I have heard that people before the 20th century drank huge amounts of alcohol from an early age because water was not safe to drink otherwise. If this is true, how did teetotal groups (most obviously, Muslims) survive? | AskHistorians Archive Observer

I have heard that people before the 20th century drank huge amounts of alcohol from an early age because water was not safe to drink otherwise. If this is true, how did teetotal groups (most obviously, Muslims) survive?

by Lynx_Rufus

I have no idea if this is a true as serration to begin with. If it is, why were Muslim nations not crippled by tainted drinking water?

SlothOfDoom

You may find this AskHistorians thread from a few years ago has some discussion on yhe subject, at least until this one takes off.