DRINKING ALCOHOL IS WORSE
THAN WE THOUGHT
This is bad news for the
2.4 billion people around the world who drink alcohol regularly: There is no
level of alcohol that is good for your health,
according to a new study in the journal The Lancet.
Using data from the Global Burden of Diseases,
Injuries, and Risk Factors Study, newer data analysis methods, and a review of previous
studies, the researchers calculated the levels of alcohol consumption and the
rates of alcohol-related health problems for 195 countries from the years 1990-2016.
According to their
estimates, drinking one alcoholic drink per day for one year increases the risk
of developing one of the 23 alcohol-related health problems by 0.5 percent.
These include cardiovascular disease, various kinds of cancers, intentional and
unintentional injuries, communicable diseases, and more.
Even when not drinking alcohol,
914 of every 100,000 people will develop
one of those 23 conditions. The number goes up to 918 when people drink an
average of one alcoholic drink per day, and the risk goes up from there for
each additional alcoholic drink that is consumed.
Low levels of alcohol
consumption have previously been thought to be protective against heart disease, diabetes, and other health conditions.
This recent study was only able to find a protective effect between low levels
of alcohol consumption and a specific type of heart disease known as ischemic
heart disease. But given the risk of alcohol-related health problems, the
authors concluded the protective effect of alcohol was offset by the risks
associated with its consumption.
“Previous
studies have found a protective effect of alcohol on some conditions, but it
was later discovered that the combined health risks associated with alcohol
increase with any amount of alcohol
is bad for you.
Although
the health risks associated with alcohol starts off being small with one drink
a day, they then rise rapidly as people drink more," said lead author of
the study Dr. Max Griswold from the Institute
for Health Metrics and Evaluation, University of Washington, in a press
release.
"Policies
focusing on reducing alcohol consumption to the lowest levels will be important
to improve health,” added Griswold.
The United
States Department of Agriculture (USDA) in its 2015-2020 Dietary
Guidelines for Americans recommends that if alcohol is
consumed, it should be consumed in moderation — up to one drink per day for
women and two drinks per day for men.
“[This
study is showing a statistical association between any level of drinking and an
elevated risk of poor health outcomes that, in aggregate, may reduce one’s
lifespan,” said Dr. Nasir Naqvi, assistant professor of clinical psychiatry at Columbia University Irving Medical Center,
who was not involved in the study, in an interview with ABC news.
There
are many seemingly benign things in life that statistically increase the risk
of death, such as driving, swimming at the beach, etc. However, are you also
going to stop doing these things because of this statistical association?” said
Naqvi.
For
those who want to reduce the risk of illness and death by all means, Naqvi
recommends they stop drinking. But he says that “if low-level drinking has some
benefit to your life; it enhances your social life and facilitates overall wellbeing,
then for some people this may be more important than prolonging your life by
every possible means.
I knew a woman who drank
far too many beers and as a result, she lost her hearing. She ended up being
totally deaf.
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