Why There Is No Safe Level Of Alcohol Consumption For Our Health

The hazards and effects associated with alcohol intake have been widely evaluated and well documented.

The World Health Organisation has issued a statement in The Lancet Public Health claiming that no amount of alcohol use is completely safe for health.

The beverage does not cause harm; it is the alcohol that does

Alcohol is a poisonous, psychoactive substance that can cause dependence and is recognised as a Group 1 carcinogen by the International Agency for Research on Cancer.

This categorisation, which includes asbestos, radiation, and tobacco, represents the highest level of danger.

Alcohol is associated to at least seven types of cancer, including common ones like bowel cancer and female breast cancer.

Ethanol, the primary ingredient in alcoholic beverages, promotes cancer growth through a variety of molecular pathways.

This risk is there regardless of the price or quality of the alcoholic beverage.

The chance of acquiring cancer rises with increased alcohol use.

According to recent data, a large proportion of alcohol-related malignancies in the WHO European Region are connected with “light” and “moderate” drinking—defined as less than 1.5 litres of wine, 3.5 litres of beer, or 450 millilitres of spirits each week.

This drinking pattern is responsible for the majority of alcohol-related breast cancers in women, with the largest impact seen in European Union countries.

Cancer is the biggest cause of mortality in the EU, with alcohol-related malignancies accounting for a significant portion of the total

Risks start with the first drop

To establish a “safe” level of alcohol consumption, scientific evidence must demonstrate that ingesting alcohol up to a specific amount does not pose a danger of illness or injury.

However, the new WHO statement states that current research does not support the existence of a threshold beyond which alcohol’s carcinogenic effects are not detectable.

Furthermore, no research has found that the potential advantages of light to moderate drinking for cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes outweigh the cancer risks associated with this levels of alcohol use.

“We cannot discuss a so-called safe amount of alcohol consumption. No matter how much you drink, the harm to your health begins with the first sip of any alcoholic beverage. The only certainty is that the more you drink, the more dangerous it is – or, in other words, the less you drink, the safer it is,” explains Dr Carina Ferreira-Borges, acting Unit Lead for Noncommunicable Disease Management and Regional Advisor for Alcohol and Illicit Drugs at the WHO Regional Office for Europe.

Despite this, research on alcohol’s possible benefits has long been contested.

“Potential protective effects of alcohol consumption, suggested by some studies, are tightly connected to the comparison groups chosen and the statistical methods used, and may not consider other relevant factors,” clarifies Dr Jürgen Rehm, member of the WHO Regional Director for Europe’s Advisory Council for Noncommunicable Diseases and Senior Scientist at the Institute for Mental Health Policy Research and the Campbell Family Mental Health Research Institute at the C.

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