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Could US be heading to two alcoholic drinks a week recommendation?
A potential decision to recommend just two beers a week for American drinkers has created questions for the Biden White House.
The news following comments by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) that it could come into force.
A director of the NIAAA, Dr George Koob stating to the Daily Mail he was watching Canada – where the two drink recommendation is being enforced – with interest as the guidelines of drinking are due for review in 2025.
He told the Daily Mail that “if there’s health benefits, I think people will start to re-evaluate where we’re at”, and
Currently, the guidelines in the USA states men can have two bottles of beer, glasses of wine or shots per day, while women can have one.
But questions have been raised that this could be significantly reduced during the review. When the question was put by a Fox News reporter to White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, if Biden agreed with the recommendation, she said that she would “leave it to the experts” and not directly comment on the situation.
Although Biden doesn’t drink alcohol, he has encouraged Americans in the past, including an An InBev promotion which offered Americans a free round of beer if they got vaccinated against Covid-19.
It follows the decision by Canada to put in place the two drink recommendation earlier this year. The Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse and Addiction led the initiative to update Canada’s Low-Risk Alcohol Drinking Guidelines (LRDGs) in 2020.
The two-and-a-half-year process culminated in the creation of Canada’s new Guidance on Alcohol and Health, which replaces the LRDGs.
According to the guidance, it describes a “continuum of risk” with claims that no drinks seeing better health and sleep, two drinks “likely to avoid alcohol-related consequences”, three to six drinks seeing a rise of cancer increase, and seven or more drinks seeing a risk of heart disease or stroke “increase significantly”.
It also claims two “standard” drinks is an “increased risk of harms to self and others, including injuries and violence”, and “no matter where you are on the continuum, for your health, less alcohol is better”.
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