WASHINGTON, DC: Americans could soon be advised to limit their alcohol consumption to just two beers a week as a part of new stricter alcohol guidelines.
President Joe Biden’s alcohol czar, Dr George Koob, noted that the USDA could revise its alcohol recommendations to match the guidelines in Canada, where the alcohol limitations were delivered in January.
Dr Koob admitted that he has been watching Canada's 'big experiment' with interest. "If there's health benefits, I think people will start to re-evaluate where we're at [in the US]," he told DailyMail.
Dr Koob is a professor and former Chair of the Committee on the Neurobiology of Addictive Disorders at the Scripps Research Institute. In 2014, he became the director of the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism.
The internationally acclaimed expert holds a BS in zoology from Pennsylvania State University and a PhD in Behavioral Physiology from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
What are current alcohol guidelines in the US?
The current US alcohol guidelines allow women to have up to one bottle of beer, a small glass of wine, or a shot of spirit a day whereas men can have two drinks per day. However, these guidelines will be re-examined in 2025.
When asked how the recommendations might change, Dr Koon said, "I mean, they're not going to go up, I'm pretty sure. So, if [alcohol consumption guidelines] go in any direction, it would be toward Canada."
Although these guidelines are currently under review, it is possible that the modified ones won't be released until the end of 2025.
How alcohol can damage a consumer’s physical health?
There has long been a debate over whether drinking alcohol in moderation is beneficial, but more and more research indicates that even a small amount can be harmful to consumer’s health.
A major study published in June cautioned that consuming any amount of alcohol can increase the risk of approximately 60 diseases, including 33 that had never been associated with alcohol use before.
Dr Koob also noted that there are 'no benefits' to drinking alcohol in terms of one's physical health. "Most of the benefits people attribute to alcohol, we feel they have more to do with what someone's eating rather than what they're drinking," he stated.
"So it really has to do with the Mediterranean diet, socio-economic status that makes you able to afford that kind of diet and make your own fresh food and so forth. With this in mind, most of the benefits kind of disappear on the health side," the expert continued.
However, Dr Koob did mention alcohol’s social benefits while describing it as a ‘social lubricant’. He also admitted that he drinks around two glasses of white wine per week, usually a 'buttery Californian Chardonnay'.
