[Ian Sample in The Guardian]

"England’s former chief medical officer, Dame Sally Davies, has said there is no safe level of alcohol intake. A major study published in 2018 supported the view. It found that alcohol led to 2.8 million deaths in 2016 and was the leading risk factor for premature death and disability in 15- to 49-year-olds. Among the over 50s, about 27% of global cancer deaths in women and 19% in men were linked to their drinking habits."

This is important: older studies which suggested that there are some health benefits from light drinking are wrong, and the harms of alcohol have been understated. It's bad for you, end of story, and the alcohol industry has used similar techniques and arguments to the tobacco industry in order to cover that fact.

And the outcomes may be really bad:

"Last year, a major study of more than half a million Chinese men linked alcohol to more than 60 diseases, including liver cirrhosis, stroke, several gastrointestinal cancers, gout, cataracts and gastric ulcers."

It's disappointing news for people like me who enjoy a drink from time to time - but it's better to know than not. There's a real trade-off to those glasses of wine.

#Health

[Link]