Opinion: New federal dietary guidelines mark troubling retreat on alcohol

The Trump administration’s recently updated Dietary Guidelines for Americans mark a troubling retreat from the best available science about alcohol consumption.

At a time when alcohol-related fatalities have increased 30% over the last decade — now claiming approximately 178,000 American lives annually — the federal government has missed a critical opportunity to safeguard the nation’s health.

Alcohol hasn’t changed, but our understanding of its risks has evolved considerably. Decades of research and federal advisory findings indicate that no amount of alcohol is truly safe for health, yet the updated dietary guidelines fail to clearly warn the public or provide sufficient information for people to make informed choices.

Some omissions are stark. For example, the updated dietary guidelines fail to address the well-established link between alcohol and cancer risk. Alcohol is a known carcinogen linked to several types of cancer, including breast, colon and liver cancer.

In addition, the update eliminates the definition of a “standard drink” and does away with longstanding thresholds for lower-risk drinking, such as the recommended number of drinks per day that men and women should not exceed. Numbers help people assess risk and plan accordingly.

Finally, the dietary guidelines fail to state that people under age 21 should not consume alcohol at all. Adolescence and young adulthood are key developmental periods. The younger a person starts drinking regularly, the greater their chance of developing an alcohol-use disorder.

As an alcohol researcher, I am quite concerned about the lack of transparency regarding the risks of daily alcohol consumption. Research suggests that drinking one alcoholic beverage a day carries a 1 in 1,000 chance of an alcohol-related death for a man, and that risk increases significantly to 1 in 25 for those who consume two drinks per day. The public deserves this level of clarity to make informed decisions.

Under current leadership, the Department of Health and Human Services has steadily shifted away from scientific evidence when making health recommendations. The updated dietary guidelines are no exception. Indeed, they omit key findings from the Alcohol Intake and Health Study, conducted by a panel of experts convened by the congressionally mandated Interagency Coordinating Committee on the Prevention of Underage Drinking. Although results have circulated in the scientific community, the report has not been released to the general public.

In response, we must demand that Congress and federal agencies release the full study to the public immediately. Furthermore, the alcohol section of the dietary guidelines should undergo an independent review to ensure that the advice given to Americans reflects the best scientific evidence without industry interference.

The retreat from clear and scientifically grounded guidelines will harm individuals’ health and our collective wellbeing. Americans deserve dietary guidelines that reflect the best available science.

Paul Gilbert is an associate professor of public health at Santa Clara University.