Is moderate alcohol consumption safe? New dietary guidelines evaluate the risks and benefits

How much is too much in the case of alcohol consumption? While there is no debate about the health risks of alcohol consumption, Americans have long believed that moderate consumption of alcohol consumption is sans the health risks.

The current US Dietary Guidelines from the US Department of Health and Human Services and US Department of Agriculture, says adults of legal drinking age can choose not to drink or to drink in moderation limiting alcohol intake to two drinks per day for men and one drink for women.

The evidence review conducted by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine in December revisited and supported an older, prominent hypothesis that moderate alcohol consumption is associated with fewer heart attack and stroke deaths, and fewer deaths overall, compared with never drinking.

“On the basis of a meta-analysis of eight eligible studies, there was a 16 percent lower risk of all-cause mortality among those who consumed moderate levels of alcohol compared with those who never consumed alcohol,” the findings in the review says.

Though the report has mentioned the link between moderate drinking and the increased risk of breast cancer, it says there wasn't enough evidence to link it to other cancers.

Scientists are concerned that the influential dietary guidelines could fail to address the health risks of alcohol consumption.

Does that mean, moderate alcohol consumption has benefits? Not really. The World Health Organization (WHO) says that no level of alcohol consumption is safe for our health. “When it comes to alcohol consumption, there is no safe amount that does not affect health," in a statement published The Lancet Public Health, the WHO said.

“We cannot talk about a so-called safe level of alcohol use. It doesn’t matter how much you drink – the risk to the drinker’s health starts from the first drop of any alcoholic beverage. The only thing that we can say for sure is that the more you drink, the more harmful it is – or, in other words, the less you drink, the safer it is,” Dr Carina Ferreira-Borges, acting Unit Lead for Noncommunicable Disease Management and Regional Advisor for Alcohol and Illicit Drugs in the WHO Regional Office for Europe says in a statement.

“Potential protective effects of alcohol consumption, suggested by some studies, are tightly connected with the comparison groups chosen and the statistical methods used, and may not consider other relevant factors”, Dr Jürgen Rehm, member of the WHO Regional Director for Europe’s Advisory Council for Noncommunicable Diseases and Senior Scientist at the Institute for Mental Health Policy Research and the Campbell Family Mental Health Research Institute at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Toronto, Canada adds.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) also agrees with the fact that even moderate drinking harms your health. “You can lower your health risks from alcohol by drinking less or not drinking at all,” CDC says.

Alcohol consumption is also linked to about 100,000 cancer cases and 20,000 cancer deaths annually in the U.S.


As the CDC notes, you can choose not to drink alcohol, drink less, or drink in moderation to lower the health risks, compared to drinking excessively. But do not ignore that even moderate drinking may increase your risk of death and other alcohol-related health issues.