For years, it has been widely accepted that moderate drinking, as part of a healthy diet and lifestyle, has protective health benefits. However, a recent study suggests that this long-held belief may not be accurate.
In the past, research indicated that people who consume moderate amounts of alcohol tend to live longer and have a lower risk of heart disease than those who don’t drink at all.
However, a recent review of previous research has raised concerns about the validity of this association. Scientists at the Canadian Institute for Substance Use Research conducted a systematic review of more than 100 cohort studies involving nearly 5 million participants to investigate whether health benefits attributed to alcohol use were actually due to other factors, such as lifestyle and socioeconomic status.
Their findings, published in the medical journal JAMA Network Open, suggest that biases in the previous studies—including the use of health factors not associated with drinking, such as diet, dental health, income, and weight—may have affected the results.
“Light and moderate drinkers are systematically healthier than current abstainers on a range of health indicators unlikely to be associated with alcohol use,” the study authors wrote.
Furthermore, previous studies may have failed to account for biases in the abstainer group, particularly by not removing the so-called “sick quitters,” former drinkers who have stopped or reduced drinking for health reasons.
“When we now look back at those studies, we realize that they were poorly structured and that the results were misleading,” Dr. Timothy B. Sullivan, chair of the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Northwell Health at Staten Island University Hospital, told The Epoch Times.
In this analysis, researchers conducted a systematic review of studies published between January 1980 and July 2021 to investigate the association between all-cause mortality risk and alcohol use, taking into account the average ages and sex distribution of the study population.
The analysis included people who consume less than one drink a week to address the bias of poor health among non-drinkers observed in previous studies. The researchers also adjusted for age bias by only observing individuals recruited before a median age of 51 and remaining in the study until a median age of at least 60.
According to the study, this meta-analysis of 107 studies found “no significant protective associations of occasional or low-volume drinking (moderate drinking) with all-cause mortality.”
However, they did find an increased risk of all-cause mortality for those who consumed 25 grams (0.9 ounces) of alcohol or more a day and a “significantly increased risk” for people drinking 45 grams (1.6 ounces) of alcohol or more daily. For reference, a standard U.S. alcoholic drink contains 14 grams of pure alcohol. The researchers also found the risk to be higher for women. “There was a significantly increased risk of all-cause mortality among female drinkers who drank 25 or more grams per day and among male drinkers who drank 45 or more grams per day,” the authors wrote.
Dr. Jarid Pachter, a family medicine specialist with multiple hospital affiliations, including Stony Brook University Hospital, pointed out that the meta-analysis didn’t specifically say that drinking any amount is unhealthy for you. The bottom line of the meta-analysis is that the conclusion of the “previous studies that said that moderate drinking was healthy for you was not valid,” he added.
This doesn’t mean drinking isn’t associated with potentially severe health consequences.
According to the World Cancer Research Fund International, a non-profit dedicated to cancer prevention research, consuming alcohol, in general, increases the risk of certain types of cancer, such as:
More specifically, consuming two or more alcoholic drinks a day—which amounts to 30 grams or more—is linked to an increased risk of colorectal cancer, while three or more drinks daily—45 grams or more—raises the risk of stomach and liver cancer.
In 2021, research published in Cancer Epidemiology concluded that alcohol consumption accounts for a “considerable proportion” of cancer incidence and mortality in all U.S. states. “Implementing state-level policies and cancer control efforts to reduce alcohol consumption could reduce this cancer burden,” the study authors wrote.
Based on results from a recent study published in Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention, most Americans are unaware of the link between drinking and cancer risk or that the risk varies significantly for different types of alcoholic beverages. “All types of alcoholic beverages, including wine, increase cancer risk,” senior author William M.P. Klein, who has a doctorate in social psychology and is the associate director of the National Cancer Institute’s Behavioral Research Program, said in a statement. He added that this study’s findings underscore a need to develop interventions for educating people about cancer risk and alcohol use, “particularly in the prevailing context of national dialogue about the purported heart health benefits of wine.”
Everyone’s health risks are unique, and individuals must make informed choices about alcohol use with the help of their physician, according to Sullivan. “People with a heightened familial risk for alcoholism are, of course, always advised to avoid or at least strictly monitor their alcohol use,” he said. “But it is also a fair assumption that persons with significant health risks of any sort would be best advised to avoid alcohol, given what we know of its effects on essentially every organ in the body, including our immune system.”
“What we know about drinking is that it’s different for everybody,” Pachter said. “What may be a little for one person is too much for another.” He suggested that people should question their motives for drinking, especially if they’re using alcohol to alleviate anxiety or to help them sleep. “Those are all real red flags,” he added.
However, Pachter also pointed out that people from different socioeconomic backgrounds may have different levels of risk associated with drinking. “The JAMA study did point out that those people who are a little bit more well-off may be the ones who accrue some potential health benefits from a little bit of drinking,” he said. “So you can’t compare every person to just somebody else; you have to compare within the socioeconomic status.”
Pachter added that it’s important to consider individual circumstances rather than making generalizations based on studies. People automatically assume that the study findings apply to them, he said. “I think right now is the time for people to reflect on their habits and ask themselves: Do I think that I’m doing this too much? If so, you should talk to somebody like your doctor about it.”