Models of restraint

A study shows millennials often forgo alcohol

Young people today are drinking less alcohol than used to be the case, a surprising research finding and one that deserves to be noted in light of the growing rate of liver disease among American adults.

The decline in consumption has been measured among U.S. teens and adults in their 20s. Overall, they’re drinking less than their counterparts did 10 to 15 years ago, according to the annual Monitoring the Future study of 50,000 people by the National Institute on Drug Abuse.

Lower consumption also has been noted among young people in other countries, and the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board has reported less binge-drinking among secondary school students. Then there’s the eyewitness accounts from bartenders who report that they’re selling fewer alcoholic drinks and more non-alcoholic drinks to young patrons.

It’s an open question as to whether less drinking is a characteristic of millennials,the result of public education campaigns or a darker possibility, such as the decision to use marijuana ornew synthetic drugs instead.

But less drinking bodes well for one aspect of the national conversation about public health. A recent study published in the medical journal BMJ found that deaths from liver disease, including cirrhosis, jumped by 65 percent in the United States from 1999 to 2016.

Experts said that study signaled the need to focus still more attention on the dangers of excessive alcohol consumption. It seems that one group, millennials, already got the message.