‘No safe level of alcohol consumption,’ study says

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio (WKBN) – A study published Friday in an international medical journal says there is no level of alcohol that is safe and there are no health benefits in any amount consumption.

The study published in The Lancet shows that nearly three million deaths worldwide were attributed to alcohol use.

The study, part of the annual Global Burden of Disease (GBD), assesses alcohol-related health outcomes and patterns between 1990 and 2016 for 195 countries and territories and by age and sex.

Dr. Emmanuela Gakidou, senior author of the study, said the health risks associated with alcohol are massive and that there is “clear and convincing correlations between drinking and premature death, cancer, and cardiovascular problems.”

“Zero consumption minimizes the overall risk of health loss,” Gakidou said.

The study also addresses how to prevent alcohol consumption through taxation or price regulation, including setting a minimum price per unit (MUP), closely followed by marketing regulation, and restrictions on the physical availability of alcohol, the study reported.

The study does not distinguish between beer, wine and liquor.

Countries with the lowest death rates attributed to alcohol include were in Kuwait, Iran, Palestine, Libya, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Jordan, and Syria. The other two were Maldives and Singapore.

Countries with the highest death rates attributed to alcohol were in the Baltic, Eastern European, or Central Asian regions, specifically Russia, Ukraine, Lithuania, Belarus, Mongolia, Latvia, and Kazakhstan. The other three were Lesotho, Burundi, and Central African Republic.