The World Health Organization has said there’s no risk-free level of alcohol consumption. And studies increasingly debunk what have been called protective effects of moderate alcohol consumption, including findings of fewer all-cause deaths, strokes and heart attacks when compared to those outcomes in people who never drank.
But as the U.S. Dietary Guidelines get their mandated every-five-year revision in 2025, there’s speculation that Americans will be told a different story than is being shared in health warnings in other countries.
As a news analysis in The New York Times put it Wednesday, “Officials in other countries are warning about the health hazards of alcohol in any amount. Americans are still told that moderate drinking is safe. What gives?”
At issue is a report that was commissioned by the U.S. Department of Agriculture at the behest of Congress to do an “independent review of the evidence on the relationship between alcohol consumption and eight health outcomes,” including impact on weight, certain types of cancer, heart disease, brain health, all-cause mortality and — when consumed by women who are breastfeeding — the effect on postpartum weight loss, human milk and infant developmental milestones.