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)

The Russian Roulette of Ultra-Processed Foods

"To put our findings in perspective, a 10 percent increase in ultra-processed foods is roughly equivalent to adding a standard packet of chips to your daily diet."

"In clinical terms, this translated to consistently lower scores on standardized cognitive tests measuring visual attention and processing speed."

"Food ultra-processing often destroys the natural structure of food and introduces potentially harmful substances like artificial additives or processing chemicals."

"These additives suggest the link between diet and cognitive function extends beyond just missing out on foods known as healthy, pointing to mechanisms linked to the degree of food processing itself."

Dr. Barbara Cardoso, Department of Nutrition, Dietetics and Food, Victorian Heart Institute, Monash University, Australia 

Adding ultraprocessed foods may add to risk of dementia  Getty Images

 

A  diet high in ultra-processed foods (UPFs), according to a new study from Monash University in Australia, may increase the risk of developing dementia. Published in the journal Alzheimer's & Dementia: Diagnosis, Assessment & Disease Monitoring, the study analyzed over 2,100 Australians for their diets and cognitive health. The study group was comprised of dementia-free adults between ages 40 to 70 from November of 2015 to December of 2023.

 

A daily increase of as minimal as 10 percent of ultra-processed foods in an intake alongside healthy whole foods was demonstrated to be linked to a drop in attention span, irrespective of an otherwise healthy overall diet. Based on the average food intake of the Australian population, a 10 percent increase in UPF corresponds, according to the study, to approximately 150 g/day.

 

Ultra-processed foods contain ingredients such as preservatives, emulsifiers, sweeteners, fats and artificial colouring, all of which alter the composition of whole foods with their addition as they go through multiple processing techniques such as moulding and extrusion. These food products include potato chips, energy drinks, hotdogs, fast food and  candy, among many others.

 

According to research in Canada conducted by the Heart and Stroke Foundation, close to half of people's daily caloric intake represent ultra-processed foods. Higher UPF consumption, the new study affirms, is linked to an increase in risk factors for developing dementia. Health conditions such as high blood pressure and obesity are also included as health risks due to the consumption of UPFs.  

 

Ultra-processed foods. Credit:Lauri Patterson/Getty Images

 

Each 10-precent increase in UPF intake was associated with lower attention scores and higher dementia risk even among people who adhered otherwise to a healthy Mediterranean-style diet, according to the study results. A direct association between UPFs and memory loss however, did not result from the study findings, which noted that attention span signals many vital brain functions such as learning and problem-solving.

 

Ultra-processed food consumption has been associated to date, with over 30 adverse health outcomes, noted the research out of Monash University. The recently published study results add to a growing body of research that link UPF consumption to adverse brain health. 

 

Harald Walker / Stocksy United

 

The Global Pandemic of Loneliness

"We now know that loneliness is a common feeling that many people experience. It's like hunger or thirst. It's a feeling the body sends us when something we need for survival is missing."

"Millions of people in America are struggling in the shadows, and that's not right."

"That's why I issued this advisory, to pull back the curtain on a struggle that too many people are experiencing."

Dr. Vivek Murthy, former U.S. Surgeon-General

 

"You’ve probably known people who seem to have a lot of friends, but when they talk about it, they’ll say, ‘I don’t really feel like anybody knows me,’ or ‘I don’t really feel close to many people’."

"If you’re stressed chronically, your body may be in a low-level fight-or-flight response all the time. So what we are looking at is whether some people are in a chronic state of mild inflammation."

Robert Waldinger, professor of psychiatry, psychiatrist at Massachusetts General Hospital

 

"Social psychologists define loneliness as the gap between the social connections you would like to have and those you feel you experience. According to a 2018 report by the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, 22 percent of adults in the United States say they often or always feel lonely or socially isolated. A national 2019 survey led by health insurer Cigna found that 61 percent of Americans report feeling lonely. Books like Bowling Alone (2000), by Malkin professor of public policy emeritus Robert D. Putnam, have highlighted the decline of social capital in the United States, but more recently, loneliness has become a serious issue of public health. In 2017, former U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy ’97 called loneliness a public-health “epidemic.” The United Kingdom appointed a “minister for loneliness” a year later."

Jacob Sweet, 'The Loneliness Pandemic', Harvard Magazine

Illustration by Francescoch/iStock

"The pandemic does appear to have increased loneliness. Given the small effect sizes, dire warnings about a ‘loneliness pandemic’ may be overblown."

"However, as loneliness constitutes a risk for premature mortality and mental and physical health, it should be closely monitored."

"We think that loneliness should be made a priority in large-scale research projects aimed at investigating the health outcomes of the pandemic."

Mareike Ernst, PhD, Johannes Gutenberg-University, Mainz, Germany

Heavy use of social media can actually increase isolation

"According to the National Institute on Ageing (NIA), a think-tank at Toronto Metropolitan  University, social isolation has been linked to poorer cognitive function and a 50 percent higher risk of dementia, not to mention a significantly higher risk of stroke, heart disease and cancer mortality. It can increase anxiety and depression, and a study showed that Canadians in 2020 were more likely to think suicidal thoughts if they experienced loneliness."

"Loneliness is by no means confined to the elderly. The 2021 Statistics Canada survey found nearly one in every four young people aged 15-24 said they always or often felt lonely, a rate higher than other age groups and a finding matched in other countries as well. It’s not uncommon for the young to feel alone, of course – they are often leaving home for the first time – but there’s more to it than that. Young people are not only getting married later, they are having more trouble finding friends and romantic partners. More than half of Americans aged 18-34 don’t have a steady boyfriend or girlfriend, up from 33 percent in 2004, and 30 percent have no best friend. The age of first marriage and first sexual experience is getting later, and Millennials and Gen-Zers are less likely to be sexually active than the generations that went before."

CtoC Journal 

The latest public health epidemic: loneliness. Research points to people having become less socially engaged, a phenomenon that has become global. In the United States, research indicates that Americans attend houses of worship much less frequently, as well as engage with community organizations less, and see and commune with their own family members and friends far less often in recent decades. These are the people who report feelings of loneliness, a situation that has increased in the last several years.

 

When the global pandemic arrived, loneliness was already at a crisis level. When schools and workplaces shuttered and people were sent into isolation mode, the emotional toll accelerated. People tended to break their emotional link and dependence on the presence of others, saw family and friends far less often with the coronavirus pandemic threatening health and longevity. But the resulting isolation and overwhelming loneliness left people bereft of the very social supports natural to human nature's needs and that alone threatened health and longevity.

 

Americans, for example, spent no more than 20 minutes daily in the company of others in 2020, decreased from 60 minutes of social interaction common to most people several decades earlier. Young people, ages 15 to 24, appear to have become the demographic most hit by the loneliness epidemic. Those in that age group reported 70 percent less time spent in the company of friends in the past several years.

The risk of premature death is increased in an atmosphere of chronic emotional loss in loneliness, by 30 percent. Reports reveal those with poor social relationships faced greater risk of stroke and heart disease. An individual's penchant for experiencing depression, anxiety and dementia is elevated by isolation. Loneliness risks deleterious impacts on health to the same extent as smoking a pack of cigarettes daily.

"Being together with other humans conveys a distinct survival advantage for our species.  We are not the strongest or fastest animals.  But with a combination of brains, opposable thumbs and interpersonal cooperation we now dominate the planet."

"In ancient times, being alone, being cut-off from family, or banished from social groups was more or less a death sentence. Up through the 19^th century, exile was still a form of punishment. And even today, some cultures will shun people who violate social or religious norms."

Dr. Grant Jackson, Holistic Primary Care

Chronic loneliness is a major health risk factor. According to a metanalysis of nearly 150 studies, people with weak social connections are 50% more likely to die prematurely than those who feel socially connected. The COVID pandemic has only exacerbated the problem. (Image: Studio4dich/Shutterstock)

Flout Masking Rules -- Get to the Back of the Health Service Lineup

"We're not saying don't treat. We're saying, if you're going to run around and claim exemption to endorsed and established behavioural policy, you should volunteer, if  you get sick, to go to the end of the line."

"[Should people wilfully engage in behaviours known to potentially harm others], then if you get sick, you have an obligation to think about saying, 'let others go before me, because I wasn't responsible'."

"If you are a real believer in liberty, then you have to say, 'I'll pay the price'."

"Patrick Henry's famous proclamation, carried by many protesters, is 'give me liberty or give me death', not 'give me liberty and if that doesn't work out so well give me a scarce ventilator'."

"I think it's more consistent with what the anti-mask, anti-social distancing, anti-quarantine crowd wants. As soon as they understand they can get on a plane or go on a cruise if they get vaccinated, I think they'll shift their attitudes."

Arthur Caplan, founder, division of medical ethics, New York University School of Medicine

"[A basic principle in medical ethics, all the more so in a country like Canada, is that] you get medical care, if and when you need it, and need is really the only criterion that we should use."

"[Sanctions should be applied to people who break laws]. Certainly that assault on the Walmart employee would seem to qualify, but that doesn't disqualify them from receiving care."

"I think everybody is kind of operating at a level of anxiety and fear that has polarized societies."

"Even though it might be tempting when seeing people flouting common sense public health directives to say 'you guys, back of the line' ... I think it really behooves the medical establishment to look beyond the crisis."

"We're all going to have to live in society together and avoid any acts that may exacerbate polarizations or fractures in society."

Daniel Weinstock, professor of law, Katherine A.Pearson chair in civil society and public policy, McGill University

An anti-mask demonstration in Canmore, Alta., on Sunday, November 29, 2020. Ethicists disagree on whether people who flout public health measures should accept prompt care should they contract the virus. Photo by Marie Conboy/Postmedia

There are some ethicists, in the face of the public spectacle of vociferous protests against imposed lockdowns, against mandated wearing of face masks, against quarantining and social distancing, who are of the opinion that if you endanger society as well as your own future health prospects by damning and refusing to align your public behaviour with public health guidelines, you automatically distance yourself from the use of the public health care system; which is to say you should do so voluntarily, since your actions have gone against the established grain.

People who flout or publicly make clear they have no use for the new rules and regulations imposed on society by governments in consultation with health experts in the face of a public health threat of singular proportions, place themselves at risk of contracting the COVID disease, with its unknown, haphazard consequences, but worse, endanger the health of others around them -- yet they are entitled to the same health care services as the countless other people who, though inconvenient, practise safe distancing and mask-wearing.

The prospect of steadily rising COVID cases beginning to overwhelm the health care system has raised concerns over whether the system will be able to operate efficiently and effectively as it should, under the strain of coping with high numbers of patients. And while health experts are beginning to mull over the morals of selecting who will be the recipient of extraordinary measures and will who be excluded due primarily to age and/or existing health complications, the thought has been extended to include withholding service in some measure from those to refuse to abide by common sense prevention rules.

New York University's Dr.Arthur Caplan clearly places himself in the school of thought believing that those refusing to lend themselves to the effort of community responsibility have no moral right to then demand treatment equal in measure and timeliness to those who have taken their community responsibility seriously. Dr.Caplan, with his medical peers, co-authored a study arguing that while most individuals diligently adhere to public health recommendations, thousands of others fail to understand the gravity of the situation, exhibit skepticism and act accordingly.

The most commonly used argument in support of denying the need of all citizens to equally make sacrifices in the greater cause of the struggle to starve the SARS-CoV-2 virus of victims, nay-sayers invoke the cry that the demands to mask and limit social gatherings violate their Charter rights inclusive that of freedom of peaceful assembly and freedom of association. To this, Dr. Caplan responds that in a "plague" situation a threat to others  justifies limitations on individual civil liberties.

As far as he is concerned, protesters should be agreeable to signing a personal pledge stating their willingness to forego medical care should emergency rooms or intensive care units become inundated by numbers of COVID cases requiring urgent care. In his opinion, vaccines should be treated differently, "because if you get vaccinated, you may stop infecting other people. I think the thing that motivates people to not wear a mask, to go where they want to go, oddly enough that's what a vaccine will let them do."

And while Dr.Weinstock, on the other hand at McGill University doesn't believe that treatment should be withheld or that protesters should be forced to the back of the line, he does agree that people who break laws should face sanctions for their anti-social acts, citing a 30-year-old man charged with assault after attacking an employee at a British Columbia Walmart -- where store policy holds that mask wearing is mandatory -- for requesting that the customer wear a mask on entering the establishment in a province where mask wear is a requirement.

People protest against measures taken by public health authorities to curb the spread of COVID-19, in Montreal, Saturday, November 28, 2020. Photo by Graham Hughes/The Canadian Press/File

"I can just imagine the level of despair people are feeling. Absolute despair."

"One of the great things about a vaccine is that at least people see there may be an end to this despair -- 'I can get hopefully through the next three months, or the next five months'."

"We think there is actually a finite end."

Dr.Peter Goldberg, critical care physician, Montreal