Representatives of the alcohol industry were displeased with a leading Biden administration official's recommendation to cut back on alcohol consumption.
Director of the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) George Koob stated in a Thursday interview that he was considering a revision of the United States's health recommendations with regard to alcohol. Koob said he was watching Canada's decision to overturn its alcohol guidelines only to two drinks a week with interest. This decision to limit a citizen's access to alcohol was not well received by the alcohol industry.
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"It is extremely alarming and inappropriate for a federal official to predetermine the outcome of the Dietary Guidelines and suggest changing decades of precedent without the benefit of the scientific review to support such a sweeping move," Amanda Berger, vice president of the Distilled Spirits Council said in a tweet. The council represents a number of alcohol companies.
Koob admitted to enjoying a few glasses of Chardonnay a week but also said he wished to revise the U.S. alcohol guidelines to match Canada's. "If there's health benefits, I think people will start to reevaluate where we're at [in the U.S.]," He added.
Current health recommendations would have women consume up to one bottle of beer, a small glass of wine, or a shot of spirit per day, while men can have two. These guidelines could change in 2025.
Koob was also skeptical of claims that alcohol provided any physical benefits.
"Most of the benefits people attribute to alcohol, we feel they really have more to do with what someone's eating rather than what they're drinking. So it really has to do with the Mediterranean diet, socio-economic status, that makes you able to afford that kind of diet and make your own fresh food and so forth. With this in mind, most of the benefits kind of disappear on the health side."
The director noted that there were social benefits, claiming that alcohol acted as a "social lubricant."
Alcohol has several detrimental effects on one's health. A 2021 report from the American Cancer Society found that alcohol was behind as many as one in 20 cases in the U.S. A separate report found that alcohol caused a 1.4 times increase in the risk of heart disease.
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The review process for Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2025 to 2030 is currently underway, although the new draft will not be published until the end of 2025.
The Canadian Centre on Substance Use and Addiction announced in January that it was recommending Canadians cut back to only two alcoholic beverages a week, a decision that led to much debate in the country.