Is moderate drinking good for your health?
In the past two decades, the idea that moderate drinking may actually confer health benefits has taken hold, backed up by some preliminary evidence. This led to the often-mentioned notion in the popular press that a glass of red wine a day reduces the risk of cardiovascular disease and diabetes.
There was one major flaw in many of the studies used to back up the claim that a glass of red wine is good for health. They compared moderate drinkers to non-drinkers—rather than comparing lighter to heavier drinkers. There is a phenomenon called the “sick quitter paradox,” however, that could affect study findings. “Sick quitter” means that non-drinkers tend to be less healthy than low-level drinkers, and that many people choose to not drink for health reasons. Therefore, some non-drinkers may be less healthy than moderate drinkers for reasons unrelated to alcohol. The question as to whether moderate drinking is beneficial remains open. The National Institutes of Health recently sought to initiate a large randomized control trial, the gold standard for understanding causal relationships, to look into the benefits of moderate drinking.
This trial was designed to pick up the heart benefits of consuming one drink a day, but it was not designed to be able to detect the negative consequences of moderate alcohol use, such as increases in breast cancer. Many in the alcohol research community wondered what the recommendations from this study would be, since there are so many well-established problems with drinking even at moderate levelsthat likely outweigh any potential benefits.
The study was recently canceled for a number of reasons, including inappropriate engagement between staff at the National Institute for Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) with both the study researchers and industry partners and the subsequent removal of funding from the alcohol industry. The now canceled study on the benefits of moderate drinking reminds us that it is important to remember all the physical and social consequences of alcohol consumption.
https://www.popsci.com/alcohols-health-benefits-risks
