Current Events > WHO: 'No amount of alcohol is safe for our health"

(+) Yeah! (+)

https://www.who.int/europe/news/item/04-01-2023-no-level-of-alcohol-consumption-is-safe-for-our-health

The risks and harms associated with drinking alcohol have been systematically evaluated over the years and are well documented. The World Health Organization has now published a statement in The Lancet Public Health: when it comes to alcohol consumption, there is no safe amount that does not affect health.
It is the alcohol that causes harm, not the beverage
Alcohol is a toxic, psychoactive, and dependence-producing substance and has been classified as a Group 1 carcinogen by the International Agency for Research on Cancer decades ago this is the highest risk group, which also includes asbestos, radiation and tobacco. Alcohol causes at least seven types of cancer, including the most common cancer types, such as bowel cancer and female breast cancer. Ethanol (alcohol) causes cancer through biological mechanisms as the compound breaks down in the body, which means that any beverage containing alcohol, regardless of its price and quality, poses a risk of developing cancer.
The risk of developing cancer increases substantially the more alcohol is consumed. However, latest available data indicate that half of all alcohol-attributable cancers in the WHO European Region are caused by light and moderate alcohol consumption less than 1.5 litres of wine or less than 3.5 litres of beer or less than 450 millilitres of spirits per week. This drinking pattern is responsible for the majority of alcohol-attributable breast cancers in women, with the highest burden observed in countries of the European Union (EU). In the EU, cancer is the leading cause of death with a steadily increasing incidence rate and the majority of all alcohol-attributable deaths are due to different types of cancers.
Risks start from the first drop
To identify a safe level of alcohol consumption, valid scientific evidence would need to demonstrate that at and below a certain level, there is no risk of illness or injury associated with alcohol consumption. The new WHO statement clarifies: currently available evidence cannot indicate the existence of a threshold at which the carcinogenic effects of alcohol switch on and start to manifest in the human body.
Moreover, there are no studies that would demonstrate that the potential beneficial effects of light and moderate drinking on cardiovascular diseases and type 2 diabetes outweigh the cancer risk associated with these same levels of alcohol consumption for individual consumers.
We cannot talk about a so-called safe level of alcohol use. It doesnt matter how much you drink the risk to the drinkers health starts from the first drop of any alcoholic beverage. The only thing that we can say for sure is that the more you drink, the more harmful 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 in the WHO Regional Office for Europe.
Despite this, the question of beneficial effects of alcohol has been a contentious issue in research for years.
Potential protective effects of alcohol consumption, suggested by some studies, are tightly connected with the comparison groups chosen and the statistical methods used, and may not consider other relevant factors, clarifies Dr Jrgen Rehm, member of the WHO Regional Director for Europes 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 Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Toronto, Canada.
We are missing the bigger picture
Globally, the WHO European Region has the highest alcohol consumption level and the highest proportion of drinkers in the population. Here, over 200 million people in the Region are at risk of developing alcohol-attributable cancer.
Disadvantaged and vulnerable populations have higher rates of alcohol-related death and hospitalization, as harms from a given amount and pattern of drinking are higher for poorer drinkers and their families than for richer drinkers in any given society.
So, when we talk about possible so-called safer levels of alcohol consumption or about its protective effects, we are ignoring the bigger picture of alcohol harm in our Region and the world. Although it is well established that alcohol can cause cancer, this fact is still not widely known to the public in most countries. We need cancer-related health information messages on labels of alcoholic beverages, following the example of tobacco products; we need empowered and trained health professionals who would feel comfortable to inform their patients about alcohol and cancer risk; and we need overall wide awareness of this topic in countries and communities, adds Dr Ferreira-Borges.

Damn, the risks start with even the first drop.

What isn't risky these days?

I hear mixed thing about this.

Other people be like a little bit is healthy for you

I haven't drank since May and I feel so much better.

deoxxys posted...

Other people

Always trust other people just consume and don't ask any questions.

Don't do beer, kids!

Crossfaded af rn ngl

Ya dont say!!

It's poison that we take recreationally, I don't know why this is a surprise.

deoxxys posted...

I hear mixed thing about this.

Other people be like a little bit is healthy for you

My Great Grandparents always drank a glass of whine a day. Grandmother died in her late 80s (I dont remember her birthday, but her husband was almost 91 at the time)

Great Grandfather only died at 94 because he lost the will to live (49 years between him and the oldest living relative at that point), im pretty confident he could have hit 100 if he didnt.

So i admit im a bit iffy myself.... though it wont affect me personally as i dont drink alcohol... i dont like the taste lol...

deoxxys posted...

I hear mixed thing about this.

Other people be like a little bit is healthy for you

Gotta wonder who made those studies claiming drinking beer and wine were healthy.

Arcanine2009 posted...

Gotta wonder who made those studies claiming drinking beer and wine were healthy.

The one backed by megacorporation

Not a drop, through I can understand why people drink, this world is pressure pumping as fuck

I rarely drink but yeah, Id believe it is true.

It would benefit a lot of people i know if they would quit drinking. There are so many better things to drink, or do, to get into a good mood.

Well, this was a fine story to wake up to after a post shift bender.

It's objectively shit for your health. But damn I am going to drink and not go out.

Meaning. I will drink myself into a stupor inside the confines of my house and I have every right to do so.

Remember. Once you start drinking...stay indoors.

Drinking poison is bad for your health? No!

Shit man I hope they dont outright ban it. Otherwise the hospitals lose business and I lose out on easy admissions :(

/sarcasm

Ive cut back my intake rather significantly these days.

That said, I do quite enjoy the occasional tasty spirit from time to time.

I've been cutting back since the 2020 pandemic era really increased my usage. I was at one point in 2021 an every night drinker. I'm WAY down from that now, thankfully lol.

Feel better now too, and the mornings after I do drink suck so bad as I get older that I'm wondering why the fuck do I even do it anymore. XD

I can't drink anymore as alcohol spikes triglyceride levels in the blood... and I already have to take medication to keep those levels under control.

God I love getting drunk and fucking smashed every weekend

thronedfire2 posted...

Drinking poison is bad for your health? No!

But the poison-making companies paid people to tell me it's good for me. Who am I supposed to believe?!

gasgpmo posted...

But the poison-making companies paid people to tell me it's good for me. Who am I supposed to believe?!

They just want your money, that's all

https://youtu.be/Lxggscwmuhs

Nowadays it's an occasional glass of red wine

My Mormon buddy is 45, never had a drop of booze and looks 30. There's something to that clean living shit.

lilORANG posted...

My Mormon buddy is 45, never had a drop of booze and looks 30. There's something to that clean living shit.

Aren't a lot of Mormons leaving that lifestyle behind these days?

Uh oh

I dont know a lot of people who were confused about how alcohol is poison.

We drink it anyway.

Most tap water, at this point, is loaded with things that are terrible for you.

It is what it is. Somethings going to kill you. Might as well enjoy yourself.

I mean it is poison

Patchwork posted...

I dont know a lot of people who were confused about how alcohol is poison.

We drink it anyway.

Most tap water, at this point, is loaded with things that are terrible for you.

It is what it is. Somethings going to kill you. Might as well enjoy yourself.

This is funny.

Eh, I dont drink and think this is stupid. If people still smoke knowing the damage it causes, drinking is not going to change.

Unknown5uspect posted...

I mean it is poison

so is caffeine

./.

I gave up on drinking not long after I started. Mostly because I hate the taste of pretty much every alcoholic beverage, and didn't feel like getting drunk made up for it.

Unknown5uspect posted...

I mean it is poison

It's literally not.

Then why do they call it alcohol poisoning

Turtlebread posted...

Then why do they call it alcohol poisoning

same reason you can die from water poisoning?

So the difference between poison and not poison is the dose

Turtlebread posted...

So the difference between poison and not poison is the dose

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_dose_makes_the_poison

MarcoRubio posted...

It's literally not.

Drunkenness is literally not real.

I began phasing it out about 6 months ago. It can be nice but it does harm the body. I might have something once a month now, down from [big number] nightly.

Tom_Joad posted...

I can't drink anymore as alcohol spikes triglyceride levels in the blood... and I already have to take medication to keep those levels under control.

That was my case. Cutting back significantly lowered my dosage of meds. Doc says I may even be able to quit the meds if I commit to permanent non-drinking and some dietary changes. But the amount I was consuming was 'no bueno'.

who asked

I for one am totally surprised that drinking alcohol is bad for me. I'm glad this article exists so my eyes could be opened.

To alcohol! The cause ofand solution to..all of lifes problems.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/1/7/0/AAV_o9AAELIa.jpg

Is this going to lead to alcohol stigmatization/banning like what happened with smoking?