FILE - Bottles of alcohol sit on shelves at a bar in Houston on June 23, 2020. Moderate drinking was once thought to have benefits for the heart, but better research methods starting in the 2010s have thrown cold water on that. “Drinking less is a great way to be healthier,” said Dr. Timothy Naimi, who directs the Canadian Institute for Substance Use Research at the University of Victoria in British Columbia.
“The scientific consensus has shifted due to the overwhelming evidence linking alcohol to over 200 health conditions, including cancers, cardiovascular diseases and injuries,” said Carina Ferreira-Borges, regional adviser for alcohol at the World Health Organization regional office for Europe."People my age are way more accepting of it," said Tessa Weber, 28, of Austin, Texas. She stopped drinking for Dry January this year because she'd noticed alcohol was increasing her anxiety.
People who report drinking moderately tend to have higher levels of education, higher incomes and better access to health care, Naimi said.Another problem: Most studies didn’t include younger people. Almost half of the people who die from alcohol-related causes die before the age of 50. Other studies challenge the idea that alcohol has benefits. These studies compare people with a gene variant that makes it unpleasant to drink to people without the gene variant. People with the variant tend to drink very little or not at all.found people with the gene variant have a lower risk of heart disease — another blow to the idea that alcohol protects people from heart problems., including colon, liver, breast and mouth and throat.