking the records for the two classes where abstainers have a mortality rate of 100 per cent, the non-abstainers under similar conditions have a mortality rate of 132 per cent. That is British experience. But in an investigation into 4 3 companies in *h< U.S.A., and Canada, who, during the time of the investigation carried on their books more than 90 per cent, of the insurance in these countries, the results were just as favourable to abstainers. These companies found that in the group of free daily users of alcohol, they had 11.323 lives, and these lives showed 1198 deaths where only 374 were expected. The quite moderate daily users of alcohol number 30,700 and of these there were 1725 deaths where only 1460 were expected. This meant great financial loss to the companies. In the abstainers section the number of acutal deaths is always less than the number of expected ones. And we must also bear in mind that the nonabstainers class only includes moderate drinkers. The practice adopted by insurance companies is to add 50 per cent extra for such dangerous occupations as the drink trade, even if classed Al. by the medical examiner. Many of largest companies will not issue barmen on these in “The Trade” and all companies exclude hard drinkers ami drunkards.

The Abstainer and General Insurance Company, Ltd., showed by their returns that a teetotaller aged 30, is entitled to be assured as if he were a non-abstainer, aged 24. Thus a teetotaller at 30 has 6 years of vitality superior over the moderate drinker. The Registrar General's statistics also make sensible people think. In his return for a ten year period, he shows that if the comparative mortality figure for all adult males is 1,000 an equal number of abstainers would have only 560 deaths, while an equal number of publicans would have 164 2 deaths. Thus in large groups of men the publican death rate Is 642 over the average while the abstainers death rate is 440 below the average. Ask yourself why?