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15-07-2022, 10:45 AM
By Sandee LaMotte, CNN
Updated 2231 GMT (0631 HKT) July 14, 2022
No amount of alcohol is healthy if you are younger than 40, mostly due to alcohol-related deaths by auto accidents, injury and homicide, according to a new global study.
If you are 40 or older without underlying health conditions, however, the new research found small amounts of alcohol might reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease, stroke and diabetes.
"Those diseases just happen to be major causes of death in a good chunk of the world," said senior author Emmanuela Gakidou, professor of health metrics sciences at the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington's School of Medicine.
"So when you look at the cumulative health impact, particularly among older adults, it shows that a small amount is actually better for you than no drinking. For all other causes, it's harmful at all levels of consumption."
......
The analysis looked at 30 years of data on people ages 15 to 95 from 204 countries and territories gathered by the institute's Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study, which tracks premature death and disability from over 300 diseases.
The analysis estimated that 1.34 billion people around the world consumed harmful amounts of alcohol in 2020. More than 59% of the people who drank unsafe amounts of alcohol were between 15 and 39. Over two-thirds were men.
In every geographic region, the study found drinking alcohol does not provide any health benefits to people under age 40 but does raise the risk of injury, such as motor vehicle accidents, suicides and homicides.
......
Conclusions criticized
While praising the analysis as well-conducted, some experts not involved with the research expressed concern about the study's conclusions.
......
"The elephant in the room with this study is the interpretation of risk based on outcomes for cardiovascular disease -- particularly in older people," said Dr. Tony Rao, visiting clinical research fellow at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience at King's College London.
"We know that any purported health benefits from alcohol on the heart and circulation are balanced out by the increased risk from other conditions such as cancer, liver disease and mental disorders such as depression and dementia," Rao said in a statement.
A study published in March found just one pint of beer or glass of wine a day can shrink the overall volume of the brain, with the damage increasing as the number of daily drinks rises. On average, people at age 50 who drank a pint of beer or 6-ounce glass of wine a day in the last month had brains that appeared two years older than those who only drank half of a beer.
......
Drinking an average of more than one drink a day for women and two drinks a day for men -- or five or more drinks on the same occasion -- was linked to alcohol problems nine years later.
Women are especially sensitive to the effects of alcohol, according to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, or NIAA. Alcohol-related problems appear sooner and at lower drinking levels than in men, it said.
Report at: https://edition.cnn.com/2022/07/14/healt...index.html
The scientific report at Lancet:
https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lance...9/fulltext
Updated 2231 GMT (0631 HKT) July 14, 2022
No amount of alcohol is healthy if you are younger than 40, mostly due to alcohol-related deaths by auto accidents, injury and homicide, according to a new global study.
If you are 40 or older without underlying health conditions, however, the new research found small amounts of alcohol might reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease, stroke and diabetes.
"Those diseases just happen to be major causes of death in a good chunk of the world," said senior author Emmanuela Gakidou, professor of health metrics sciences at the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington's School of Medicine.
"So when you look at the cumulative health impact, particularly among older adults, it shows that a small amount is actually better for you than no drinking. For all other causes, it's harmful at all levels of consumption."
......
The analysis looked at 30 years of data on people ages 15 to 95 from 204 countries and territories gathered by the institute's Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study, which tracks premature death and disability from over 300 diseases.
The analysis estimated that 1.34 billion people around the world consumed harmful amounts of alcohol in 2020. More than 59% of the people who drank unsafe amounts of alcohol were between 15 and 39. Over two-thirds were men.
In every geographic region, the study found drinking alcohol does not provide any health benefits to people under age 40 but does raise the risk of injury, such as motor vehicle accidents, suicides and homicides.
......
Conclusions criticized
While praising the analysis as well-conducted, some experts not involved with the research expressed concern about the study's conclusions.
......
"The elephant in the room with this study is the interpretation of risk based on outcomes for cardiovascular disease -- particularly in older people," said Dr. Tony Rao, visiting clinical research fellow at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience at King's College London.
"We know that any purported health benefits from alcohol on the heart and circulation are balanced out by the increased risk from other conditions such as cancer, liver disease and mental disorders such as depression and dementia," Rao said in a statement.
A study published in March found just one pint of beer or glass of wine a day can shrink the overall volume of the brain, with the damage increasing as the number of daily drinks rises. On average, people at age 50 who drank a pint of beer or 6-ounce glass of wine a day in the last month had brains that appeared two years older than those who only drank half of a beer.
......
Drinking an average of more than one drink a day for women and two drinks a day for men -- or five or more drinks on the same occasion -- was linked to alcohol problems nine years later.
Women are especially sensitive to the effects of alcohol, according to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, or NIAA. Alcohol-related problems appear sooner and at lower drinking levels than in men, it said.
Report at: https://edition.cnn.com/2022/07/14/healt...index.html
The scientific report at Lancet:
https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lance...9/fulltext
