Drinking over 1 alcoholic beverage a day sharply increases death risk, federal review finds

Drinking more than one drink a day can significantly raise risk of premature death, a new federal review has revealed. The report was published on Tuesday which would prompt experts to set stricter guidelines around alcohol consumption as the US prepares to update its influential dietary recommendations.
“In the United States, males and females have a 1 in 1000 risk of dying from alcohol use if they consume more than 7 drinks per week. This risk increases to 1 in 100 if they consume more than 9 drinks per week,” said the report’s authors in a final draft published by the Department of Health and Human Services.
The review is the second of two reports prepared by committees of external experts to guide this year’s update to the Dietary Guidelines for Americans. The first one was published last month by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine.
Food and Drug Administration and other agencies often take cue from the Dietary guidelines regarding how to label foods and drinks.

Current guidelines

Presently, men are recommended up to two drinks per day while women are suggested to limit their alcohol intake to one drink per day.

Dangers of excess alcohol consumption

Drinking more than the recommended amount has been linked with devastating impact on liver, brain, addiction, depression and anxiety issues.
Recently US Surgeon General Dr Vivek Murthy called to update labelling on alcohol drinks to highlight its link to seven kinds of cancer. To update the existing warning labels, an act of Congress would be required
“Once you’re over a drink a day, your risk of dying from alcohol is already above one percent. Some people may think that doesn’t sound like a lot, but in terms of a public health guideline, that would be really, really high,” said Dr. Timothy Naimi, director of the Canadian Institute for Substance Use Research and one of the authors of the report.
The report analyzed data on various diseases and injuries, summarising studies on alcohol’s risks and benefits into estimates of “

alcohol-attributable deaths

.” However, Naimi noted that the true

health risks of alcohol

are likely underestimated due to research limitations.

Alcohol risk differs from person to person

The report warns that risks of alcohol consumption can differ widely from person to person which means some harms can be very small for some even if they add up to huge risks at the public health level.
“The overall effect of alcohol consumption on all-cause mortality is dependent upon the risk of diseases and injuries that are causally related to alcohol. These risks are affected by numerous factors, including smoking, diet, physical activity, obesity, hepatitis infection, and genetics,” the report states.
The report estimated that having one drink a day added
The report found that at one drink per day, injuries and cancer were the leading contributors to the risk of premature death.

For men, injuries accounted for a significant portion of this risk, including accidents, road incidents, and intentional harm such as suicide and alcohol-related violence.
Cancer was the second-largest factor, contributing to about a third of the increased risk of death in men.
For women, the risk of death from cancer was comparable to or greater than the increased risk from fatal injuries associated with alcohol consumption.
The report mentions that increased risk of a number of cancers like colorectal, female breast cancer, and cancers of the liver, mouth, throat and esophagus begins with any alcohol use and increases with higher levels of use.