DEAR DR. ROACH: What’s better for your health: beer (light or full) or soft drinks (sugar or sugarless)? And why?

— W.C.G.

ANSWER: Neither alcoholic drinks nor sweetened beverages are on my list of recommended beverages. Alcohol has many toxicities, whether it’s short-term or long-term use, and is a known carcinogen (cancer-causing substance). The Centers for Disease Control estimates that 178,000 deaths per year occur due to alcohol in the United States.

While “light” beer has slightly less alcohol and calories than regular beer and is therefore less toxic, I still can’t recommend it for your health. People who enjoy beer or other alcoholic beverage should do so knowing that there is a health harm to it (even if it’s small) and be sure that the harm is worth it to them.

Sugar-sweetened beverages like soft drinks are also a clear health hazard. Beverages made with nonsugar sweeteners are associated with less weight gain, less liver fat and less tooth decay. But the data show “diet” sodas are associated with increased risks of obesity, Type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure and all-cause mortality.

Water remains your best choice, with unsweetened tea or coffee being other healthy choices.

DEAR DR. ROACH: I’m an 80-year-old male with moderate hearing loss. Due to my hearing difficulties, many times, I have problems understanding people who are talking to me, especially during a telephone conversation. These problems can be due to a low voice volume, a lack of voice resonance, and foreign accents; however, I’ve found that people speaking too fast is my greatest problem.

My audiologist ran a test on me, whereby I was asked to repeat a recorded sentence back to her. At first, I was able to repeat the sentences correctly, but as the speed at which they were read to me increased, I wasn’t able to repeat the first part of the sentence.

My hope is that by publishing this information, people will speak more clearly and slowly when talking to us folks with hearing loss.

— D.S.

ANSWER: I appreciate D.S. taking the time to write. It’s my observation that people often increase their voice volume while speaking to those who are hard of hearing. But sometimes they speak at a higher pitch, or they don’t speak clearly. I’ve found that sometimes lowering the pitch of my voice can make it easier for me to be understood, since hearing loss is often worse at higher pitches. I will also try speaking more slowly to people with hearing loss.

Readers may email questions to ToYourGoodHealth@med.cornell.edu.