New alcohol guidelines hard to swallow
By Lethbridge Herald on January 26, 2023.
Sylvain Charlebois
DALHOUSIE UNIVERSITY
Looks like we all need to drink less alcohol. Last fall, the Canadian Centre on Substance Use and Addiction (CCSA), a national organization that provides information and advice on substance use and addiction, shared recommendations that we should all drink no more than one or two drinks a week. We just learned that these are now Canada’s official guidelines.
Since 2011, in Canada, moderate drinking has been defined as up to two standard drinks per day for women and up to three standard drinks per day for men, with no more than 10 standard drinks per week for women and 15 standard drinks per week for men.
So, a limit of one or two drinks a week is a complete departure from the public recommendations we had been given before. Furthermore, the CCSA also recommends adding warning labels on bottles, stating that alcohol can cause cancer.
It’s unclear whether Canadians would appreciate such labels, but when looking at the scientific literature and the links between alcohol consumption and cancer, the findings in recent years are overwhelming. The evidence that alcohol causes seven types of cancer is now incredibly strong. Numerous studies from all over the world can easily be found; many of them aren’t cited by the CCSA.
Some articles claim that current estimates suggest that alcohol-attributable cancers make up 5.8 per cent of all cancer deaths globally.
These studies, coupled with the CCSA’s recommendations, will likely be received by many Canadians with great skepticism. After all, we are living longer, and many seniors drink regularly and responsibly without experiencing any health issues.
Alcohol has been around for a very, very long time. Historians claim that fermented beverages existed in ancient Egypt. Some archives also suggest alcohol was drunk by the Chinese over 9,000 years ago. Intuitively, it’s hard to understand why anyone would put alcohol in the penalty box, as we did with cigarettes or other such harmful products in our lives. According to multiple studies, other substances and factors can cause cancer. But the risks have now been demonstrated scientifically.
But the CCSA’s scientific evaluation is far from perfect. For one, a number of studies still show the benefits of moderate consumption when considering all the causes of mortality in determining health risks. In other words, drinking may not be the main cause of death, even for a regular consumer of alcohol. These studies are mentioned in the report but barely in passing.
Another of the CCSA’s most significant oversights is its evaluation of the social and cultural aspects of drinking. Alcohol is very much part of many celebrations, leisure events, holidays, vacations, end-of-day routines, and more.
The CCSA dismissed all research which looked at the social value of alcohol, believing none of it was worthy of scientific consideration. Perhaps overlooking such an important piece of behavioural science will only make more Canadians unconvinced. This research area requires more attention, and many Canadians would likely concur.
Socializing alcohol doesn’t just have its bright side, though. Undesirable social problems are also obvious, including mental and physical ailments, incidences of abuse, sexual and domestic violence, harassment, and so forth. Alcohol is often part of our society’s darker side.
The CCSA’s recommendations point to an opportunity for Canadians to have a deeper, better understanding of our relationship with alcohol. We need to be open and honest with ourselves while appreciating the fact that enjoying our favourite alcoholic beverage responsibly, in moderation, remains the most balanced policy.
But there is hope. If we can make chicken meat in the laboratory, we can certainly make synthetic, non-cancer-causing alcohol. In fact, GABA Labs, based in the U.K., has already launched a product called Sentia, which mimics the effects of alcohol, but doesn’t cause a hangover or long-term health consequences. Many expect the science to be perfected and commercially available in many outlets within five years. Quite promising.
Still, our beverage industry has done wonders for Canadians and will undoubtedly continue to innovate and offer great products for all to enjoy.
Food science can come to the rescue and help many Canadians lead better, healthier lifestyles. But in the meantime, the CCSA’s report is likely a difficult message for Canadians to swallow.
Dr. Sylvain Charlebois is senior director of the agri-food analytics lab and a professor in food distribution and policy at Dalhousie University.
© Troy Media
19-18
It is hilarious! The feds legalize pot, encourage addicts by enabling them to do more illegal drugs with their SCS’s, which promotes more drug use and the poor working man is now under attack for having more than two drinks per week. Society has gone mad!
Who did they study? What type of work did the do in life? What type of food did they eat? Did they eat a lot of sausage and processed foods? Did they drink on empty stomachs?
So many ways a study can be skewed! I have little faith or trust in any studies these days!
https://nationalpost.com/opinion/sabrina-maddeaux-two-drinks-a-week-new-guidelines-are-unsupported-and-puritanical-kill-joys
Nothing more needs to be said unless you believe they were seeking notoriety for poorly planned studies?
We seem to be able to do random studies for the good of society but never quite get around to doing impact on society of housing, feeding and supporting drug addiction in out downtowns? Why is that? Why in the last 20 years has their been no impact studies itemizing the devastation to life, business, residents, and livelihoods?
Too much money in it for those doing the “serving” to stop it?
did they actually use humans, or was it all based on the torture of gmo mice? hmm, and whatever happened to the anti-cancer effects of red wine? hmm, all those euro wine producing states that have been consuming wine fr millennia…all now suddenly dying from cancer, and nothing at all to do with the sundry carcinogenic chemicals/plastics that have found their way into us and most everything else we contact and consume.
keep the masses on fright alert at all times – they will surely love the cages of protection that authority can promise one and all.