What the hell?
Americans may soon be advised to limit themselves to just two drinks a week, a top health official warned Thursday.
President Biden’s alcohol czar, Dr. George Koob, told the Daily Mail that the USDA may revise its alcohol recommendations to match Canada’s guidelines.
In January, the Great White North began urging residents to limit their alcohol intake to two drinks per week.
Since the 1990s, the United States has recommended that women limit themselves to one drink per day and men to two drinks per day.
The USDA recommends no more than one alcoholic drink or shot per day for women and two for men. Stephen Yang
The US government may tighten its alcohol guidelines to match Canada’s recommendations. Stephen Yang
However, this guidance will be revised in 2025.
“If there are health benefits, I think people will start to reassess where we are.” [in the US]Koob told the Daily Mail of Canada’s “great experiment” with its alcohol guidance.
“So yes [alcohol consumption guidelines] go in any direction, it would be towards Canada”.
Koob, director of the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, noted that drinking alcohol has “no benefits” for physical health.
“We think that most of the benefits that people attribute to alcohol have more to do with what they eat than what they drink,” he explained.
“So it really has to do with the Mediterranean diet, socioeconomic status, allowing you to afford that kind of diet and make your own fresh food, etc.”
President Biden’s alcohol czar, Dr. George Koob, said the United States can recommend that Americans consume no more than two drinks per week. AFP via Getty Images
A Mediterranean diet, high in fat and protein but low in carbohydrates, is touted as an overall healthy diet.
This lifestyle has been said to protect against inflammation and heart disease.
Socioeconomic status has also been linked to health.
Poverty is the fourth leading cause of death in the country, killing an estimated 183,000 Americans ages 15 and older in 2019, according to findings published in April in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
Americans drink at an alarming rate; a recent report reveals that the country consumes as much alcohol as it did in the days of the Civil War. REUTERS
“With that in mind, most of the health benefits go away,” said Koob, who confessed to enjoying a couple of glasses of Chardonnay a week.
He admitted the social benefits of alcohol, describing it as a “social lubricant.”
His comments follow several reports warning that Americans are consuming alcohol at an alarming rate.
Residents of the United States drink as much alcohol now as they did in the days of the Civil War, and 35-year-old women without children are at the highest risk of binge drinking.
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Source: vtt.edu.vn