tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-407029134261696283.post8444377928970100197..comments2023-08-22T03:22:59.956-07:00Comments on The daily scatter plot: Alcohol and Life Expectancy, Continued:Matthew Hhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02095098341496307132noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-407029134261696283.post-81889791993778459132009-10-27T22:06:31.801-07:002009-10-27T22:06:31.801-07:00My thinking is that you're not narrowing down ...My thinking is that you're not narrowing down your categories enough if you're not getting a correlation. Not to say that there's necessarily a clear correlation with any type of alcohol and longevity, but breaking it down to just beer, wine and liquor ignores the wide range of differences between the different qualities of each. Someone who drinks a gallon a year of store brand vodka may have an entirely different health and longevity profile than someone who drinks a gallon a year of Absolut Citron. Someone who drinks a six-pack a week of craft microbrew might have an entirely different health and longevity profile than someone who drinks the same amount of Lucky Lager. Same thing with box wine versus "fine" wines.<br /><br />And even this could be broken down in many ways that might not be obvious. While one factor could be the quality of the drink of choice, other factors could be that people who pay more may have better overall health and mental health, enjoying a regular drink for social and/or taste reasons, whereas someone who drinks cheap hooch might go in fits of binge drinking, just to get drunk. Alternately, people who pay less may do so because they are, overall, less wealthy, and health and longevity certainly have strong correlations to socioeconomic status.<br /><br />I'll bet if you narrow to a more specific type or price range for each type of drink, you may see less of the "blobbing" you describe here. I don't know where to get those stats, but it seems to me that one type of alcohol that is often separated out, and of which almost all brands fall within a narrow cost/quality range might be malt liquor. Any stats on that for the 50 states?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com