image by: Louis Hansel on Unsplash

HWN Suggests

What, Exactly, Is ‘Moderate Drinking’?

Over the past several years, there has been a rise in alcohol-related deaths and a steady wave of news about the health risks of drinking. Calls for people to drink only in moderation have become more urgent. But what, exactly, does that mean? “Tongue in cheek, people have defined it as not drinking more than your doctor,” said Tim Stockwell, a scientist at the Canadian Institute for Substance Use Research. More officially, in the United States, moderate drinking is defined as one drink or less per day for women and two drinks or less per day for men. But other countries define moderate drinking, also called low-risk drinking, differently, and recent research around alcohol’s health harms…

read full article

Featured

 Is Moderate Drinking Even Moderately Good For Us?

Recent studies have shown that alcohol, coffee, and chocolate are probably good for you, which almost makes up for the fact that bacon, doughnuts, and anything covered with that diabolical orange dust are probably bad. So it’s quite a blow that one of them might not be good after all. It’s alcohol.

Articles of Interest

The Dueling Science Behind How Alcohol Affects Your Health

Two reports are set to influence American guidelines for alcohol consumption.

A Study Says Moderate Drinking May Affect the Brain, but Don't Panic

It’s pretty clear that alcohol is never going to be as healthy as, say, a salad, but research has been mixed on the extent to which booze can impact your well-being. Now, a new longitudinal study suggests it actually may not take as much as previously thought to do damage to your brain—but there are lots of caveats.

Benefits of Moderate Drinking Questioned

A glass of wine a day keeps the cardiologist away. At least that seems to be the point of numerous studies over the past 3 decades that have found a few alcoholic drinks per day can be beneficial. Now there's reason to believe that many of these studies are flawed.

Cheers to health? Uncovering myths around the health benefits of moderate drinking

The commonplace belief that moderate drinking can be beneficial to health can be traced back to the 1980s when researchers found an association suggesting that French people were less likely to suffer from heart disease, despite eating a diet high in saturated fat.

Drinking definitely hurts us. Science may yet prove it helps us, too

Americans who drink alcohol have endured years of ambiguous studies, some telling them moderate drinking might help them, others saying it will definitely hurt them.

Even Moderate Drinking Increases Cancer Risks, Warns US Surgeon General

“Many people out there assume that as long as they’re drinking at the limits or below the limits of current guidelines of one a day for women and two for men, that there is no risk to their health or well-being,” Dr. Murthy added in an interview, per The New York Times. “The data does not bear that out for cancer risk.”

Health check: is moderate drinking good for me?

More recent studies have been able to address this challenge of separating out the effect of drinking on health, independent of other confounding factors. And these newer studies tell us moderate drinking is probably not good for us at all.

Is it good or bad for you? Experts are split on role of alcohol in diet

No doctor would advise drinking alcohol strictly for its health benefits. But moderate consumption — defined as no more than one drink per day for women and two for men — has been considered low risk, possibly even good for you. Yet last year, the expert advisory committee for the 2020 Dietary Guidelines for Americans took a more cautionary position, recommending that the daily limit be lowered to one drink for men.

Is moderate drinking heart-healthy?

Probably, but recent research introduces a note of caution.

Is Moderate Drinking Protective Against Heart Disease? The Science, Politics and History of a Public Health Conundrum

After 40 years of research, evidence‐based policy is currently trapped in an epistemological conundrum in which a clear statement of uncertainty is the most responsible policy.

Is one drink a day OK? Here's what to consider

When it comes to the harms of alcohol, the science is clear that there's a dose response. The more you drink, the higher the risk of bad outcomes. But given all the lifestyle factors that contribute to disease, everything from diet and exercise to sleep and stress, it's complex to figure out an exact amount of alcohol that's OK, whether it's one, two or zero drinks a day.

Moderate Drinking Brings No Health Benefits, Contrary to Prior Research

Previous studies were flawed and misleading, according to the new review.

Moderate Drinking Has No Health Benefits, Analysis of Decades of Research Finds

The review found that the methodology of many previous studies was flawed and that risk of myriad health problems increased significantly after less than two drinks a day for women and after three for men.

Moderate drinking not better for health than abstaining, analysis suggests

Scientists say flaws in previous research mean health benefits from alcohol were exaggerated.

Moderate Drinking Raises Health Risks While Offering Few Benefits

A federal analysis that will shape the influential U.S. Dietary Guidelines questions alcohol’s overall benefits.

Most Americans think moderate drinking is fine

They are unaware of the cancer risk.

Scientists Just Debunked Decades of Research About Alcohol Consumption

New research has found that moderate drinking isn’t, in fact, better for your health than abstaining from alcohol altogether.

Sorry—Moderate Drinking Doesn’t Make You Healthier

It’s in this sea of conflicting science (and emotions) that a recent study has subjected the myth of alcohol’s supposed health benefits to even more scrutiny. According to researchers from the University of Victoria’s Centre for Addictions Research in British Columbia, the health benefits of alcohol—even in moderation—may be pretty negligible.

The War On Moderate Drinking

Despite Prohibition passing more than 100 years ago and ending in 1933, people still want to ban alcohol consumption. Last month’s National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism study has led to a flurry of headlines alarming the public that moderate drinking isn’t safe, using statistics gathered from problem drinkers.

What We Know About Moderate Drinking and Cancer

Allysia Finley’s “No, Moderate Drinking Won’t Give You Cancer” (Life Science, Jan. 6) misses the mark. While Surgeon General Vivek Murthy’s report on alcohol and cancer risks acknowledges nuances in alcohol-related cancer risks, the broader body of research unequivocally links even moderate alcohol consumption to increased risks of breast, mouth and throat cancers.