Moderate Drinking Raises Health Risks While Offering Few Benefits

For both men and women, drinking just one alcoholic beverage a day increases the risk of liver cirrhosis, esophageal cancer, oral cancer, and many types of injuries. federal analysis Published on Tuesday.

Women have a higher risk of developing liver cancer even with this amount of alcohol. Drinking two drinks a day (twice the amount recommended for women by the U.S. Dietary Guidelines, but currently allowed for men) increases the odds of death from alcohol in both men and women.

The report, produced by a scientific review committee under the auspices of the Department of Health and Human Services, is one of two dueling assessments used to shape the influential U.S. dietary guidelines this year. .

According to the American Cancer Society, some scientists have long suspected that the harms of moderate alcohol consumption, particularly the risk of cancer, the leading cause of death for Americans under 85, may be underestimated. There were concerns.

In December, a study by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, a nongovernmental organization, reached a different conclusion from this latest report, finding that moderate drinking is associated with fewer deaths from heart attacks and strokes, and overall He said the number of deaths is also decreasing. without drinking.

The National Academies’ analysis found that moderate drinking among women was associated with a small but significant increase in breast cancer, but said there was insufficient evidence linking alcohol to other cancers.