A new study has shown that younger people (under 40) are more likely to be exposed to alcohol than older adults.
- Global Burden of Disease’s latest analysis suggests that 1.34 Billion people consumed alcohol in harmful quantities (0.312 billion for males, and 1.03 billion for females) between 2000 and 2020.
- According to the analysis, young adults between 15 and 39 years old do not have any health benefits from drinking alcohol. In 2020, 59.1% of those who drank unsafe amounts of alcohol were between 15 and 39 years old. 76.7% were men.
- The authors point out that alcohol consumption can have a complex effect on diseases and background rates.
- For adults over 40, the health risks of alcohol consumption are different depending on their age and where they live. For people over 40, consuming a low amount of alcohol (for instance, one to two 3.4-ounce red wine glasses) can have some health benefits such as reducing the chance of stroke and cardiovascular disease.
- Researchers demand that alcohol consumption guidelines be updated to place emphasis on consumption levels based on age. Many existing guidelines recommend a high level of alcohol consumption for young people. They call for policies that target males younger than 40 who are more likely to misuse alcohol.
A new analysis in The Lancet shows that young people are more likely to have their health impacted by alcohol than older adults. The first study to assess alcohol risk by age, gender, year, and geographical location is this research. The study recommends that global alcohol consumption guidelines should be based on location and age. It also recommends that strict guidelines be directed at males aged 15 to 39, who are most at risk for harmful alcohol consumption around the world.
Light alcohol consumption, which is between one and two standard drinks per person, may have some health benefits for adults over 40 who do not have any underlying conditions.
Researchers calculated that 1.34 Billion people consumed unsafe amounts of alcohol in 2020 based on estimates from 204 countries. The largest group of people who drank unsafe levels of alcohol in any region was males between the ages of 15 and 39. Drinking alcohol is not good for your health and poses many risks. This age group is also responsible for 60% of alcohol-related injuries, such as motor vehicle accidents, suicides, homicides, and other types.
“Our message is simple. Young people shouldn’t drink. However, older people might benefit from small amounts of alcohol. Although it is unlikely that young adults will stop drinking, it is important to share the most recent evidence with everyone so they can make informed health decisions,” Dr. Emmanuela Gakidou (Senior author), Professor of Health Metrics Sciences at IHME at the University of Washington’s School of Medicine.
While alcohol consumption poses significant health risks to young people, it may be beneficial to some older adults who consume small amounts. A new analysis shows that alcohol intake should be determined by age and local disease rates.
Alcohol consumption policies should be influenced by age and location
Researchers looked at alcohol consumption’s impact on 22 health outcomes including cardiovascular disease, injuries, and cancers. They used 2020 Global Burden of Disease data from males and women aged 15-95 years or older in 204 countries and territories. The researchers were able estimate the daily alcohol intake that reduces the risk to the population. Another important quantity was also estimated by the study: how much alcohol an individual can consume before they are at risk of putting their health at risk.
For people between 15 and 39 years, the recommended alcohol intake is 0.136 standard drinks per person per day (just over one-tenth of a normal drink). The recommended daily alcohol intake for women aged 15 to 39 years was 0.136 standard drinks per day (roughly one-tenth of a standard beverage). A standard drink is 10 grams of pure alcohol. This is equal to a small glass red wine (10ml) or 3.4 fluidozs at 13% alcohol per volume. It also includes a can of beer (325 ml) or 12 fluidozs at 3.5% alcohol per volume. Or a shot whiskey (30 ml) or 1.0 fluidozs at 40% alcohol per volume.
For adults over 40 years of age, without any other health issues, a small amount may be beneficial, including reducing the risk for ischemic heart disease, stroke and diabetes. For individuals aged 40-64 in 2020, the safe drinking levels of alcohol were approximately half of a standard drink (0.527 standard drinks per person for males, and 0.562 standard beverages per person for females), to nearly two standard drinks (1.69 standard drink per day for men and 1.82 standard drinks for women). Consuming three or more standard drinks per day for individuals aged 65+ in 2020 was enough to cause health problems. It is possible to have a small amount of alcohol in people over 40 with no underlying conditions. This could be especially true for populations who are more likely to suffer from cardiovascular disease.
There were significant differences in the disease burden of different age groups, which led to variations in alcohol consumption risks, especially for those aged 40 and over. In the Middle East and north Africa, for example, 30% of alcohol-related risks to health were caused by cardiovascular disease. 12.6% were cancers and less than 1% were from tuberculosis. In contrast, central sub-Saharan Africa’s same age group had 20% of its alcohol-related health risk due to cardiovascular disease, 9.8% were cancers and 10.1% was due to tuberculosis. This means that this age group consumed 0.876 drinks (or nearly one standard drink per daily) in North Africa and the Middle East, and 0.596 drinks in central sub-Saharan Africa (about half of a standard drink per night).
The recommended alcohol intake for adults was 0-1.87 standard drinks per person, regardless of age, geography, or year.
“Even though a conservative approach is taken, and the lowest level for safe drinking is used to make policy recommendations, this means that the recommended alcohol intake is too high for younger people. Based on the current evidence, our estimates support guidelines that vary by region and age. Researcher at IHME Dana Bryazka is the lead author. She says that understanding the variance in alcohol consumption can help in setting effective drinking guidelines, supporting alcohol control policies and monitoring progress in reducing harmful liquor use.
The greatest danger of drinking alcohol is in young men
These estimates were used to calculate the percentage of people who consume alcohol in excess of these thresholds by year, location, sex and age. This can be used as a guideline for alcohol control efforts.
In 2020, 59.1% of those who drank harmful amounts of alcohol were between 15 and 39 years old. 76.7% of the individuals were males, with 1.03 Billion males and 0.31 billion females consuming dangerous amounts of alcohol. Young males from Australasia, central Europe and western Europe were particularly at risk of drinking excessive amounts of alcohol.
“While alcohol consumption has similar risks for males and women, young men exhibited the highest levels of harmful alcohol intake. Dr. Gakidou explains that a higher percentage of males than females drink alcohol, and their average level is significantly higher.
These limitations were acknowledged by the authors, which include that drinking patterns weren’t examined. This study didn’t distinguish between people who drink a lot of alcohol in a short period of time and those who consume the same amount over several days. Also, alcohol consumption was self-reported which could have led to bias. The study also could not include data about consumption during the COVID-19 Pandemic because of pandemic-related delays in routine data collection. This could also have affected these estimates.
Robyn Burton of King’s College London and Nick Sheron from King’s College London, who were not part of the study, wrote in a Comment: “These findings seem to contradict a previous GBD estimate published by The Lancet. This stated that alcohol consumption, regardless of its amount, causes health loss in all populations. The GBD publications have three major differences. The most recent study uses data instead of 2016, and the data is from 2020. Second, the relative risks curves for five outcomes related to alcohol have been updated. These changes are not responsible for the differences in results. The differences in results are not due to the new method of weighting relative risks curves according to levels and underlying diseases, along with the calculation of more disaggregated estimates based on sex, gender, and geographic region. There are many causes of all-cause death, which can vary between groups. This changes the impact of alcohol on mortality. Injuries accounted for the majority of alcohol-related harm in younger age group across most geographic regions. The minimum risk level for individuals between 15 and 39 years was zero or very close to zero in all geographic regions. Due to an increase in the prevalence of alcohol-related diseases such as cancer and cardiovascular disease, this level is lower than that for older adults. This shows the importance of considering the existing disease rates in a population to calculate the harm alcohol can cause.
