If you were to ask us, booze can create problems no matter how much you consume. We have seen the firsthand effects of the ravages of alcoholism and certainly advise anyone recovering to abstain completely. But if there were to be a “magic number” for the right amount to drink in a day that was safe and non-threatening, what would it be? According to new national research, that number (for men, at least) should be limited to just one glass.
The New York Post recently shared some data released by Dietary Guidelines for Americans, an org that works in partnership with The U.S. Departments of Agriculture and Health and Human Services. The recommendation was for men to cut down their alcoholic consumption to one drink per day, at the max. This is actually quite significant because, for many decades, the standard count advised by these orgs was two drinks.
So why the big switch? Reps from the DGA felt lowering the number would lead to less deaths and improved health across the country. In fact, having more than one alcoholic drink per day could, in their words, “potentially increase the risk of death over time.” And this stat goes for women too, who are also advised to have no more than one cocktail per day.
“As a nation, our collective health would be better if people generally drank less,” study co-author Dr. Timothy Naimi told The Post. “With alcohol, two drinks a day was associated with a increased risk of death compared with one drink a day. The increase is rather modest, but notable enough for the committee to recommend updating the advice.”
Dr. Naimi also emphasized that a lot of research went into this recommendation. Over the past year, they traced links between drinking habits and heart disease, cancer, car accidents and more. Ultimately, it was decided that less alcohol consumption would lower these risks over time.
And the truth of the matter is, across America, one drink a day is not the norm. Recent data has shown that U.S. citizens are consuming much more that; with trends ticking higher and higher upward amid COVID-19 quarantining.
The report itself acknowledged that fact, emphasizing that the “one drink a day” recommendation was aspirational. Their hope, at the very least, was that this new advice would “stimulate thought around behavior change.” Let’s certainly hope that it does.
