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Just one alcoholic drink a day increases your risk of more than a dozen health problems, but it also protects you from some.
That is according to a New federal report that has analyzed the effects alcohol has on the body in the greatest detail yet, based on dozens of studies from around the world.
Overall, researchers found that consuming just one alcoholic drink a week increases the risk of suffering about 19 health problems compared to not drinking at all.
These included an increased risk of colon and esophageal cancer and liver cirrhosis.
But the report also suggested that those who had one drink a week also had a lower risk of diabetes and no higher risk of heart disease compared to abstainers.
The findings come from a first draft of a report from the Interagency Coordinating Committee for the Prevention of Underage Drinking (ICCPUD), the latest in a series of scientific evidence being used to inform new guidelines on alcohol consumption for the Americans.
Late last month, another report was released from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM), which concluded with moderate certainty that drinking was linked to an increased risk of some types of cancer, but a lower risk of death. .
Dr Kevin Shield, who was involved in the report, told DailyMail.com: “It is important to note that our report found that no level of alcohol consumption is completely risk-free.
«The results of the analysis show that, among drinkers, the lower their alcohol consumption, the lower their risk of mortality.
‘Conversely, as alcohol consumption increases, so does the risk of mortality. That’s why when it comes to alcohol consumption, less is better for your health.’
Below, we break down exactly what the report found when it comes to a daily drink and your health:
Concerns are emerging that the United States could move to recommending only two alcoholic drinks a week (file image)
Current US dietary guidelines recommend that men consume no more than two alcoholic drinks per day, while women consume no more than one alcoholic drink per day.
But several scientists have pushed for this figure to be reduced, saying that more is now known about the harms posed by alcohol.
The United States is currently in the process of developing its new dietary guidelines for the next five years, which will need to be approved by President-elect Donald Trump (who does not drink) and the likely eventual Secretary of Health and Human Services. for which Robert F. Kennedy Junior has been nominated.
Alcohol industry lobby groups have rejected the new report, saying reports warning of the risks are the product of “flawed, opaque and unprecedented processes”.
Research shows that the proportion of people aged 18 to 34 who drink alcohol occasionally has fallen from 72 percent to 62 percent over the past two decades.
At the same time, the proportion of drinkers aged 55 and older has increased by 10 percent, from 49 percent to 59 percent.
Cancer

The most common types in younger people are breast (15 percent), thyroid (15 percent), testicular (eight percent) and skin melanoma (seven percent) cancer. The remaining 55 percent is attributed to other types of cancer, including colorectal cancer, also known as bowel cancer.
The ICCPUD draft report is the latest to warn of a potential link between increased cancer risk and alcohol consumption.
The report analyzed data on seven types of cancer (colorectal, female breast, liver, oral cavity, pharynx, larynx and esophagus (squamous cell type)) and their rates among drinkers compared to non-drinkers.
It found that both men and women had a higher risk of several types of cancer throughout their lives if they consumed alcohol compared to if they did not drink.
Among men who had just one drink a week, the report said they had a 16 percent increased risk of colon cancer and a six percent increased risk of esophageal cancer compared to those who did not consume alcohol.
But among men who drank heavily, this increased: Men who had three drinks a day, or 21 a week, had more than three times the risk of esophageal cancer.
Among women who drank just one drink a week, the report said they had a five percent increased risk of pharyngeal cancer, esophageal cancer, laryngeal cancer and a slight increased risk of breast cancer compared to those that they didn’t drink.
But when women had three alcoholic drinks a day, or 21 a week, the risk of these cancers increased, the report said, including pharyngeal cancer, where it was more than 90 percent higher compared to non-drinkers.
The report said: “The increased risk of these cancers begins with any alcohol consumption and increases with higher levels of consumption.”
“Women experience a much higher risk of alcohol-attributable cancer for each drink consumed.”
Other reports have issued similar warnings and said that moderate alcohol consumption among women leads to an increased risk of breast cancer.
Scientists warn that alcohol can cause cancer by triggering an increase in mutations in cells, increasing the risk of them developing into cancer cells.
In the body, alcohol breaks down into acetaldehyde, which is a known carcinogen, as stated by the International Agency for Research on Cancer.
heart disease

Alcohol consumption does not reduce heart disease risk, report found
About 25 years ago, studies suggested that drinking small amounts of alcohol had heart health benefits.
But this has since been refuted by multiple studies and was also not supported by the ICCPUD report, which said that, compared to non-drinkers, those who drink do not have a lower risk of heart disease.
It analyzed data on ischemic heart disease, the most common type suffered by about 13 million Americans, which occurs when the heart muscle does not receive enough oxygen and blood.
Men who drink two alcoholic drinks a day were found to have “no difference in risk” of heart disease compared to non-drinkers.
Among women who consumed one alcoholic drink a day, it also found that there was “no difference in risk” of heart disease compared to those who did not drink.
Researchers suggest that other factors, such as obesity, poor diet and lack of exercise, are more likely to affect the risk of ischemic heart disease than alcohol.
The ICCPUD report also suggested that light to moderate drinkers had a lower risk of stroke. This could be because alcohol thins the blood, which reduces the chances of a blood clot traveling to the brain, which is what causes a stroke.
Among men and women who had just one drink a week, researchers found up to a 10 percent lower risk of stroke compared to those who don’t drink.
If they switched to one drink a day, or seven a week, their risk of having a stroke was eight percent lower.
But at two alcoholic drinks a day, or 14 a week, both sexes were found to have an eight percent increased risk of stroke.
Death

Nationally, the United States has a life expectancy of 77.5 years, according to the latest estimates from the CDC.
The United States has one of the lowest life expectancies among developed countries (just 77.5 years) and alcohol consumption could reduce that number even further.
The report found that men and women who consume more than seven alcoholic drinks a week have a one in 1,000 risk of dying from alcohol alone.
Those who consume more than nine drinks a week have a risk of death of one in 100, they said.
Dr Keith Humphreys, an alcohol harms researcher and Stanford psychiatrist who was not involved in the research, told DailyMail.com: “In terms of effect size, I would say alcohol doesn’t have as much of an effect (as smoking). . or obesity).
“Obviously if you drink 10 pints a day that’s one thing, but that’s not the point, people agree that 10 pints a day is bad.”
Unintentional and intentional injuries.
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Drinking alcohol increases the risk of both intentional and unintentional injuries, the study found.
This is because drunkenness lowers inhibitions and increases the likelihood that people will engage in risky behavior, such as drunk driving.
The ICCPUD report found that men who consumed one drink a week had a four percent increased risk of unintentional injury and a three percent increased risk of road injury compared to those who did not drink.
But among those who had three drinks a day, or 21 in a week, they found they had a three-fold increased risk of unintentional injuries.
Among women, those who had just one drink a week were not shown to have a significantly increased risk of injuries or car accidents.
But for women who had three drinks a day, or 21 in a week, there was also a 117 percent increased risk of injury.