Alcohol is a Class 1 carcinogen.
Earlier research seemed to suggest that a low intake of alcohol could be beneficial. That research is now questioned.
“We did not find evidence of a beneficial association between low drinking and mortality,” said Dr. Rosario Ortola, the lead author of a paper published in JAMA. An assistant professor of preventive medicine and public health at Universidad Autonoma de Madrid, Ortola’s study tracked 135,103 adults aged 60 and over for 12 years.
She added that alcohol probably raises the risk of cancer “from the first drop.”
Some scientists now believe there were serious flaws in the earlier research that reported a small amount of alcohol was beneficial for health.
Currently in the United States, two separate scientific groups are preparing reports on the effects of alcohol and health in advance of an update of the U.S. Dietary Guidelines. One group is an intergovernmental subcommittee of representatives from different health agencies.
The second group is the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine (NASEM). One of its experts Dr. Kenneth Mukamal’s trial of moderate drinking was halted in 2018, after it was revealed, he had solicited funding directly from the alcohol industry. He was replaced with another Harvard scientist who also has ties to the alcohol industry.
In 2022, sales of alcoholic beverages in the U.S. surpassed pre-pandemic levels at $259.8 billion dollars, according to Statista.
Deaths attributed to alcohol have risen almost 30 percent in the period between 2016-1017 and 2020-2021, according to the Centers for Disease Control.
The Canadian Centre on Substance Use and Addiction commented “no amount or kind of alcohol is good for health” and that “even a small amount of alcohol can be damaging to health.”
According to Ortola’s study “Overall, moderate drinking – defined as between 20 and 40 grams of alcohol daily for men and between 10 to 20 grams for women – was associated with a higher risk of death from all causes and a high risk of dying.”
The World Health Organization wrote: “Alcohol is a toxic, psychoactive, and dependence-producing substance and has been classified as a Group 1 carcinogen by the International Agency for Research on Cancer decades ago – this is the highest risk group, which also includes asbestos, radiation and tobacco.”
WHO notes that alcohol causes at least seven types of cancer, including the most common cancer types, such as bowel cancer and female breast cancer.
A question some might ask is, if “Cancer is growing among younger people in the United States, could it be attributed to drinking?” CTN could not find research on this topic.
To read the 2023 WHO article click here.
(Editor’s note, given that alcohol is a carcinogen, but also a money-making business, it should be interesting to see if the U.S. puts out new guidelines for alcohol consumption.)
All public education had to do was teach one class on health.
Teach that
Smoking and drinking shortens your life span.
But no,
instead our public school system taught;
1- drinking in moderation is okay as long as you don’t drink and drive
2- marijuana is acceptable and not unhealthy
3-nothing is your fault b/c you have a disease called “addiction”.
The result of this type of public school education is an epidemic of suicide and unhealthy behavior with our young generation today.
Thank you LA Unified and Randy Weingarten