How Safe is Moderate Alcohol Consumption?
We often hear that drinking alcohol in moderation is considered safe, and some even claim it has health benefits. But how accurate is this widely accepted belief? With alcohol playing such a significant role in many cultures, it’s essential to understand the potential risks and the real impact on our health.
A new meta-analysis published shows that mild to moderate drinking is not as protective as we once thought. This review examined a collection of 107 studies involving more than 4.8 million people.
The authors found that when biases in reporting and other factors were controlled for (e.g. previous drinkers who have now quit drinking), the protective effects of even low and moderate alcohol disappeared. Drinking beyond moderation was found to increase the risk of mortality. In addition to this, research has found that even just 1-2 drinks a day was associated with negative changes in the brain (decreased brain volume, reduced grey matter in the brain and a poorer condition of brain connections), suggesting that there is no safe amount of alcohol that can be recommended.
“This updated meta-analysis did not find significantly reduced risk of all-cause mortality associated with low-volume alcohol consumption after adjusting for potential confounding effects of influential study characteristics.” {SOURC Association Between Daily Alcohol Intake and Risk of All-Cause Mortality}