New Federal Report Finds Even Moderate Drinking Can Carry Health Risks

A new federal report has found that even moderate drinking can carry health risks, including cancer, liver disease and injuries, STAT reports.

The report comes from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s Interagency Coordinating Committee for the Prevention of Underage Drinking (ICCPUD). It found the risks of these potential harms, and of dying from alcohol-related causes, grows the more a person consumes alcohol.

The report comes soon after the Surgeon General released a report on the links between alcohol and cancer. Another recent report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) linked moderate drinking to lower all-cause mortality but also to an increased risk of breast cancer.

The ICCPUD report points to elevated cancer risks and says that at no age was there a significant net benefit of alcohol consumption on all-cause mortality.

Both the NASEM and ICCPUD reports are set to inform the 2025 Dietary Guidelines for Americans. Their at-times contradictory results on various fronts will add fuel to the existing debate about alcohol research and how much alcohol should be considered “safe” by health authorities.