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Giving up drinking completely is the only way to avoid the health risks associated with alcohol, according to a major new study.<\/p>\n
Alcohol-related problems kill around 7 per cent of men and 2 per cent of women every year, and drinking is the leading cause of death and disability for people aged 15-49.<\/p>\n
Though previous research has shown moderate levels of drinking may protect against heart disease, the new study concluded any supposed boosts to health are massively offset by the costs.<\/p>\n
Alcohol sales would \u2018fall 38% if drinkers kept within guidelines\u2019
\nThe researchers covered 195 countries between 1990 and 2016, and amassed data from hundreds of other studies.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith the largest collected evidence base to date, our study makes the relationship between health and alcohol clear \u2013 drinking causes substantial health loss, in myriad ways, all over the world,\u201d said Dr Max Griswold from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, one of the study\u2019s lead authors.<\/p>\n
They estimated that one drink a day increases the risk of developing an alcohol-related diseases including cancer, diabetes and tuberculosis by 0.5 per cent. This shot up to 7 per cent for those having two drinks a day, and 37 per cent for five drinks.<\/p>\n
The study defined one drink as 10g of pure alcohol, equivalent to a can of beer or a shot of spirits.<\/p>\n
The findings emerge after another report found the drinks sector in the UK relies on people drinking above government limits for nearly 40 per cent of its revenues.<\/p>\n
Official guidelines currently state that to keep alcohol health risks low, it is safest to avoid consuming more than 14 units a week \u2013 about seven pints of lager \u2013 on a regular basis.<\/p>\n
However, the UK\u2019s chief medical officers have previously stated that despite this allowance, there is \u201cno safe level of alcohol consumption\u201d \u2013 a point that has been reinforced by this study.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is a compelling and urgent need to overhaul policies to encourage either lowering people\u2019s levels of alcohol consumption or abstaining entirely,\u201d said Dr Emmanuela Gakidou, who also worked on the new research.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe myth that one or two drinks a day are good for you is just that \u2013 a myth. This study shatters that myth.\u201d<\/p>\n
The findings were broadly welcomed by scientists and NGOs as a decisive statement on the impact drinking has on society.<\/p>\n
Dr Tony Rao, a psychiatrist at King\u2019s College London who was not involved in the study, commended the effort to unravel the complicated relationship between alcohol and health.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe can now be more confident that there is no safe limit for alcohol when considering overall health risks,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The authors of the research, published in the journal The Lancet, noted their efforts did not take in all aspects of alcohol consumption. Ample data were not available for alcohol-related violence and traffic accidents, or for the illicit production and consumption of alcoholic drinks.<\/p>\n
The findings have ramifications for public health policy, and have prompted calls for government action to make a serious dent in the population-level consumption of alcohol.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese diseases of unhealthy behaviours, facilitated by unhealthy environments and fuelled by commercial interests putting shareholder value ahead of the tragic human consequences, are the dominant health issue of the 21st century,\u201d said Dr Robyn Burton from King\u2019s College London.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe solutions are straightforward: increasing taxation creates income for hard-pressed health ministries, and reducing the exposure of children to alcohol marketing has no downsides.\u201d<\/p>\n
However, others were more measured in their response to the new findings, and emphasised the need to weigh them up against the benefits of alcohol.<\/p>\n
\u201cGiven the pleasure presumably associated with moderate drinking, claiming there is no \u2018safe\u2019 level does not seem an argument for abstention,\u201d said Professor David Spiegelhalter, a statistician who specialises in understanding of risk at the University of Cambridge.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is no safe level of driving, but government do not recommend that people avoid driving.<\/p>\n
\u201cCome to think of it, there is no safe level of living, but nobody would recommend abstention.\u201d<\/p>\n