Forget About a Glass of Wine a Day! No Level of Alcohol is Safe as New Comprehensive Research Shows

Sept 6, 2018

Health and Science , Society

So much for a glass of wine a day for your health's sake! All alcohol consumption is bad for you, according to a damning report which claims to be the most comprehensive of its kind. A recent comprehensive study published by the prestigious Lancet medical journal, which claims to be the most comprehensive of its kind, pours cold water on previous reports that said drinking in moderation could have health benefits. The systematic analysis from the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD) 2016 for 195 countries and territories, 1990–2016, which is the most comprehensive estimate of the global burden of alcohol use to date, clearly demonstrates the substantial, and larger than previously estimated, contribution of alcohol to death, disability, and ill health, globally. In 2016, alcohol use was a leading risk factor for both deaths and disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs). The burden is particularly borne among those aged 15–49 years, for whom alcohol ranks as the leading cause of DALYs. In this population, alcohol use was the leading risk factor globally in 2016, with 3·8% (3·2–4·3) of female deaths and 12·2% (10·8–13·6) of male deaths attributable to alcohol use.

The study conducted by researchers at the Institute of Health Metrics and Evaluation in Seattle found that alcohol led to 2.8 million deaths in 2016 and was the leading risk factor for premature mortality and disability among those ages 15 to 49, accounting for 10 percent of all deaths.

The greatest proportion of alcohol-related deaths among young people were from tuberculosis, road injuries and self-harm, the report found. Meanwhile, for those over age of 50, the biggest killer was cancer, particularly among women.

The Lancet report emphasizes: The conclusions of the study are clear and unambiguous: alcohol is a colossal global health issue and small reductions in health-related harms at low levels of alcohol intake are outweighed by the increased risk of other health-related harms, including cancer. There is strong support here for the guideline published by the Chief Medical Officer of the UK who found that there is “no safe level of alcohol consumption.” ... The most effective and cost-effective means to reduce alcohol-related harms are to reduce affordability through taxation or price regulation, including setting a minimum price per unit (MUP), closely followed by marketing regulation, and restrictions on the physical availability of alcohol. These approaches should come as no surprise because these are also the most effective measures for curbing tobacco-related harms, another commercially mediated disease, with an increasing body of evidence showing that controlling obesity will require the same measures.

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