Complex relationship between health and moderate alcohol use

In The Lancet, the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD) 2020 Alcohol Collaborators 1 GBD 2020 Alcohol CollaboratorsPopulation-level risks of alcohol consumption by amount, geography, age, sex, and year: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2020. Lancet. 2022; 400: 185-235 Summary Full Text Full Text PDF Scopus (6) Google Scholar provide a further study to systematically determine thresholds for low-risk alcohol consumption while considering background rates of disease. Overall, the authors estimated the amount of alcohol that minimises health risks to be between 0 (95% uncertainty interval 0–0) and 1·87 (0·50–3·30) standard drinks per day. Levels of zero, or very close to zero, were observed among individuals aged 15–39 years (ranging from 0 to 0·603 standard drinks per day), but higher levels were reported for individuals aged 40 years and older (ranging from 0·114 to 1·87 standard drinks per day). These findings seemingly contradict a previous GBD estimate published in The Lancet, which emphasised that any alcohol use, regardless of amount, leads to health loss across populations. 2 GBD 2016 Alcohol CollaboratorsAlcohol use and burden for 195 countries and territories, 1990–2016: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2016. Lancet. 2018; 392: 1015-1035 Summary Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (1361) Google Scholar Population-level risks of alcohol consumption by amount, geography, age, sex, and year: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2020There is strong evidence to support recommendations on alcohol consumption varying by age and location. Stronger interventions, particularly those tailored towards younger individuals, are needed to reduce the substantial global health loss attributable to alcohol. Full-Text PDF Open AccessDepartment of ErrorBurton R, Sheron N. Complex relationship between health and moderate alcohol use. Lancet 2022; 400: 141–43—In this Comment, the email has been corrected. This correction has been made to the online version as of July 18, 2022. Full-Text PDF