Lauren Dempsey, MS in Biomedicine and Law, RN, FISM News
A new study published in JAMA Network Open last month found that drinking moderate amounts of alcohol won’t actually help you live longer.
Researchers from the Canadian Institute for Substance Use Research at the University of Victoria evaluated hundreds of studies in an effort to identify a connection between average daily alcohol intake and all-cause mortality.
The team of researchers performed a systematic review and meta-analysis of 107 cohort studies on alcohol use and mortality that were published between January 1980 and July 2021 that included more than 4.8 million participants, the researchers found that there was no reduction in all-cause mortality for individuals that drank less than 25 grams of alcohol a day when compared to non-drinkers.
The researchers noted that there were a number of studies in the review that had serious errors and many of which were “low quality.”
The research also indicated that there was an increased risk of death from any cause among female drinkers who drank more than 25 grams per day and male drinkers who consumed more than 45 grams per day.
The results show that any amount of alcohol consumption has little effect on life expectancy or overall health.
According to the CDC, a standard drink is equal to 14.0 grams of pure alcohol which is found in 12 ounces of beer, 8 ounces of malt liquor, 5 ounces of wine, and 1.5 ounces or a “shot” of 80-proof distilled spirits or liquor. The Dietary Guidelines for Americans advises that drinking less is better for your health, however, moderate alcohol consumption would be to limit intake to 2 drinks or less in a day for men and 1 drink or less in a day for women.
PREVIOUS RESEARCH
Previous research suggested that moderate alcohol consumption could reduce the risk of heart disease, stroke, and possibly diabetes and has shown that moderate drinkers have a longer life expectancy.
However, a growing body of research contradicts this previously held notion and indicates that alcohol consumption is linked to a variety of physical and mental health conditions. Alcohol consumption has been linked to poor health outcomes such as heart disease, cancers, liver damage, and premature aging and a study published in March 2022 found that there was a strong connection between alcohol consumption and structural changes in both gray and white matter, causing brain aging and a decline in cognition.
Alcohol abuse was at least partially the cause of one out of eight deaths in Americans aged 20 to 64 years old and the cause of one in five deaths for adults aged 20 to 49 years old. These numbers worsened during the pandemic; alcohol-related deaths increased by 25% during the first year of the pandemic. The average increase had been just 2.2% between 1999 and 2017.
Researchers suggest that additional research on the effects of alcohol consumption is needed and some have recommended that governments should provide education and encourage the public to abstain from alcohol, even in moderation or occasional consumption, due to the negative impact on health.