According to the results of global research, people under the age of forty should not drink alcohol at all, but for older adults, a small amount can even be good.
A large-scale study published by The Guardian on Friday found that drinking alcohol carries significant health risks and offers no benefits for young people. The University of Washington’s Global Burden of Diseases research is a constantly changing project that analyzes the causes of disease and death in the world and contains the most comprehensive data. Four years ago, the research concluded that even occasional drinking was harmful to health, and researchers recommended that governments advise people to abstain altogether.
However, after a comprehensive new analysis of global data, experts have changed their conclusions: according to this, alcohol consumption poses greater health risks for young people than for older people. For adults over age 40 without underlying medical conditions, limited alcohol consumption — such as one glass of red wine per day — may be beneficial, including reducing the risk of cardiovascular disease, stroke, and diabetes. According to research published in the journal Lancet, alcohol consumption is most harmful to men aged 15-39 worldwide.
“Our message is simple: young people should not drink, but older people may benefit from consuming small amounts of alcohol,” said study lead author Emmanuela Gakidou, a professor at the University of Washington. He added: “While it is unlikely that young adults will abstain from drinking, we still believe it is important to publish the latest evidence so that everyone can make informed decisions about their health.”
According to an analysis of the alcohol consumption habits of the population of 204 countries, in 2020 a total of 1.34 billion people were estimated to have consumed harmful amounts of alcohol. According to the researchers, 59 percent of those who consumed harmful amounts were between the ages of 15 and 39. Three-quarters of those who drank harmful amounts of alcohol were men. The analysis used 2020 global data to examine the risk of alcohol consumption for 22 health problems, including injuries, cardiovascular disease, and cancer. Based on this, they estimated how much alcohol a person can drink before taking excessive risks to their health compared to a non-drinker.
It was found that with increasing age, the amount of alcohol that can be consumed without increasing health risks increased. I consider a deciliter of 13 percent red wine or a bottle of 3.5 percent beer as a standard amount of alcohol. For men aged 15-39, the recommended daily intake was 0.136 standard drinks per day, and for women, the minimum risk level was 0.273 standard drinks per day.
For people aged 40 and older, moderate alcohol consumption may have benefits such as a reduction in the risk of ischemic heart disease (IHD), stroke, or diabetes. Among 40-64-year-olds, the level of safe alcohol consumption ranged between half a standard drink and 1.87 standard drinks per day. For those aged 65 and over, the risk of alcohol-related harm increased after drinking just over three standard drinks a day.
szabolcsinap.hu
