For both men and women, drinking just one alcoholic drink a day increases the risk of cirrhosis of the liver, esophageal cancer, mouth cancer and various injuries, according to a federal analysis released Tuesday.
Women face a higher risk of developing liver cancer even at this moderate level of alcohol consumption. Drinking two drinks a day — twice the U.S. Dietary Guidelines recommendation for women, but the current amount allowed for men — increases the chances of alcohol-related death for both men and women.
The report, prepared by a scientific review team sponsored by the Department of Health and Human Services, is one of two dueling reviews that will be used to shape the influential US Dietary Guidelines this year.
For years, there have been fears among some scientists that the harms of moderate drinking have been underestimated, particularly the risk of cancer, the leading cause of death for Americans under 85, according to the American Cancer Society.
In December, a review by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine, a nongovernmental organization, reached conclusions that differed from that latest report, saying moderate drinking was linked to fewer deaths from heart attack and stroke and fewer deaths overall , no booze.
The National Academies analysis acknowledged that moderate alcohol consumption in women is associated with a small but significant increase in breast cancer, but said there is insufficient evidence linking alcohol to other cancers.
This month, however, the US surgeon general, citing mounting scientific evidence, called for alcohol to be labeled with cancer warnings similar to those on cigarettes. And the government report released on Tuesday found that increased cancer risk is associated with any amount of alcohol consumption and increases as consumption increases.
“What many people may have previously considered ‘moderate’ drinking is actually moderately hazardous,” said Timothy Naimi, one of the authors of the new report and director of the Canadian Institute for Substance Use Research.
Some protective effects of moderate alcohol consumption have been recognized. Women who drink one drink a day may have a lower risk of diabetes. But stroke protection disappears at two drinks a day, according to the report.
No protection against hemorrhagic stroke and ischemic heart disease was seen at any level of alcohol consumption, even though one of the main arguments put forward for years in favor of moderate alcohol consumption was that it could prevent cardiovascular disease.
The new analysis made no specific recommendations about how much people should drink. that will be left to the authors of the final dietary guidelines. However, the report shows that alcohol’s harm to health starts at very low levels of consumption and increases with the amount consumed.
“For me, if I were counseling my loved ones, the potential harms outweigh the potential benefits of low levels of drinking,” said Katherine M. Keyes, a professor of epidemiology at the Columbia Mailman School of Public Health and a member of the scientific panel.
“Any suggestion that low or moderate levels of consumption are generally harmless or beneficial – the data just doesn’t support that,” he added.
Since the pandemic, harmful drinking habits have become more common, another study has shown.
The analysis should be read to mean that no level of alcohol consumption is harmless, said Dr. Jurgen Rehm, another author of the report and a senior scientist at the Institute for Mental Health Policy Research at the Center for Addiction and Mental Health Canada.
“People accept the risk of their activities and do things like mountain biking and other dangerous activities,” Dr Rehm said. “If you take the usual threshold for higher risk, that would equate to just under one drink a day.”
But, he said, even though the link between alcohol and cancer was first noticed by scientists a century ago, many Americans are still unaware of it.
Alcohol producers attacked the new report, accusing the authors of bias and conflict of interest.
“We are bound by science because of bias,” said a statement from a coalition representing 23 beer, wine and spirits manufacturers. wheat, barley and hop growers; and restaurant and bar associations.
“This report heightens our concerns that the Dietary Guidelines for Americans’ recommendations for alcohol will not be based on a preponderance of sound scientific evidence.”
“Many lifestyle choices carry potential risks, and alcohol consumption is no exception,” the statement continued. “We encourage all adults who choose to drink to follow the Dietary Guidelines and consult with their healthcare providers.”
In 2020, the last time the dietary guidelines came up for review, scientific advisers suggested lowering the recommendation to one drink a day for both men and women. But the final guidelines did not change the recommendation of two drinks for men and one for women.
Drinking alcohol is linked to a higher risk of death for seven types of cancer, including breast cancer, colorectal cancer and liver cancer, as well as cancers of the oral cavity, pharynx and larynx and esophagus, the new report says.
Men and women are both vulnerable to these health harms, he said, but women are much more likely to develop drinking-related cancer.
The report, prepared under the auspices of the Health and Human Services Department’s Interagency Coordinating Committee on Underage Alcohol Prevention, also highlighted the risk of death from traffic accidents and injuries faced by those who start drinking as teenagers.
For girls and boys who start drinking at 15, the odds of alcohol-attributable death increase more than tenfold as the number of drinks they consume rises from one drink a week to three a day, with the highest risk for young men , the report states.
The new report assessed evidence from previous reviews and observational studies, which cannot prove that alcohol caused disease. It did not include data from randomized controlled trials, which could prove cause and effect, because they are too limited.
Unlike the National Academies report, which compared moderate drinking with no drinking, the new analysis assessed the relationships between different levels of low drinking and the risk of death overall from health conditions and accidents causally related to drinking. alcohol consumption in the United States.
The conclusions apply to all types of alcohol, including wine, beer and spirits.
The public will have an opportunity to comment on the two reports issued by the National Academies and the Intergovernmental Panel starting Wednesday and continuing through February 14.
