Alcohol consumption poses an increased health risk for young people compared to older adults. This is what reveals a new study published in the scientific journal “The Lancet” this Thursday (14).
The analysis, which reports alcohol risk by geographic region, age, gender and year, suggests that global alcohol consumption recommendations should be based on the age and location of individuals. According to experts, the strictest guidelines should be directed at men between the ages of 15 and 39, who are most at risk for harmful alcohol consumption all around the world.
Research also indicates that adults aged 40 and over with no underlying health conditions may benefit from moderate alcohol consumption (between one and two standard drinks per day*), including a reduced risk of cardiovascular disease, stroke and diabetes.
*In the study, a standard dose is defined as 10 grams of pure alcohol, for example:
- A small glass of red wine (100 ml) at 13% alcohol by volume
- A can or bottle of beer (375 ml) with 3.5% alcohol
- One shot of whiskey or similar (30 ml) at 40% alcohol
Study details
Using estimates of alcohol use across 204 countries, researchers calculated that 1.34 billion people consumed harmful amounts in 2020.
In all regions of the world, the largest segment of the population that drinks amounts considered outside the safe limit were men aged 15 to 39 years. For this age group, alcohol consumption does not offer any health benefits, and may present several risks, in addition to falls and injuries.
According to the study 60% of cases occur among people in this age group, including car accidents, suicides and homicides.
“Our message is simple: young people shouldn’t drink, but older people can benefit from drinking small amounts. While it may not be realistic to think that young adults will refrain from drinking, we think it’s important to communicate the latest evidence so that everyone can make informed decisions about their health,” says senior author Emmanuela Gakidou, Professor of Health Metrics Science at Institute of Health Metrics and Assessment (IHME) at the University of Washington School of Medicine, United States.
Researchers analyzed the risk of alcohol consumption across 22 health outcomes, including injuries, cardiovascular disease and cancers using 2020 Global Burden of Disease data for men and women aged 15 to 95 years and older between 1990 and 2020, in 204 countries and territories.
From this, the researchers were able to estimate the average daily alcohol intake that minimizes risk for a population. The study also estimates another critical amount – how much alcohol a person can drink before taking an excessive risk to their health compared to someone who doesn’t drink alcohol.
The recommended amount of alcohol for people aged 15 to 39 before risking health loss was 0.136 standard drink per day (a little more than a tenth of a standard drink, remember: defined as 10 grams of pure alcohol) . This amount was slightly higher for women ages 15 to 39 at 0.273 dose (about a quarter of a standard dose per day).
The analysis also suggests that for adults aged 40 and over with no previous health problems, drinking a small amount of alcohol may have some benefits, such as reducing the risk of ischemic heart disease, stroke and diabetes.
Overall, for individuals aged between 40 and 64 in 2020, levels of safe alcohol consumption ranged from about half a standard drink per day (0.527 drink per day for men and 0.562 drink per day for women) to nearly two standard drinks per day. (1.69 per day for men and 1.82 for women).
For individuals over 65 years of age in 2020, the risks of health loss from alcohol consumption were met after consuming just over three standard drinks per day (3.19 drinks for men and 3.51 for women).
Estimates suggest that small amounts of alcohol consumption in populations over 40 without preconditions may be associated with better health outcomes, particularly in populations that predominantly face a greater burden of cardiovascular disease.
The distribution of the burden of disease for a given age group varied greatly between regions, resulting in differences in the risks of alcohol consumption, especially in individuals aged 40 years and over.
Among individuals aged 55 to 59 years in North Africa and the Middle East, for example, 30.7% of alcohol-related health risks were caused by cardiovascular disease, 12.6% due to cancer and less than 1% due to tuberculosis.
On the other hand, in this same age group in central sub-Saharan Africa, 20% of alcohol-related health risks were caused by cardiovascular disease, 9.8% by cancer and 10.1% by tuberculosis.
As a result, consumption levels for this age group before the health threat risk were 0.876 dose (or nearly a standard dose per day) in North Africa and the Middle East and 0.596 dose (about half of a daily dose). standard dose per day) in central sub-Saharan Africa.
Overall, recommended alcohol intake for adults remained low between 0 and 1.87 standard drinks per day, regardless of location, age, or gender.
The study’s lead author, Dana Bryazka, a researcher at the IHME, says that the estimates found support guidelines differentiated by age and region.
“Even if a conservative approach is taken and the lowest level of safe consumption is used to define policy recommendations, this implies that the recommended level of alcohol consumption is still too high for younger populations. Understanding the variation in the level of alcohol consumption that minimizes the risk of health loss for populations can help establish effective drinking guidelines, support alcohol control policies, monitor progress in reducing harmful use of alcohol, and design messages of public health risk,” says Dana.
Increased risk for young men
From the estimates, the researchers also calculated the proportion of the population that consumes alcohol in amounts that exceed these limits by location, age, gender and year, serving as a guide to directing alcohol control efforts.
Among individuals who consumed harmful amounts of alcohol in 2020, 59.1% were 15 to 39 years old and 76.7% were male, with 1.03 billion men and 312 million women consuming dangerous amounts. Excessive alcohol use was particularly concentrated in young males in Australasia, Western Europe and Central Europe.
“Although the risks associated with alcohol consumption are similar for men and women, young men stood out as the group with the highest level of harmful alcohol consumption. This is because a higher proportion of men compared to women consume alcohol and their average level of consumption is also significantly higher,” says Emmanuela.
The authors acknowledge some limitations in the study, including that alcohol consumption patterns were not assessed. Which means the study did not distinguish between individuals who rarely engage in heavy drinking and those who consume the same amount of alcohol for several days.
Source: CNN Brasil
