A United States government study published this Tuesday (9) concluded that the health risks linked to alcohol consumption start at just one dose per day. The report became the target of controversy after provoking a reaction from the alcoholic beverage industry.
According to the researchers, with a daily dose there is already an increase in the risk of premature death due to illness or injury directly attributed to alcohol, although the level is still low: 1 in every 1,000 people. That risk, however, jumps to 1 in 25 among those who consume two drinks a day — a level that was long considered safe for men, according to the study published in Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs.
O Alcohol Intake and Health Study (Study on Alcohol Consumption and Health) was one of two reports commissioned during the Biden administration to support the update of US dietary guidelines.
The second report, prepared by a panel appointed by the United States National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine (NASEM), reached very different conclusions. The document suggested that moderate consumption — up to two drinks per day for men and one for women — would be healthier than not drinking, although it also highlighted an association between moderate alcohol intake and a higher risk of breast cancer. Some members of this panel had financial ties to the alcohol industry.
The conclusion of the second report was more palatable for the sector, which classified the Alcohol Intake and Health Study as ideologically driven and scientifically flawed, in addition to stating that he had been expressing these concerns to government officials for years.
When the Trump administration published the new dietary guidelines in January, it recommended that Americans drink less to preserve their health, but removed any reference to daily limits — a change from previous versions.
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“The new guidelines say that drinking less is better for your health, but they don’t explain what drinking less means,” said Priscilla Martinez-Matyszczyk, one of the authors of the new study and deputy scientific director of the alcohol research group at the nonprofit Public Health Institute. “This article does this and states that the best thing for your health is not to exceed one dose per day, and that drinking more than that carries relevant risks.”
A standard serving is defined as 355 ml of regular beer, 150 ml of wine or 45 ml of spirits.
In an editorial accompanying the study, Robert M. Vincent, a former government official who commissioned the research, said he believed he was fired because the report produced evidence “contrary to commercial interests.” Vincent lost his position as associate administrator for alcohol prevention and treatment policy at the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration during a staff cutback last year.
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“This was going to cost the alcohol industry money,” Vincent said. “They didn’t like the change from two doses to one for men, nor the mention of cancer.”
According to him, in the end, the conclusions ended up being left aside and the dissemination of the study was stopped. Therefore, the authors decided to publish a version of the research independently in a peer-reviewed scientific journal.
A spokesperson for the Department of Health and Human Services did not respond to a request for comment on Vincent’s statement regarding his dismissal, but said “any characterization that the study was shelved is inaccurate.”
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The new study, based exclusively on US health data, assessed the relationship between average alcohol consumption and the risk of illness or death from causes directly attributed to drinking.
Women who consumed one drink a day were more likely to die from liver or breast cancer than those who did not drink. With a daily dose, men and women also had a higher risk of dying from cirrhosis, mouth and esophageal cancer, as well as injuries, according to the work. The risks increased as consumption rose.
Consuming more than one dose per occasion was associated with progressively greater risks of breast cancer, cardiovascular disease, and injury.
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The report also found that one dose per day was linked to a lower risk of diabetes among women and a lower risk of stroke among men and women. But occasional episodes of excessive drinking nullified this possible protective effect against stroke.
One reason the two studies reached such different conclusions is that the new work looked at deaths from causes directly attributable to alcohol, whereas the NASEM report, commissioned by Congress, looked at overall death rates among moderate drinkers, including deaths unrelated to alcohol.
Critics of the NASEM report say that people who drink moderately often have other healthy habits that also contribute to longevity. Furthermore, the group of moderate drinkers included many people who consumed less than two drinks per day. These two factors can make the effects of moderate drinking seem less relevant than they really are.
Ned Calonge, an epidemiologist at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus and leader of the NASEM study, said he stands by the panel’s conclusions.
“Alcohol research is complex, and it doesn’t surprise me that different methods produce different results,” Calonge said, adding that modeling studies like the Alcohol Intake and Health Studywhich use data to estimate the lifetime risk of disease and death caused by alcohol, are also subject to bias.
At the same time, he added, “I don’t believe anyone should start drinking for health reasons.”
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