Even most people who stick to drink in moderation and follow alcohol guidelines are at higher risk of cancer and early death, according to researchers.
In the US, the CDC has classified low-risk drinking as 12 fluid ounces of regular beer (5% alcohol) per day that comes around almost 9.8 pints of beer spread out over the week.
However, experts claim that even sticking to this can hurt one’s health – and even may lead to hospitalization or death.
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A team of scientists from Canada evaluated alcohol-related harms on national and regional scales or by demographic.
Professor Adam Sherk from the University of Victoria, in British Columbia, Canada, and his colleagues used an open-access model known as ‘InterMAHP’ — ‘International Model of Alcohol Harms and Policies’.
In particular, the team’s focus was on alcohol consumption practices in British Columbia during 2014, analyzing anonymized data from three sources – surveys, hospital data from the Canadian Institute for Health Information, and mortality data from Statistics Canada
According to the guidelines published by the Canadian government, low-risk drinking constitutes no more than 10 drinks per week for women and 15 for men.
These recommendations are slightly more “generous” than in the US, where low-risk drinking is classified as 7 drinks per week for women and 14 drinks per week for men or 9.8 pints of beer spread out over the week.
The results of the study reveal that low-risk drinking is not “insulated from harm” and actually accounts for significant numbers of alcohol-related issues.
The study showed that 50 percent of cancer deaths from alcohol use in British Columbia occurred among moderate drinkers.
And 38 percent of all alcohol-attributable deaths occurred in people drinking below the weekly limit, or among former drinkers.
Based on the results of their study, the team concluded that many countries’ low-risk drinking guidelines are too high, Canada in particular.
Writing in the Journal of Studies on Alcohol & Drugs, Prof Sherk said:
Don’t drink or, if you do, drink no more than one drink per day.
He further added that when it comes to alcohol, people should err on the side of caution, writing:
When it comes to alcohol use, less is better.
Earlier, scientists from South Korea revealed that frequent but low-level drinkers are more likely to face atrial fibrillation — an irregular heartbeat.
It can cause shortness of breath and chest pains, and raise the risk of a stroke five-fold.
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The researchers warned this could be “dangerous” after studying the drinking habits of almost ten million people.
Dr Jong-Il Choi, leader of the Korean study, stated the heart condition has “dreadful complications” that could wreck lives.
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