Study advises us to cut back drastically on booze
HAVING just six drinks a week can leave you more at risk of dying from booze-related illnesses, scientists say.
They said national drinking guidelines should be lowered even more, possibly even advising against it at all.
It’s not just heavy drinking – even consuming alcohol within weekly low-risk drinking guidelines can result in hospitalisation and death.
Moderate drinkers accounted for more than half of all alcohol-related cancer deaths in the study area, Canada’s British Columbia.
Drinking guidelines in the region are roughly similar to in Britain.
The UK’s chief medical officer advises it is unsafe to regularly drink more than 14 units per week – about six pints of beer or around six medium glasses of wine.
Study author Dr Adam
BY GREGORY KIRBY reporters@dailyrecord.co.uk
Sherk, of Canada’s Victoria University, said: “Moderate drinkers are not insulated from harm. The best advice for drinking is to err on the side of caution. Less is better.”
The researchers found a significant portion of alcoholcaused death and disability was experienced by those drinking within guidelines.
Data revealed more than a third of alcohol-attributable deaths struck people drinking below the weekly limits.
Women who drank within the guidelines did benefit from protection from fatal heart attacks and diabetes.
Men, however, experienced harm at all drinking levels.
Dr Sherk said limits should be lowered to match those in the Netherlands, where the advice is: “Don’t drink or, if you do, drink no more than one drink per day.”