Research Paper on:
Moderate Consumption of Alcohol and Media Statistics

Unformatted Sample Text from the Research Paper:
is a panacea. Few studies have opposed findings that moderate alcohol consumption is beneficial. However, when reading statistical data from a variety of sources within a few year time  span, it seems that not all data coincide. Are statistics being used properly or being misused to mislead the public? It has been said by many authors that one can  prove anything with a bunch of numbers. It is easy to report the findings one likes, and leave the rest. If some numbers support a theory, but the whole picture  provides avenues for alternate interpretations, writers will sometimes leave contradictory material out. Further, to draw readers in, sensational headlines about the dangers of something, or that something is beneficial will  be larger than life. The truth is that many studies are necessary in order to discern the truth, and even then, scientific findings are subject to change. In respect to  the validity of moderate drinking, statistics can be misleading. An article in Prevention Magazine suggests that life expectancy can fall with more than one drink per day for women  and more than two drinks for men, figures derived from the American Journal of Epidemiology in 2000 ( McCord & McVeigh, 2001, p.46). Four or five drinks within a  twenty four hour period increases the short-term risk of a stroke to close to five times for those at high risk (Stroke, Nov 1999 as cited in McCord & McVeigh,  2001, p.46 ). Also reported is the fact that one drink per day increases the chances of a woman dying from breast cancer (McCord & McVeigh, 2001, p.46).  In another publication during that same year, called Harvard Mens Health Watch, it was discovered that men who averaged about one drink per day had a 16% ("Good," 2001,