Health Risks of Alcohol Accelerate After One Drink a Day, Study Finds

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Source: New York Times

Health Risks of Alcohol Accelerate After One Drink a Day, Study Finds

The alcohol industry has criticized the research, which found that even light drinking increases the risk of premature death.


Cedric Angeles for The New York Times

By Roni Caryn Rabin
https://www.nytimes.com/by/roni-caryn-rabin
June 9, 2026
Updated 9:28 a.m. ET

A government alcohol study published on Tuesday concluded that the health risks of alcohol start at a single drink a day. The report was caught up in controversy after drawing the ire of the alcohol industry.

At one drink a day, the researchers found, there was an increased risk of premature death from an illness or injury directly attributable to alcohol, though it was small — one in 1,000 people. But the risk of premature death jumped to one in 25 for those who had two drinks a day, a level long considered safe for men, according to the study, which was published in the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs. ... The Alcohol Intake and Health Study was one of two reports commissioned during the Biden administration to inform an update to the U.S. dietary guidelines.

The second report, from a panel appointed by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine, or NASEM, came to very different conclusions. It suggested that moderate drinking (up to two drinks a day for men and one for women) was healthier than not drinking at all, although it noted that moderate drinking was also linked to a higher breast cancer risk. Some of the panelists behind that report had financial ties to the alcohol industry.

The second report’s finding was more palatable to the alcohol industry, which had called the Alcohol Intake and Health Study ideologically driven and scientifically flawed, and said it had communicated its concerns repeatedly to government officials over a period of several years.

{snip}

Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/09/well/alcohol-health-risks-study.html

[Ray Bruns]

1. Looks like I picked the wrong week to quit drinking!

https://m.

[Initech]

17. Looks like I picked the wrong week to quit smoking!

[SidneyR]

2. I can't help but wonder if we're in a new period of an ideological Temperance Movement.

Where "evidence" is manipulated to support their agenda.

[walkingman]

3. It does make you wonder....our healthcare industry is full of nuts at the highest levels.

Maybe AI will help us figure it out. We keep changing our minds, over and over.

[Miguelito Loveless]

4. The current administration is PRO alcohol

so, my expectation is this study will be retracted. I am sure that the Child Rapist will, however, make sure he gets paid to retract it.

[Initech]

19. MAGA people consume more alcohol than anyone else on planet earth.

[eggplant]

5. Is it the alcohol consumption or the pressures /causing/ the consumption?

Did anyone bother to ask /why/ people are drinking more than one per day, or are they just looking at outcomes?

[Bayard]

6. Good question

Especially in the last few years.

[littlemissmartypants]

9. Astute. It's never one thing in isolation. Its always concomitants.

Alcohol is a well documented carcinogenic substance, whatever it's combined with in the evaluation of health outcomes.

❤️

[GenThePerservering]

12. Maybe they like having a few?

Drinking has actually gone DOWN.

[dem4decades]

26. That was me, i cut back considerably.

[GenThePerservering]

29. :-D

I cut back, too - moderation and plenty of it, I say!

If we ate dry bread and leaves, and drank water as these pundits no doubt would prefer, we might not live forever, but it would feel like it.

[chouchou]

7. Seems to me that: "Health Risks of Alcohol Accelerate After One Drink a Day, Study Finds"

..is lousy science.
What drink..A beer...A Zombie...A whiskey that's one ounce?
Personally, I don't drink booze but my friends drink 2/3 beers a day.
It that dangerous to their health?
Again..Piss-Poor science

[DavidDvorkin]

8. Denial of distasteful scientific data is remarkably widespread.

[LtTx]

10. Here are findings published in Science Daily

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2025/12/251211100612.htm


Science Daily is a very respected source.

[GenThePerservering]

11. Here we go...

'being in the same room with a glass of wine has been shown to have detrimental effects on your health..."

[CTyankee]

13. As an old person myself, I find that one glass of lower alcohol wine daily with dinner is fine...

I drink Pinot Grigio instead of Merlot and it is a nice choice. I'm glad I discovered it.

[maxsolomon]

14. It's probably accurate.

Lots of ingested substances bring health risks.

If I look around at my fellow Americans, the biggest issue appears to be Carbohydrates.

[GenThePerservering]

15. I would suggest it's sitting on their asses too much nt

[maxsolomon]

18. Somewhat.

The typical American diet has far too many simple Carbs and not enough complex Carbs.

[PatSeg]

21. Yes, gobs of ultra-processed foods

[BidenRocks]

16. After 50 years, cirrhosis hit.

Not bad, but elevated levels on a blood test led to an ultrasound.
This was almost daily, so it took a long time. Hours in a bar.
Young people are finding they could afford the cost when the drinks were inexpensive. Lately the total cost of a night out is prohibitive. Who has the money?

I quit when chump came out ahead in '24. I am pissed enough without being drunk.
If I want a drink I will have one. Maybe tomorrow.
I found coffee. Home ground.
I still have a drinking problem
Iced Lattes!

Most all the liver tests are normal except for texture and size.
They recover a lot when you stop kicking them.

[Vinca]

20. I haven't had anything to drink for about 25 years, but when Trump is no more I plan to go to the liquor store

and buy the most expensive bottle of champagne they have.

[BadgerKid]

22. Ethanol metabolism does produce toxic compounds (acetaldehyde).

The question is, can the individual's body deal with it at all, and if so, how fast? I think the answer comes back to "in moderation".

[BidenRocks]

25. Born and raised in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

What is this moderation you are talking about.?

I grew up with the shot and a beer crowd.
Keeping in mind many were WWII vets.

Bad things can happen when "Everyone knows your name!"

[mahatmakanejeeves]

24. Check the conversion. One liter is just over a quart.

1,000 milliliters is 33.8 ounces avoirdupois, where I'm using the comma and period in the U.S. fashion.

In the European fashion, 1.000 millimeters is 33,8 ounces avoirdupois.

Think of a liter bottle of a soft drink. It's a bit bigger than a quart of milk.

A 12-ounce can of beer is about 4.5% alcohol by volume (ABV). Thus a 12-ounce can of beer contains (12 oz.)(0.045) = 0.5 ounces of alcohol.

In metric units, (355 ml)(0.045) = 16 ml of alcohol.

The NGS site says:

One unit equals 10ml or 8g of pure alcohol, which is around the amount of alcohol the average adult can process in an hour.

And good afternoon.

[GenThePerservering]

28. Pace yourself!

[snowybirdie]

27. FrankLy

I think Donald J Trump is detrimental to my health more than a glass or two of white wine. My blood pressure will never be good til he's gone!