Why alcohol consumption among adults has hit an all-time low
Fewer Americans are drinking alcohol, and more now see even moderate drinking as a health risk, according to a new Gallup poll.
Unbranded – Lifestyle
A “less is more” approach to alcohol could be replaced by a “best for nothing” approach to alcohol if you want to avoid diseases like cancer, according to a new study that contradicts recent federal guidelines.
If you want to avoid the worst health effects associated with alcohol, adults should limit one drink a day (typically 12 ounces of beer, 5 ounces of wine, and 1.5 ounces of spirits), or a total of seven drinks a week, according to a study published June 8 in the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs. And even that rate is not without risk, the study authors cautioned.
In an extensive review of more than 7,200 studies on alcohol-related diseases, the authors found that the risk of serious illness and death from alcohol begins with drinking habits that Americans generally consider “moderate.” If you drink seven drinks a week, your lifetime risk of death is 1 in 1,000, but adding just two more drinks for a total of 9 drinks increases that risk to 1 in 100.
If you follow the old federal guidelines of two drinks a day, or 14 drinks a week, your risk of death jumps to a whopping 1 in 25 people. These proportions were fairly consistent between men and women, with relatively little variation.
What’s even worse for those who enjoy a glass with dinner is that the old wisdom that “a little red wine is good for you” is a myth. This study shows that no matter how much you drink, the health benefits do not outweigh the harms.
“We did not observe any protective effects of alcohol use, even at low levels,” study co-author Katherine M. Keyes, a professor of epidemiology at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health, said in a news release from the university. “…even moderate intakes increase the risk of early death and disability.”
Even if you drink just one drink a day, or seven drinks a week, you are more likely to develop and die from related diseases such as liver cirrhosis, cancer (including esophageal cancer, oral cancer, and especially breast cancer), cardiovascular disease, and related injuries (such as car accidents) than people who don’t drink at all. The risk of developing some of these diseases, such as cardiovascular disease, is reduced by adhering to the one drink a day rule, but it still remains higher than for non-drinkers.
The bottom line? Drinking alcohol, even in small amounts, increases the risk of negative health effects. At least according to this study, the more you drink, the more likely it is, and the faster it spreads.
What do federal guidelines say about drinking alcohol?
The new findings contradict previous federal health guidelines, which recommended a maximum of 14 drinks per week for men and one drink per day or seven drinks per week for women. They are also presumably absent from the new dietary guidelines developed in January by Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s Department of Health and Sanitation, which do not specify or define intake limits, instead opting for a vague suggestion to “reduce alcohol intake to improve overall health.”
The study, originally commissioned by the Biden administration and funded in part by the Department of Health and Human Services for this purpose, was “sidelined” amid criticism from the alcohol industry, former HHS official Robert Vincent wrote in an accompanying editorial. The draft, which was first published last year, languished until it was published this week, instead of announcing the new guidelines as originally planned.
HHS spokeswoman Emily Hilliard told The Washington Post and NBC in a statement that the implication that the study was “shelved” is “inaccurate.”
“HHS and the Department of Agriculture considered this study alongside the broad range of available scientific evidence and followed an established process to develop the 2025-2030 Dietary Guidelines for Americans. The guidelines are informed by the entirety of the scientific record, rather than by a single report or analysis,” she said.
The study, which some alcohol industry groups had previously criticized as being written by “anti-alcohol activist researchers,” suggests that the U.S. Department of Agriculture is, after all, updating its guidance telling Americans to limit their drinking to a maximum of one drink a day.
