Moderate Alcohol Consumption? Evidently Not!

"After one drink or more a day it [alcohol-attributable death] increases substantially."

'[It is important for drinkers to know how much-- or how little alcohol can cause harm]."

"When you tell people, 'Well, alcohol is not good for you, they're going to say, 'Well, how much? And that's very reasonable." 

Priscilla Martinezx-Matyszczyk, Public Health Institute researcher

The findings of a U.S. study to investigate alcohol-related health harms aligned with years of research that say health risks go up with one drink a day and that no level of alcohol has a protective effect on mortality. (iStock)

 

A newly published American study, a draft of which was published in the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs, was released last year. Criticism from the alcohol industry sidelined the study, according to a former federal health official, who wrote an editorial published alongside the study. "The evidence is really pretty straightforward", former associate administrator for alcohol prevention and treatment policy at the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Service Administration, Robert Vincent. who wrote the editorial firmly stated. "There is no safe level of alcohol."

 

The study made it clear: moderate drinking does not get a clean bill of health, however much people wish it to. It is implicated in an increased risk of early death and diseases like cancer, heart and liver disease. There is absolutely no net positive health benefit in consuming any level of alcohol. Consuming seven drinks weekly over a lifetime has been linked to one alcohol-attributable death per 1,000 population, the study labelled Alcohol Intake and Health concluded.

 

Similar conclusions on the dangers of moderate alcohol consumption have been reached by a number of recent studies. According to polls, fewer Americans are now consuming alcohol, while others consider even drinking in moderation to be part of an unhealthy lifestyle. Greatly elevated health risks in alcohol consumption is recognized for association with a limit of two drinks daily.

 

In 2023, the Canadian Centre on Substance Use and Addiction pointed to the risk of consuming more than two standard drinks per week. In Proof: The New Science of Alcohol, The Nature of Things host Anthony Morgan speaks to researchers around the world to learn more about the risks of moderate drinking. (Emilie Mercier)

 

As unwelcome as the findings are, 14 drinks weekly was associated with a one-in-25 chance of an alcohol-related death. "What any of us might have considered 'moderate' consumption is pretty risky", Tim Naimi, a co-author of the report stated. Leading alcohol industry groups to remind consumers that social health guidelines and the industry itself have routinely stressed moderation. 

 

Previous studies on alcohol-related illnesses were reviewed by the researchers as they conducted the study on alcohol-related illness to isolate that fractions of deaths and disease that are attributable to alcohol. The study authors applied those findings to U.S. data on alcohol use and mortality and morbidity, to estimate the risks of death and illnesses as fallout at various levels of alcohol usage. Vehicle crashes attributable to alcohol consumption was also considered.

 

Alcohol consumption overall was found in aggregate, to raise the risk of acquiring over 200 diseases by extrapolation. Links between alcohol and dementia, as well as cancers such as breast, colon and rectum, and heart disease, have been highlighted by previous studies linking consumption to fragile health condition outcomes.  

 

One dissenter, not involved in the study was Warren Thompson, retired physician and associate professor emeritus of medicine at Mayo Clinic College of Medicine, who ventured the opinion that some medical questions on alcohol remain  unsettled. Some studies, he pointed out, continue to investigate the potential health benefits of small mounts of alcohol. "I think one [drink a day] is a good limit", he said.  

"The challenges confronting alcohol policy today are not rooted in scientific uncertainty."  

"What remains contested is whether evidence will meaningfully inform policy when it conflicts with commercial interests." 

"[While in the Trump administration, he was] asked to kill the study [but refrained from doing so]." 

Robert Vincent, formerly with the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration

 

"I'm glad that they had a message that corresponds with our science, and that is that less is best."

"But giving people quality information is necessary to make a truly informative guideline."

Dr. Timothy Naimi, director, University of Victoria Canadian Institute for Substance Use Research 

Earlier this year, the Trump administration released new guidelines that advised consuming 'less alcohol for better overall health.' The researchers of this latest study said their findings support a more detailed and forceful recommendation that adult drinkers consume one drink or fewer a day. (Tina Mackenzie/CBC)