Just one alcoholic drink a day is linked to a wide range of negative health effects, according to a federal report released Tuesday.
The findings, which apply to both men and women, tied a daily drink to an increased risk of liver cirrhosis, several cancers and injuries but a lower risk of ischemic stroke. That apparent protection is canceled out, however, by occasional binge drinking.
“The idea that you are, on average, going to be healthier and longer-lived by drinking a drink a day if you’re a woman, or two drinks a day if you’re a man, is not true,” Keith Humphreys, a professor of psychiatry at Stanford University, said.
“There’s not a level where it’s beneficial,” he said. “There doesn’t seem to be a level where it’s completely free of risk.”
The report, from a group within the Department of Health and Human Services, is the second of two government reports on alcohol. The first, carried out by a committee at the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine and released last month, found that moderate drinking was linked with a lower risk of death from any cause and a lower risk of death from heart disease, but also a higher risk of breast cancer.
Both reports were commissioned by the government ahead of an update to the federal dietary guidelines this year, which could include new recommendations on alcohol consumption.
Humphreys said it’s time to reassess the amount of alcohol recommended by the guidelines. They currently recommend women limit their consumption to one drink a day and two for men.
The alcohol industry criticized the new report.
Just one drink a day may put your health at risk, federal report finds
