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There is no such amount of alcohol that is not harmful to health – according to the latest report published by the Lancet. However, according to some experts, this does not mean that you have to be abstinent.
It is true that red wine protects against heart disease, admit the authors of the latest study, covering 195 countries, including Poland. However, they point out that alcohol increases the risk of cancer, infections, and accidents and injuries. The risk to your health is therefore greater than the possible benefits.
Lead author of the report, Dr. Max Griswold of the University of Washington’s Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME), says that taking all this into account, there is no safe level of alcohol consumption. Even one drink a day, a pint of beer or a glass of red wine is harmful.
The study included people aged 15 to 95, and the data on their health and the amount of alcohol drunk came from 1990-2016.
Researchers found that out of 100 of those who were abstinent, 914 developed cancer or other illnesses and had an accident. Among the same number of people who drank one drink a day, there were 918 people with this type of health problem, which is 4 more.
Co-author of the report of prof. Sonia Saxena of Imperial College London says that the risk of diseases to which we are exposed as a result of regular drinking of alcohol increases with the amount of drinks drunk. Among 100 thousand. Among those who drank two drinks a day, there were 63 more cases (compared to abstainers), and among those who drank alcohol four times a day, there were 338 more cases.
– One drink a day poses a small risk to health, but the trouble is that most people, at least in the UK, are not limited to just one drink a day – emphasizes Prof. Saxena in a statement for “BBC News”.
Great Britain is one of the leading countries in the consumption of alcohol. Among women, she was ranked eighth in the world – an average British woman drinks three drinks a day. Ukrainian women are in the first place, having four drinks a day.
Among men, Romanians, Portuguese and Luxembourgers drink the most alcohol (from 7 to 8 drinks a day). Poles are in further places. Men in our country drink an average of 3-4 drinks a day, and women from one to two.
Prof. David Spiegelhalter of the University of Cambridge says that this research does not show that you have to be abstinent to maintain good health. – Driving a car is also dangerous, but no one persuades you to give up being a driver. There is also no such thing as a safe standard of living – he adds.