According to a significant study published this week, moderate drinking was associated with a lower risk of mortality from heart disease and any cause when compared to abstaining from alcohol, but it was also associated with a higher risk of breast cancer.
The report’s findings further complicated the argument over whether moderate drinking is harmful or beneficial, rather than resolving it.
Congress commissioned a committee from the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine to produce the study, which was made public on Tuesday. New recommendations about alcohol consumption may be included in a government dietary standards update that is scheduled for next year.
The current standards advise consumers to limit their intake of alcoholic beverages and to drink in moderation, which is defined as one drink for women and two for men per day.
However, accumulating data in recent years has called into doubt the health benefits of alcohol consumption. The World Health Organization came to the conclusion that alcohol is never safe in 2022. Heavy drinking is associated with six types of cancer, including those of the head and neck, esophagus, liver, and stomach, according to a big analysis released this year.
In order to examine the association between moderate drinking and various outcomes, such as death from any cause, death from heart disease, breast cancer, colorectal cancer, head and neck cancer, weight changes, and Alzheimer’s disease, the committee evaluated research from 2010 onward.
Dr. Ned Calonge, chair of the NASEM committee, stated, “We examined that body of literature and were able to draw three conclusions with what we call moderate certainty, which means that we feel comfortable drawing these conclusions based on the evidence we had available.”
but there isn’t enough data to draw a definite conclusion, Calonge and his team refrained from making the connection between moderate drinking and colorectal cancer, but this could alter in the future with additional research.
According to Dr. Michael Siegel, a professor of public health and community medicine at Tufts University, the primary lesson to be learned from the current findings should be the link to cancer.
In essence, this indicates that alcohol is unquestionably carcinogenic, according to Siegel. It is not possible to advocate moderate or light drinking to persons at such level because it will raise their chance of developing cancer.
According to Duke University medical professor Dr. Michael Pignone, there isn’t enough data to recommend that individuals quit drinking, but he does advise them not to start.
According to Pignone, I don’t think that drinking alcohol in moderation actually lowers mortality or cardiovascular mortality. For health reasons, I wouldn’t advise someone to start drinking.
The 2025 standards will also be informed by a second report that was prepared by a Department of Health and Human Services panel and will be released in the upcoming weeks.
Dr. Nicholas Lim, a hepatologist and associate professor of medicine at the University of Minnesota Medical School, stated, “I think this report sort of highlights all the things that we don’t know.” He also expressed the hope that it may spur further research to elucidate our understanding of alcohol and health.
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