Doctors want to change the way people think about alcoholism, amid a growing body of evidence showing that even a small amount is bad for your health.
The Biden administration’s alcohol czar, Dr. George Koob, foreshadowed revised drinking guidelines for the coming year to better reflect the growing scientific consensus that no amount of alcohol is healthy.
Canadian officials also radically revised safe alcohol consumption guidelines by recommending people drink no more than two drinks per week, a far cry from the 15-drink maximum set out in the guidelines published 11 years earlier.
Meanwhile, the World Health Organization’s new official position that no amount of alcohol is safe is based on years of evidence showing that alcohol is linked to about five percent of cancer cases, more than a million strokes worldwide and more than 13,500 drug-related deaths every year. Driving under the influence. .
Dr. Stephen Holt, an addiction specialist at Yale University, told DailyMail.com that an alcoholic is not necessarily someone who drinks all day every day or who blacks out when he drinks.
Even someone who limits themselves to just a few drinks to unwind after a stressful day can exhibit alcoholic tendencies.
CDC researchers found that between 2015 and 2019, there were approximately 90,000 fatalities annually among adults ages 20 to 65 in which drinking was an underlying or contributing cause.
For millions of people, relaxing in the evening after a long day at work means a glass of wine or a bottle of beer.
However, that glass or bottle can turn into two or three. You might wake up with a headache or nausea, but overall you’ll feel fine – hardly the picture of problematic drinking.
But once the residual symptoms subside, you can start looking forward to the ritual of sitting on the couch with another drink later that day. Maybe you’re even looking forward to it so much that all you can think about at work is it. So when you get home, prepare a cocktail.
Someone who gets caught in that cycle of craving and drinking, punctuated by short, mild hangovers, may be surprised to learn that he or she meets some of the criteria for alcohol use disorder, according to psychiatrists.
Dr. Holt told DailyMail.com that people tend to lull themselves into a false sense of security about their drinking if they only consume a few drinks a night. But he warned: “Addiction is not actually a quantity.”
Dr. Holt said, “It’s really more about the maladaptive relationship someone has with a particular substance.”
While it is true that a few glasses of wine or a cocktail at the end of the day hardly qualifies as a binge, which amounts to four or more drinks for a woman and five or more in one sitting for a man, it is emotional attachment to the drinking that can be problematic.
Dr. Holt referred to a list of criteria for what constitutes alcohol use disorder (AUD), the modern accepted term for alcoholism.
Anyone fancy something to drink? they have tried repeatedly to stop drinking and found that this did not work; has it damaged their relationships; their health suffers; Did they continue to drink despite knowing how it affects their mood and behavior?
He said: ‘None of the things I just said really have anything to do with the amount a person drinks. It’s more about their relationship with drinking.
‘So, for example, a person can have an alcohol disorder and still not actually cross the boundaries that we mentioned.’
Addiction experts believe the US needs to reevaluate its relationship with alcohol as research shows no amount is the healthiest amount
Given all the health risks associated with drinking – four percent of cancers diagnosed worldwide can be linked to it – a growing wave of wellness-conscious young people are becoming teetotalers.
The general recommendation has long been that men should stick to 14 drinks per week and women should stick to seven drinks or less.
But leading health authorities are now challenging years of accepted knowledge.
Dr. Holt said, “But that guidance came out, gosh, about 15, 20 years ago. Over the past, I would say, three, four or five years, there has been increasing evidence that there may not be a safe amount of alcohol.”
For millions of Americans who have experienced sweeping lockdowns, school closures and periods of mandatory work-from-home, alcohol became their anxiety-relieving tool. Scientists estimate that a quarter of Americans drank more than usual during the pandemic.
And while the younger Generation Z has avidly eschewed booze in the interests of their mental health and their social media presence, older working-age adults are still avid drinkers: 69 percent of 35- to 54-year-olds drink and 59 percent of those over 55.
The long-standing orthodoxy was that an occasional glass of red wine was healthy for the heart, but experts have now refuted the supposed benefits, claiming the evidence is weak and only documented in observational studies – meaning other factors play a role can play.
In reality, drinking just one drink can also increase the risk of a type of heart rhythm disorder known as atrial fibrillation, according to a 2021 report in the journal. Annals of Internal Medicine.
It’s that kind of research that is causing Americans to reevaluate their relationship to alcohol and why they drink.
Alcohol is also known to increase blood pressure and increase the risk of heart disease.
A 2023 study published in the journal Hypertension found that as people drank more alcohol, their blood pressure rose. This applied to systolic blood pressure (SBP) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP).
It can also increase estrogen levels in women, which has been linked to a greater risk of developing breast cancer and other hormone-related cancers.
