To date, most health experts maintain that up
to one drink a day is okay for your health, with some studies previously
mentioning some health-protective effects of alcohol. However, the most recent
in depth research on the effects of alcohol on health reveals that no amount of
alcohol is good for you.
The global
study, titled, The Global Burden of Diseases study, analyzed levels of alcohol
use and its effects in 195 countries from 1990 to 2016, and includes insights
from 592 studies and 28 million people worldwide. The study published in The
Lancet in August 2018 analyzed data from 15 to 95-year-olds. The
report states, "Our results show that
the safest level of drinking is none." It further says, "This
level is in conflict with most health guidelines, which espouse health benefits
associated with consuming up to two drinks per day."
The authors of the study say that moderate drinking may protect people
against ischemic heart disease, but they found that the potential to develop
cancer, injuries, and infectious diseases from drinking outweighed these
potential benefits. The lead author of the study, Dr Max Griswold said, "Although the health risks associated with
alcohol start off being small with one drink a day, they then rise rapidly as
people drink more."
One of the study authors, Professor Sonia Saxena
explained, "This study goes further than others by considering a
number of factors including alcohol sales, self-reported data on the amount of
alcohol drunk, abstinence, tourism data and the levels of illicit trade and
home brewing."
The study defined a drink as 10g of alcohol,
equating to a can or bottle of beer, a shot of spirits, or a small glass of
wine.
The study revealed that alcohol consumption led to
2.8 million deaths in 2016, and was the leading factor for disease
worldwide, accounting for about 10 percent of deaths among people aged 15 to
49.
“Alcohol
use contributes to health loss from many causes and exacts its toll across the
lifespan, particularly among men,” the study says. The study found that
globally, 27.1% of cancer deaths in women and 18.9% in men over 50 were linked
to their drinking habits.
The
study also showed that one in three, or 2.4 billion people around the world
drink alcohol, with Denmark having the most drinkers (95.3% of women, and 97.15
of men), and Pakistan having the fewest make drinkers (0.8%) and Bangladesh the
fewest women (0.3%).
The report's senior author,
Professor Emmanuela Gakidou said, “Alcohol
poses dire ramifications for future population health in the absence of policy
action today. Our results indicate that alcohol use and its harmful effects on
health could become a growing challenge as countries become more developed, and
enacting or maintaining strong alcohol control policies will be vital."
She continued, “Worldwide
we need to revisit alcohol control policies and health programs, and to
consider recommendations for abstaining from alcohol. These include excise
taxes on alcohol, controlling the physical availability of alcohol and the
hours of sale, and controlling alcohol advertising. Any of these policy actions
would contribute to reductions in population-level consumption, a vital step
toward decreasing the health loss associated with alcohol use.”
You may
want to reconsider your relationship with alcohol after reading this.
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