Americans, particularly those under 35, are shifting their perspective on alcohol use, with a growing number believing that even moderate drinking is harmful to health — a viewpoint supported by a recent study.
A Gallup poll released Tuesday shows that nearly half of Americans (45%) now think that consuming one or two alcoholic drinks per day is detrimental to health. This marks the highest percentage recorded since the poll began in 2001. Younger adults lead this shift, with 65% viewing alcohol as harmful, compared to 37% of adults aged 35 to 54 and 39% of those 55 and older.
Just 8% of adults believe moderate drinking benefits health, the lowest percentage on record.
More young adults are also opting to abstain, thanks to the rising popularity of nonalcoholic “mocktails” and reduced social pressure to drink. A Gallup poll from last year found that 62% of adults under 35 drink alcohol, a 10-point drop from two decades ago.
However, the poll also revealed a 10-point increase in alcohol consumption among adults aged 55 and older, a trend that a recent study suggests could negatively impact their overall health.
A recent study has found that moderate drinking does not seem to offer health benefits for older adults, adding to the growing body of research that challenges the long-standing belief that a daily glass of alcohol, particularly wine, is good for health. Instead, current studies show that alcohol is a potent carcinogen and a potential contributor to various health issues, including depression, liver, and kidney diseases.
“Alcohol is a carcinogen and contributes to around 50 different causes of death,” said Dr. “Overall, alcohol is a health hazard,” Naimi added, though he was not involved in the study.
Naimi pointed out that the risks of alcohol often get overlooked when discussions focus on moderate drinking or how much is considered safe before it becomes harmful.
When it comes to alcohol, less is more, he emphasized.
The study, published Monday in the journal JAMA Network Open, reached a similar conclusion. It examined the health outcomes of over 135,000 adults aged 60 and older, using data from the UK Biobank registry. During the initial study visit, conducted between 2006 and 2010, participants provided detailed information about their alcohol consumption, which allowed researchers to categorize them as occasional, low-, moderate-, or high-risk drinkers.
Studies like this, which retrospectively analyze patterns and relationships between individuals’ habits and their health, are vulnerable to biases that can affect their findings. To address one of the most significant biases in alcohol research, the researchers avoided comparing drinkers to people who abstained completely.
Often, nondrinkers abstain due to health conditions or medication, so comparing them with drinkers could inaccurately make alcohol consumption appear less harmful or even beneficial, as some older studies have suggested.
In the new study, occasional drinkers — those consuming less than 20 grams of alcohol per week — were used as the reference group. For context, a standard drink in the United States contains about 14 grams of alcohol, according to the National Institutes of Health.
The study had some limitations. Much of the data was self-reported, leading to inaccuracies as people may not always recall their alcohol consumption precisely. Additionally, the study population lacked diversity, with over 94% of participants being White, meaning the findings may not fully represent the experiences of other racial or ethnic groups.
The study classified low-risk drinkers as women who consumed up to 10 grams of alcohol daily and men who consumed up to 20 grams per day. Moderate-risk drinkers were those who reported drinking between 10 and 20 grams per day for women, and 20 to 40 grams per day for men. High-risk drinkers were defined as those consuming more than 20 grams daily for women and over 40 grams daily for men.
Additionally, individuals were categorized based on their preferences, such as whether they reported getting more than 80% of their alcohol from a specific beverage, such as beer, or if they typically drank in particular situations, like with meals.
The study identified risks associated with every level of regular drinking. Low-risk drinkers had roughly a 10% higher likelihood of dying from cancer compared to those who drank only occasionally. Moderate-risk drinkers faced a 10% to 15% increased risk of dying from any cause and from cancer compared to occasional drinkers. High-risk drinkers had about a 33% greater risk of dying from cancer, heart disease, and other causes compared to those who drank infrequently.
The researchers also assessed participants based on their residential area, which served as an indicator of income level, and their overall health, assigning one point for each of 49 health conditions.
The study found that the risks associated with drinking were more significant among individuals with lower income levels and more health conditions.
“This is crucial information because it should be considered for public health interventions targeting these populations,” said Dr. Rosario Ortola, a study author and assistant professor of preventive medicine and public health at Universidad Autonoma de Madrid in Spain.
However, individuals who primarily drank wine or consumed alcohol with meals showed slightly lower risks of cancer and death, despite having socioeconomic and health-related risks, compared to those who drank only occasionally.
“We believe that the perceived benefit might not be due to the wine or drinking with meals per se, but rather other factors we can’t control,” Ortola said.
For instance, people who drink wine or only consume alcohol with meals might also practice moderation in other aspects of their lives or engage in additional healthy behaviors, such as regular physical activity.
In other words, Naimi explained, “Moderate drinking might reflect a healthier lifestyle, but it is not necessarily the cause of it, and that’s a crucial distinction to make.”
The researchers concluded that cases like these could indicate benefits beyond alcohol itself, such as the antioxidants found in wine or the potential advantages of drinking with meals. Further research is needed to explore these differences more thoroughly.
