The authors reviewed data from 694 studies to estimate how common drinking alcohol is worldwide. They also looked at 592 studies with data on 28 million people from 195 countries to study the health risks associated with alcohol.

Among the many findings, the research showed that drinking alcohol was the seventh leading risk factor for premature death and disease in 2016. That year, in people aged 15 to 49 years old, alcohol was the leading risk factor, with 3.8 percent of deaths in women and 12.2 percent of deaths in men connected to the internal consumption of alcohol.

In this age group, the leading causes of alcohol-related deaths included tuberculosis, road injuries, and self-harm. In people age 50 and older, cancers were a leading cause of alcohol-related death, accounting for about 27 percent of deaths in women and 19 percent of deaths in men.

Drinking alcoholic beverages can raise the risk for seven types of cancer, according to a new study. Even moderate drinking is linked with a higher risk.

The cancers include head, neck, esophageal, liver, colorectal and female breast cancer, according to the analysis of existing studies looking at the association between drinking and cancer. The findings are published in the journal Addiction.

The analysis, conducted by Jennie Connor of the University of Otago, in New Zealand, included comprehensive reviews conducted over the past decade by the World Cancer Research Fund, the American Institute for Cancer Research and the International Agency for Research on Cancer, among others. It concluded that alcohol-attributable cancers of those seven types make up about 5 percent of all cancer deaths worldwide.

It doesn’t appear to matter whether the alcoholic beverage is wine, beer, or hard liquor. The risk increased the more a person consumed, what the author called a “dose-response relationship.”

Is Drinking Alcohol in Moderation Good for Human Health?

The researchers note that previous studies looking at the health benefits of alcohol have numerous limitations. These include that they’re often self-reported, which relies on people recalling their drinking habits, which is subject to human error; or based on alcohol sales data, which doesn’t always provide an accurate picture of people’s individual consumption levels. Additionally, certain studies may not take into account that some non-drinkers may avoid alcohol because they already have health issues. Some studies also overlook illicit trade and home brewing. This new study aims to correct these limitations by combining alcohol sales data with the prevalence of alcohol drinking and abstinence, self-reported data on the amount of alcohol consumed, tourism data to estimate the number of alcohol-drinking visitors to an area, and estimates of illicit trade and home brewing. The authors also used updated and more robust statistical review models to analyze alcohol consumption and the health problems associated with it. In their review, the authors found that the only protective effect of alcohol came with reducing the risk of ischemic heart disease. There were also possible protective effects for diabetes and ischemic stroke, but these results were not statistically significant.

However, the risk of developing all other health issues increased with the number of alcoholic drinks consumed each day and the harms far outweighed the potential benefits, the authors report.

“Policies focusing on reducing alcohol consumption to the lowest levels will be important to improve health. The widely held view of the health benefits of alcohol needs revising, particularly as improved methods and analyses continue to shed light on how much alcohol contributes to global death and disability,” Griswold said.

In an accompanying editorial, Dr. Robyn Burton of King’s College London calls the research “the most comprehensive estimate of the global burden of alcohol use to date.”

“The conclusions of the study are clear and unambiguous: alcohol is a colossal global health issue and small reductions in health-related harms at low levels of alcohol intake are outweighed by the increased risk of other health-related harms, including cancer,” she writes.

From this very important research we can only conclude that drinking alcohol in any amount is harmful to the body and a major contributor to the systemic breakdown of ALL body organs and organ systems and should NEVER be ingested!

THERE ARE NO SAFE LIMITS FOR THOSE SEEKING HEALTH, ENERGY AND VITALITY!

References

Social Issues Research Centre: Social and Cultural Aspects of Drinking [online]. SIRC, 2009 [cited Feb 2011]. Available from: [URL link]
Australian Guidelines to Reduce Health Risks From Drinking Alcohol [online]. National Health and Medical Research Council; 2009. [cited 2 October 2010]. Available from: [URL Link]
Australian drug foundation: Alcohol and its effects [online]. ADF, 2010 [cited 27 Feb 2011]. Available from: [URL link]
Collins DJ, Lapsley HM. The avoidable costs of alcohol abuse in Australia and the potential benefits of effective policies to reduce the social costs of alcohol. Australian Government- Department of Health and Ageing: National Drug Strategy Monograph Series. 2008; 70: 1-51 [Full Text]
Newbury-Birch D, Walker J, Avery L, et al. Impact of alcohol consumption on young people- A systematic review of published reviews [online]. Newcastle University; 2009 [cited 2 October 2010]. Available from: [URL Link]
Links between alcohol and violence affecting young people [online]. Queensland: Department of Education and Training; 2007 [cited 2 October 2010]. Available from: [URL Link]
Collins DJ, Lapsley HM. The costs of tobacco, alcohol and illicit drug abuse to Australian society in 2004/05. Australian Government- Department of Health and Ageing: National Drug Strategy Monograph Series. 2008; 64: 1 – 127. [Full Text]
Poznyak V, Saraceno B, Obot IS. Breaking the vicious circle of determinants and consequences of alcohol use. Bulletin of the World Health Organization. 2005; 83(11): 801-880 [Full Text]