Just one alcoholic drink a day is linked to a wide range of negative health effects, according to a federal report released Tuesday.
The results, which are applicable to both men and women, relate a daily drink with a increased risk of liver cirrhosis, various types of cancer and injuries, but with a lower risk of ischemic stroke. However, this apparent protection is nullified by occasional alcohol consumption.
“The idea that, on average, you’re going to be healthier and live longer by drinking one drink a day if you’re a woman, or two if you’re a man, is not true,” said Keith Humphreys, a professor of psychiatry at the University of Massachusetts. Stanford University.
“There’s no level at which it’s beneficial,” he said. “There doesn’t seem to be a level where it’s completely risk-free.”
The report, from a group at the Department of Health and Human Services, is the second of two reports on alcohol. The first, conducted by a committee of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine and published last month, concluded that moderate alcohol consumption was related to a lower risk of death from any cause and a lower risk of death from heart disease. , but also with an increased risk of breast cancer.
Both reports were commissioned by the government ahead of an update to federal dietary guidelines this year, which could include new recommendations on alcohol consumption.
Humphreys stated that the time has come for reassess guideline-recommended amount of alcohol. It currently recommends that women limit their consumption to one drink a day and two in the case of men.
The alcohol industry criticized the new report.
“Today’s report is the product of a flawed, opaque and unprecedented process, riddled with bias and conflicts of interest,” a group of 23 trade associations linked to the sector said in a statement.
“This report increases our concern that the Dietary Guidelines for Americans’ recommendations regarding alcohol are not based on a preponderance of sound scientific evidence,” the statement said.
The new report analyzed 56 systematic reviews on the relationship between alcohol and health.
The authors found that Americans have a one in 1,000 risk of dying if a person has more than seven drinks a weekor at least one a day. The risk increases to one in 100 if you have more than nine drinks a week.
The report identified an increased risk of dying from seven types of cancer, including colorectal, breast, liver, and several mouth and throat cancers, among alcohol drinkers.
Surgeon General Vivek Murthy declared this month that alcoholic beverages should carry a warning label about cancer risk because of that link.
“What I am clear about is that there is a relationship with cancer and that There is no dose of alcohol at which the risk of cancer decreases“said Dr. Ahmed Tawakol, a cardiologist at Massachusetts General Hospital.
The report also showed that among adolescents and young adults aged 15 to 20, the risk of death from alcohol increased with alcohol ingestion, especially from traffic accidents or injuries. Alcohol-related incidents were a leading cause of death in this age group.
The report will be open to a 30-day public comment period and will then be presented to Congress.
Both reports will help the Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Agriculture update dietary guidelines, which are scheduled to be published by the end of the year.
“One of the things I tell my patients is not to choose to drink alcohol for health reasons,” Tawakol said. “If you don’t drink, don’t start drinking for the purpose of improving health.”
“There are many ways to reduce the risk of strokediabetes, heart disease, other than drinking,” said Jane Figueiredo, a cancer epidemiologist at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. “Looking at the whole picture, and the risks and benefits for your overall health and mental well-being, is really important.”