A study published Thursday offers a stark rebuttal to the idea that booze extends life. In a new review of the data, scientists found no high-quality evidence that people who drink light to moderate amounts of alcohol are more likely to live longer than those who abstain. The findings suggest that there is no truly safe level of alcohol consumption.
For years, a steady stream of studies has been published suggesting that light-to-moderate drinking may be beneficial for longevity and health, especially with regard to the heart. But other recent studies have found increasingly conflicting evidence, and some scientists have criticized the methodology of these optimistic studies.
The pathological ascetic effect
One major criticism concerns people who have stopped drinking. Some abstainers have barely drank alcohol in their lifetime, while others were once heavy drinkers who stopped because of health problems caused by drinking. By including people who stopped drinking because of health problems in the general group, scientists risk distorting the comparison between abstainers and moderate drinkers. People with health problems are more likely to get sick than average, which could give moderate drinkers an unfair advantage.
Scientists at the University of Victoria in Canada sought to rectify this and other gaps in their latest evidence review published Thursday. Journal of Alcohol and Drug Research.
“Unlike past attempts, we focused on identifying and testing study characteristics that may have biased estimates of mortality risk, providing a more robust analysis of the available data,” study author James Clay, a postdoctoral researcher at the university’s Canadian Institute for Substance Use Research, told Gizmodo in an email.
Bias Control
Clay and his team looked at more than 100 studies that tracked people’s health over time and included information on reported alcohol consumption. When the team analyzed the data overall, they found a small association between longevity and light drinking (defined as one drink per week to up to two drinks per day). They then categorized the studies as high- or low-quality and analyzed them separately. High-quality studies include those that excluded former drinkers from abstaining groups, for example, or started tracking people at a younger age. And when they looked only at the high-quality data, a different picture emerged.
“Essentially, once we carefully controlled for potential biases, the health benefits of small amounts of alcohol consumption disappeared,” Clay explained.
The team’s findings were: Be the first to ask a question The idea of healthy drinking is something we all need to consider. heartBut the issue remains controversial, according to the researchers, who hope that by identifying and explaining these potentially flawed studies, they can encourage a more honest assessment of alcohol’s risks, including cancer and liver disease.
“Our findings suggest that the perception that light drinking is beneficial for health is likely the result of biased study design, and therefore indicate that there may be no truly safe level of alcohol consumption,” said Clay. “This calls into question the idea that moderate drinking is beneficial and highlights the need for updated guidelines that accurately reflect the health risks associated with all levels of alcohol consumption.”
A new study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was published earlier this February. found The number of annual alcohol-related deaths in the United States has recently increased, averaging 178,307 deaths in 2020-2021. Although alcohol-related health risks arise from excessive or chronic heavy drinking, most drinkers could benefit from cutting back at least a little.
