The picture is illustrative
Scientists have discovered the fallacy of the methodology of many previous studies of the effects of alcohol on health. According to their findings, drinking less than two drinks a day for women and three for men significantly increases the risk of a host of health problems, writes The New York Times.
For decades, scientific research has suggested that moderate drinking is better for most people’s health than no alcohol at all, and may even help them live longer. A new analysis of more than 40 years of research has shown that many were wrong and that the opposite is true.
The review found that the risk of premature death increases significantly for women if they drink 25 grams of alcohol per day, which is less than two standard 1.5-ounce cocktails of distilled alcohol, two 12-ounce beers, or two 5-ounce glasses of wine. The risks for men increase significantly with 45 g of alcohol per day or just over three drinks.
The new report, which analyzed more than 100 studies of nearly five million adults, was created not to develop recommendations for drinking, but to correct the methodological problems that plagued many of the older observational studies. These reports consistently show that moderate drinkers are less likely to die from all causes, including non-alcohol-related ones.
Most of these studies were observational, meaning they could identify links or associations, but could be misleading and did not prove causation. The scientists said that earlier studies did not recognize that those who drink lightly and moderately had many other healthy habits and benefits, and that teetotalers used as a comparison group often included former drinkers who quit alcohol after how they had health problems.
“When this unhealthy group is compared to those who continue to drink, current drinkers appear healthier and have lower mortality,” said one of the authors of the new report, a scientist at the Canadian Institute for Substance Use Research. Tim Stockwell.
Once Dr. Stockwell and his colleagues corrected these and other errors, he said, “Look, the estimated health benefits of drinking alcohol are drastically reduced and become statistically insignificant.”
Dr. Stockwell believes that comparing moderate drinkers to non-drinkers is misleading for many reasons. People who completely abstain from alcohol are a minority, and those who are non-religious teetotalers are more likely to have chronic health problems, disabilities, or lower incomes.
Moderate drinkers tend to be moderate in every way. They tend to be wealthier, exercise more often and eat a healthier diet, and are less likely to be overweight. According to scientists, they even have better teeth.
“They have a lot of things that protect their health and have nothing to do with their drinking,” Dr. Stockwell said.
The idea that moderate drinking can be beneficial dates back to 1924, when a Johns Hopkins University biologist Raymond Pearl published a graph with a J-shaped curve, where the lower dot in the middle represents moderate drinkers who had the lowest rates of all-cause mortality.
The high point in J represented the well-known risks of excessive drinking, such as liver disease and car accidents. The hook on the left represented teetotalers.
In recent decades, wine, especially red wine, has gained a reputation for health benefits after being noted for its high concentration of a protective antioxidant called resveratrol, which is also found in blueberries and cranberries.
But the moderate drinking hypothesis has come under increasing criticism over the years as the alcohol industry’s role in research funding has come to light, and new research has shown that even moderate drinking, including red wine, can contribute to breast, esophageal, and head and neck cancers. , high blood pressure, and a serious heart arrhythmia called atrial fibrillation.
In January, Canada released new guidelines warning that no amount of alcohol is healthy and urging people to cut down on drinking as much as possible. The new guidance, released by the Canadian Center for Substance Use and Addiction, was a stark departure from the 2011 guidance that advised women to limit themselves to 10 standard drinks per week and men to 15. Now the Canadian agency says that drinking even two standard drinks per week week is associated with health risks, and seven or more servings per week carries a high level of risk.
The current dietary guidelines in the US are nowhere near as strict, with men being advised to limit themselves to two drinks or fewer per day, and women to one or less.
But drinking guidelines issued by numerous health organizations have been amended to include a provision that people should not drink alcohol for the express purpose of improving their health.
This caution was echoed by a Distilled Liquor Council scientist, though she disagreed with the new report’s findings.
Vice President for Science and Health of the U.S. Distilled Liquor Council Amanda Berger said the new analysis still “suggests that those who drink in moderation live longer than those who don’t,” but added: “No one needs to drink alcohol to get a potential health benefit, and some people shouldn’t drink at all.”
However, the new analysis shows that those who drink moderately do not have a statistically significant advantage in life expectancy compared to those who abstain for life, the study authors say.
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