Alcohol use: Weighing risks and benefits

The technical package for the SAFER initiative focuses on five key alcohol policy interventions that are based on accumulated evidence of their impact… The global SAFER initiative is a partnership between WHO, UNIATF, UNDP and civil society organizations to advocate for and facilitate implementation of the most cost-effective interventions to reduce alcohol related harm. It doesn’t matter how much you drink – the risk to the drinker’s health starts from the first drop of any alcoholic beverage. This regional workshop was planned to address the challenges of illicit tobacco trade and unrecorded alcohol consumption in the countries of the Region…. For women, more than three drinks on any day or more than seven drinks a week is heavy drinking. For men, heavy drinking means more than four drinks on any day or more than 14 drinks a week.

Be sure to ask your healthcare professional about what’s right for your health and safety. That usually means four or more drinks within two hours for women and five or more drinks within two hours for men. For example, any amount of drinking increases the risk of breast cancer and colorectal cancer. The evidence for moderate alcohol use in healthy adults is still being studied.

Risks of moderate alcohol use

This initiative includes policies that reduce the affordability, availability, and acceptability of alcohol, particularly in the heaviest-drinking countries, mitigating the effects of alcohol consumption on public health. The Global alcohol action plan 2022–2030, endorsed by WHO Member States, aims to reduce the harmful use of alcohol through effective, evidence-based strategies at national, regional and global levels. “So, when we talk about possible so-called safer levels of alcohol consumption or about its protective effects, we are ignoring the bigger picture of alcohol harm in our Region and the world. Although it is well established that alcohol can cause cancer, this fact is still not widely known to the public in most countries.

Global strategy to reduce the harmful use of alcohol

• In 2022, the WHO Regional Office for Europe, with support from the European Commission, initiated the Evidence into Action Alcohol Project (EVID-ACTION), which is contributing to delivering on the objectives of Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan.
• To combat this, WHO advocates for transparency in policy development, the exclusion of the alcohol industry from policy discussions, and the implementation of regulations to limit the industry’s influence on public health.
• Many people drink alcohol as a personal preference, during social activities, or as a part of cultural and religious practices.
• In 2019, 38% of current drinkers had engaged in heavy episodic drinking, defined as consuming at least 60g of pure alcohol on one or more occasions in the preceding month – roughly equivalent to 4 or 5 glasses of wine, bottles of beer or servings of spirits.

However, even a mild disorder can escalate and lead to serious problems, so early treatment is important. Harmful use of alcohol is accountable for 6,9 % and 2.0% of the global burden of disease for males and females respectively. Alcohol is the leading risk factor for premature mortality and disability among those aged 20 to 39 years, accounting for 13% of all deaths in this age group. Disadvantaged and especially vulnerable populations have higher rates of alcohol-related death and hospitalization. Effective treatment options for substance use disorders exist, but treatment coverage remains incredibly low. The proportion of people in contact with substance use treatment services ranged from less than 1% to no more than 35% in 2019, in countries providing this data.

Treatment gap for substance use disorders

It means on days when a person does drink, women do not have more than one drink and men do not have more than two drinks. Stigma, discrimination and misconceptions about the efficacy of treatment contribute to these critical gaps in treatment provision, as well as the continued low prioritization of substance use disorders by health and development agencies. In 2019, 38% of current drinkers had engaged in heavy episodic drinking, defined as consuming at least 60g of pure alcohol on one or more occasions in the preceding month – roughly equivalent to 4 or 5 glasses of wine, bottles of beer or servings of spirits. Too much alcohol affects your speech, muscle coordination and vital centers of your brain.

Alcohol as an intoxicant affects a wide range of structures and processes in the central nervous system and increases the risk for intentional and unintentional injuries and adverse social consequences. Alcohol has considerable toxic effects on the digestive and cardiovascular systems. Alcoholic beverages are classified as carcinogenic by the International Agency for Research on Cancer and increase the risk of several cancer types. Alcohol as an immunosuppressant increases the risk of communicable diseases, including tuberculosis and HIV.

Surrogate and illegally produced alcohols can bring an extra health risk from toxic contaminants. The EU is the heaviest-drinking area globally, with 7 of the 10 countries with the highest per-capita alcohol consumption located within the EU. Despite progress in reducing alcohol consumption and related harms, the Region continues to face significant challenges, including high rates of alcohol-related deaths, particularly from cancer. The report highlights the urgent need to accelerate actions globally towards achieving Sustainable Development Goal (SDG)  target 3.5 by 2030 by reducing alcohol and drug consumption and improving access to quality treatment for substance use disorders. The Global status report on alcohol and health and treatment of substance use disorders presents a comprehensive overview of alcohol consumption, alcohol-related…

Can homes, schools and digital platforms drive young people’s alcohol consumption?

Heavy drinking also has been linked to intentional injuries, such as suicide, as well as accidental injury and death. This manual is written to help primary health care workers – physicians, nurses, community health workers, and others – to deal with persons whose alcohol… This comprehensive report details the full extent of the way that alcohol is being marketed across national borders – often by digital means –… Sign up for free and stay up to date on research advancements, health tips, current health topics, and expertise on managing health. In the United States, people younger than age 21 are not legally able to drink alcohol.

• Alcohol is the leading risk factor for premature mortality and disability among those aged 20 to 39 years, accounting for 13% of all deaths in this age group.
• A critical aspect of the Region’s approach is addressing the commercial determinants of health, particularly the influence of the alcohol industry on public health policy.
• WHO works with Member States and partners to prevent and reduce the harmful use of alcohol as a public health priority.
• It means on days when a person does drink, women do not have more than one drink and men do not have more than two drinks.
• Too much alcohol affects your speech, muscle coordination and vital centers of your brain.
• WHO has identified that the most cost-effective actions to reduce the harmful use of alcohol include increasing taxes on alcoholic beverages, enforcing restrictions on exposure to alcohol advertising, and restrictions on the physical availability of retailed alcohol.

The Global Information System on Alcohol and Health (GISAH) is an essential tool for assessing and monitoring the health situation and trends related to alcohol consumption, alcohol-related harm, and policy responses in countries. The harmful use of alcohol results in the death alcohol use disorder and ptsd of 2.6 million people annually. There are 230 different types of diseases where alcohol has a significant role.

Nutrition and healthy eating

WHO has identified that the most cost-effective actions to reduce the harmful use of alcohol include increasing taxes on alcoholic beverages, enforcing restrictions on exposure to alcohol advertising, and restrictions on the physical availability of retailed alcohol. In addition, enforcing drink driving countermeasures and securing access to screening, brief interventions, and treatment are effective and ethically sound interventions. The most cost-effective interventions are at the focus of WHO-led SAFER initiative aimed at providing support for Member States in reducing the harmful use of alcohol.

In some people, the initial reaction may feel like an increase in energy. But as you continue to drink, you become drowsy and have less control over your actions. For example, it may be used to define the risk of illness or injury based on the number of drinks a person has in a week. Rates of current drinking were highest among 15–19-year-olds in the European region (45.9%) followed by the Americas (43.9%). Total alcohol per capita consumption in the world population decreased slightly from 5.7 litres in 2010 to 5.5 litres in 2019. The highest levels of per capita consumption in 2019 were observed in the WHO European Region (9.2 litres) and the Region of Americas (7.5 litres).

Globally, the WHO European Region has the highest alcohol consumption level and the highest proportion of drinkers in the population. Here, over 200 million people in the Region are at risk of developing alcohol-attributable cancer. Alcohol is a toxic and psychoactive substance with dependence producing properties. In many of today’s societies, alcoholic beverages are a routine part of the social landscape for many in the population. This is particularly true for those in social environments with high visibility and societal influence, nationally and internationally, where alcohol frequently accompanies socializing. In this context, it is easy to overlook or discount the health and social damage caused or contributed to by drinking.

In the past, moderate drinking was thought to be linked with a lower risk of dying from heart disease and possibly diabetes. In general, a healthy diet and physical activity have much greater health benefits than alcohol and have been more extensively studied. In the United States, moderate drinking for healthy adults is different for men and women.

But good evidence shows that drinking high amounts of alcohol are clearly linked to health problems. Many people drink alcohol as a personal preference, during social activities, or as a part of cultural and religious practices. Knowing your personal risk based on your habits can help you make the best decision for you. The highest proportion (13%) of alcohol-attributable deaths in 2019 were among young people aged 20–39 years.

However, latest available data indicate that half of all alcohol-attributable cancers in the WHO European Region are caused by “light” and “moderate” alcohol consumption – less than 1.5 litres of wine or less than 3.5 litres of beer or less than 450 millilitres of spirits per week. This drinking pattern is responsible for the majority of alcohol-attributable breast cancers in women, with the highest burden observed in countries of the European Union (EU). In the EU, cancer is the leading cause of death – with a steadily increasing incidence rate – and the majority of all alcohol-attributable deaths are due to different types of cancers. Both the volume of lifetime alcohol use and a combination of context, frequency of alcohol consumption and amount consumed per occasion increase the risk of the wide range of health and social harms. The risks increase largely in a dose-dependent manner with the volume of alcohol consumed and with frequency of drinking, and exponentially with the amount consumed on a single occasion.