Their conclusion differs from the current U.S. dietary guidelines.

Americans should limit their alcohol consumption to no more than one drink per day, according to a study published Tuesday in the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs.

The recommendation — from an international team of scientists — differs from the U.S. dietary guidelines, both past and present. Previous guidelines recommended a daily limit of two alcoholic drinks for men and one for women. The latest version, released by the Trump administration in January, is less precise. It recommends only that Americans “consume less alcohol for better overall health.”

The current less-is-best message is accurate but too vague, said study co-author Priscilla Martinez-Matyszczyk, deputy scientific director of the Alcohol Research Group at the Public Health Institute, an independent nonprofit organization in California. People need quantified guidance so they can make informed decisions about their drinking, she said.

  • Dionysus@leminal.space
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    1 day ago

    As an American, having no drinks will shorten my lifespan dealing with the utter fucking bullshit we have to live through right now.

      • Carnelian@lemmy.world
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        6 days ago

        If you told me that back when I was having 12 a week I would have scoffed. Funny thing though is these days I’ll go months without a single drink, and if I do have a cocktail at a restaurant or something it very noticeably affects my sport performance for several days.

        Removing alcohol from my life entirely somehow feels a little “too extreme” but the more I think about it the less I can justify keeping it around

        • Madzielle@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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          5 days ago

          My partner caught a drinking problem and it took him some time to get sober for good. I quit alcohol before he did, and continue to abstain for him. I did miss it sometimes, but Im about five years “sober” and honestly, I didnt realize how much alcohol was affecting me too.

          I usually had 3-4 drinks a week in my hey day, but when I quit, most of my anxiety did too. My depression symptoms lessened, and I found multiple other ways to have fun, and honestly, got more comfortable with being goofy and dancing sober. It oddly helped my self esteem too.

          About once a year, summer time vibes will trigger a wish to drink, I just cope through it and move on from it, on a whole I feel so much better day to day, this really surprised me.

  • obvs@lemmy.world
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    6 days ago

    Setting the goal of having the longest lifespan does not guarantee having the life most worth living.

    • tmyakal@infosec.pub
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      6 days ago

      Alcohol is a known carcinogen. It’s estimated that 5% of US cancer diagnoses are alcohol-related. Having cancer does not make for a life worth living.

      • obvs@lemmy.world
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        12 hours ago

        As someone who was stone-cold sober for the first 30-some years of their life, rawdogging life doesn’t always make for a life worth living, either.

        I don’t drink regularly now. I’m not against it, but I drink less than one alcoholic drink per year on average. There was a time where I used to drink about two drinks per week, but never more than three within a week.

        On the other hand, I do eat THC edibles regularly(again, about 2-3 times per week), and I can state VERY strongly that I am doing a lot better having that. It gives me the ability to not focus on bad things constantly.

        I came to a conclusion a while back that I would rather have a shorter life full of enjoyable things rather than the longest life I could possibly have. I’m not saying that I would smoke or do hard drugs or anything like that, but I absolutely go out and do things like skydiving. If I die from one of those things, so be it, but I will have lived my life by filling it with as many reasons to live as possible.

      • Nastybutler@lemmy.world
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        5 days ago

        That means there’s a 95% chance your cancer comes from something else. Yes cancer sucks, but it almost feels inevitable, so why deny myself a coping mechanism for gestures wildly

    • RBWells@lemmy.world
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      4 days ago

      Absolutely true, but feeling good for a higher proportion of your years is much more likely if you act like you want a longer life. Most longevity stuff is geared more towards “healthspan” than lifespan.

      Having said that - moderation is what I practice. I don’t overeat or drink too much but do not eat a tightly controlled diet either, eat healthy food mostly but not exclusively. Work out but not excessively.

    • flandish@lemmy.world
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      5 days ago

      oh come now. living longer is a boon to capitalists because more labor can be extracted. won’t someone please think of the bourgeoisie?

  • Abyssian@lemmy.world
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    5 days ago

    “Adults should have no more than one drink a day, a team of scientists says, however children should get shitfaced on the regular.”

    • toast@retrolemmy.com
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      6 days ago

      Agreed. What is this even trying to tell us?

      They study found men who had more than 6.5 drinks per week and women who had more than seven per week had greater than a 1-in-1,000 lifetime risk of dying from alcohol-related diseases or injuries.

      Obviously, I’ll die no matter what. This just says I’ve got 999 problems and alcohol ain’t one of them.

      • Buddahriffic@lemmy.world
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        4 days ago

        Not to mention it doesn’t say anything about when. Is that an alcohol related death in their 30s, 50s, or 80s? What is the impact of removing DUI-related deaths for drinkers who don’t drive? Hell, does it count people who drink more than a drink per day but get killed by someone else driving drunk?

        I gotta say that this falls below the risk threshold that I care about. Actually, I wonder if that is the intent, like a bit of reverse psychology by saying “don’t do this dangeous thing, or you risk increasing split ends in your hair by 12%!” when it is actually trying to discredit people talking about the legitimate risks by treating trivial ones as serious. Though probably not because most people would probably just take the main message rather than look closely enough to see the misdirection.

        • toast@retrolemmy.com
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          6 days ago

          Hmmm. I guess either you misread, or more than likely I misspoke. I should have said that I have 999 out of 1000 problems that are not alcohol, with the remaining problem very much being alcohol.

          • jaycifer@lemmy.world
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            6 days ago

            Yeah, I figured that’s what you meant, but it’s not what you said. You’ve got 1000 problems and alcohol is exactly one. Congrats on the 1,000 micromorts!

  • eksb@programming.dev
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    6 days ago

    PSA: non-alcoholic beers have gotten way better since your gramps drank O’Doul’s for two years before he fell back off the wagon for good and started deliberately hitting women with his grocery cart at price chopper.

    • varnia@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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      6 days ago

      PSA: alcohol free wine on the other side is still utterly undrinkable.

      LPT: Feels good to switch to alcohol only 1-2 per week.

      • eksb@programming.dev
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        6 days ago

        I do not understand why more restaurants and shops are not pushing premium sparkling grape juice, apple cider, and ginger ale for when you want something to pour into stemware with dinner. So many restaurant’s only alternative to a bottle of wine is cheap HFCS-based soda.

        • taiyang@lemmy.world
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          5 days ago

          I mean, as a non drinker, I fucking love Martinelli Apple Cider. At events, my alcoholic grandparents would always have it for kids too young for wine (to them, 10yos) and I just kept drinking it into adulthood.

          Granted I also found better conversation with my kid cousins over my other relatives, but that’s an added bonus.

        • blarghly@lemmy.world
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          5 days ago

          Probably because most people who choose not to drink wine simply choose to drink water. The restaurant buys a case of the cheapest NA alternative they can find for the one person who comes in twice a month and wants some.

    • TheGoldenV@lemmy.world
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      6 days ago

      Agreed. I still prefer a real one in most cases, but the NA options taste identical in some cases and there are a ton of NA options that taste great. I’d not have given them a try if my friend hadn’t stopped drinking. Glad he did and I may follow his decision in time.

        • velma@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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          17 hours ago

          I prefer it over Athletic NA beers that taste more like herbal water than beer to me lol

          I’m sober and sometimes one of those Heineken 0.0 just hits the spot when I’m out with friends or otherwise would have drank.

          • Pommes_für_dein_Balg@feddit.org
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            17 hours ago

            You know what? Your comment just reminded me that I’ve put off quitting for way too long, now.
            The half gallon of beer I drink every night really isn’t fun anymore.
            I will not drink with you today!

  • RagingRobot@lemmy.world
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    5 days ago

    That’s high. I would think a few drinks per month max if any lol. Most likely none. Who paid for thIs?

  • RBWells@lemmy.world
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    5 days ago

    I like a drink, but every day seems excessive to me. I do 2-3 a week, or sometimes less. Like honestly I think if you drink daily you have a problem.

  • taiyang@lemmy.world
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    5 days ago

    Knowing what I know about the impacts on brain chemistry, yes, you would probably limit your drinking as much as possible. It reduces activity in my favorite part of the brain, the prefrontal cortex. That’s the part responsible for your inhibitions, which does include shyness but also a ton of other stuff like judgement, attention, temper, etc…

    Like, sure, you can be less shy but you can also become an idiot who falls for scams and lashes out at people because they can’t control themselves.

    • Grass@sh.itjust.works
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      5 days ago

      for better or worse I just become more stupid and eventually just fall asleep and then I’ll probably stop breathing in my sleep and die and nobody knows where I even went and people will just ignore me because I look like a passed out homeless guy and once I’m rotting someone will get paid pennies to clean up the mess

  • BarneyPiccolo@lemmy.today
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    6 days ago

    I drink one beer with dinner, about 4x a week. That’s it. I can’t remember the last time I was drunk, or even a little buzzed.

    I’ve become so paranoid about DUIs, that I don’t order a beer when I go out to dinner, because if I get pulled over, and a cop asks how much I’ve had to drink, I want to be able to say with full confidence that I’ve had ZERO.

        • Tippy@sh.itjust.works
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          6 days ago

          There are plenty of documented incidents of this if you bother to look without blindly trusting police. Just because you blow zeroes doesn’t mean you don’t still get charges, jail time, fees, and court. The cop just claims you sobered up before administering the test, but you were definitely intoxicated initially based on their “extensive training, experience, and superhuman abilities that supercede an impartial and scientifically accurate machine.” Yes, this holds up in court regularly.

          • teft@piefed.social
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            6 days ago

            Also that’s what the other field sobriety tests are for. To see if someone is impaired. Really it’s so they have an excuse to book you since those tests can be difficult for anyone with mobility issues or just if the cop feels like being a dick which is often.

            • Tippy@sh.itjust.works
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              6 days ago

              When I was in the academy a decade ago, the instructors gave us about two dozen ways of fucking with someone doing FSTs that would look okay on body cam but make the tester fail, to give more weight in court.

              Any lawyer worth their salt will tell you that unless your local laws require you to do FSTs, you should refuse them. Fuck anyone actually driving intoxicated, but if you get pulled for DUI you’re getting railroaded whether you’re sober or not, so you should defend yourself in as many ways as the law provides.

        • limonfiesta@lemmy.world
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          6 days ago

          Police can, and will, still charge people the DUI even after they pass breathalyzer tests.

          It really depends on the cop, how shitty they are, and how bad of a day they’re having.

    • SirSamuel@lemmy.world
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      6 days ago

      Side point, but the legally correct answer to “have you had anything to drink tonight?” is the same as the answers to “do you know how fast you were going?” and “where ya coming from?”

      “I have been advised by counsel to exercise my fifth amendment rights during all encounters with law enforcement if my attorney is not present”

      Of course, the diplomatic response is to answer the question. A cop that’s pissed because they think their legal authority is being questioned is as bad as a dirty cop seeking a bribe. Both will do unethical things and skirt the letter of the law in a way that at best inconveniences their victim, and at worst gets them killed. Not sure where I was going with this, I’m a middle-aged white cis man that would fit in at any gun show, so I can get away with things others can’t 🤷‍♂️

      • crimson_iris@piefed.social
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        6 days ago

        “I have been advised by counsel to exercise my fifth amendment rights during all encounters with law enforcement if my attorney is not present”

        Have you tried saying that while nervous because you’re being confronted by law enforcement? People tend to become monosyllabic under stress.

        • blarghly@lemmy.world
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          5 days ago

          As the above commenter mentioned, the “legally correct” answer is typically not the most expedient.

          Even if the cop is a dick, they are almost always mostly concerned about doing their job more than pinning 10,000 trumped up charges on you. They are there to meet their quota and do a cursory poke around to catch people carrying a trunk full of heroin.

          Really what you should do is keep your hands at 10 and 2 until told otherwise, be polite and pleasant, and comply with all requests promptly with a “yes, officer”. Of course, the lemmy edgelords will say that you should never tell an officer anything because “muh rights” - and sure, you have the right to make the officer’s job as hard as possible and piss them off to no end. But the officer has quite a bit of leeway as to how they might proceed in your interaction - and making their life harder probably wont endear them to you

        • teft@piefed.social
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          6 days ago

          I’ve said that or something similar numerous times to cops. But like the guy above i’m a white guy and also a veteran of war so their little macho show doesn’t really do anything for me.

          My suggestion if you get stressed in that type of situation is to expose yourself to situations that are more stressful but you’re in control. Something like skydiving or race car driving. That should dampen your adrenaline response a bit and allow you to think at stressful times.

        • SirSamuel@lemmy.world
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          6 days ago

          I’m too old to get stressed by a cop lol, but yes that is a valid point. Makes me think having it printed on a business card could be a solution 🤔

          Ya know, I bet some civil rights social media attorney already has them printed and sold them on Etsy or some such

    • Madzielle@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      5 days ago

      my father drank himself to death. He died maybe on the toilet, but his whole apartment was covered in piss, shit and blood, as he wandered around helplessly for however long his heart was failing. I didnt go in the bathroom, you couldnt, it was a massive bio hazard and where they found his corpse.

      He was estranged from his family. He sat dead in that apartment for three days before someone called a wellness check.

      super fun.

      • MochiGoesMeow@lemmy.zip
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        5 days ago

        Im sorry for your loss. Im sorry to say whether through drugs or not in my country the United States that kind of death of slowly dying seems to be guaranteed if you’re not rich. Ive seen poor elderly folk that get neglected in nursing homes to the point of their skin on their bums rotting from the prolonged exposure to their own shit.