I'm not concerned. What about all this? Your competent? doctor won't do a bit of thinking, just state; no alcohol!
Men must drink with male friends twice a week to stay healthy, study finds
Do not bring this to your doctor's attention, you don't want to be responsible for an exploding head.
Smarter People Tend To Drink More Alcohol March 2019
But what if you are using Guinness for blood thinning?
Guinness could really be good for you
A pint of the black stuff a day may work as well as a low dose aspirin to prevent heart clots that raise the risk of heart attacks.
Don't do this on your own, you know how deadly even one glass of alcohol is.
So I'm looking at this 107 year old drinking 3 liters of wine a day and want to emulate him. Does your doctor have any proven scientific reason not to do this?
Here is what your doctor will use, no thinking required:
Safest level of alcohol consumption is none, worldwide study shows
The latest here:
Alcohol’s Health Myth Is Over. How to Tell Patients
or nearly 30 years, the media and many physicians promoted the belief — fueled by the French paradox and bias-ridden observational studies — that a drink or two a day could be good for many adults.
Now, better-designed research has uncorked a new truth: Even one drink a day can raise the risk for cancer, cardiovascular problems, liver disease, and early death. The government-commissioned Alcohol Intake and Health Study, published in June, found a level of drinking once considered potentially protective — a glass of red wine with friends, a beer on a summer night, a brunch-time cocktail — have no meaningful health benefits.
The study joins a growing body of research presenting physicians with a challenge: How to explain to patients, even light drinkers, that older studies were flawed, and the healthiest drink is none at all.
“The science is evolving in front of our eyes. That can be deeply unsettling, but it’s an opportunity to engage our patients in the conversation,” said oncologist Noelle LoConte, MD, an associate professor at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health in Madison, Wisconsin, and lead author of the American Society of Clinical Oncology’s most recent statement on alcohol and cancer.
- Newer data: even 1 drink/day ↑ cancer, CV, liver disease, and all-cause mortality risk.
- No meaningful health benefit found for red wine/light-moderate alcohol.
- Prior J-shaped curve likely biased by sick-quitters + healthier drinker confounding.
- Alcohol counseling is impactful; explicit clinician discussion ↑ awareness of cancer risk.
- Patient discussions: nonjudgmental, collaborative, motivational interviewing; cancer risk = zero alcohol.
Hearing the message from a physician makes a difference. A 2021 study of 4549 US adults found just 44% remembered a clinician talking with them about alcohol’s harms in the past year, and only 35% thought there was a link between drinking and cancer risk. That rose to 52% when their doctor explicitly discussed it. Silence is risky: Cardiology patients who thought alcohol was heart healthy were 67% more likely to drink excessively, while adults who viewed alcohol as neutral or even beneficial for the heart were less than half as likely to recognize its cancer risks.
“We know that physicians’ recommendations about alcohol are extremely impactful,” LoConte said. “We should be talking with patients about alcohol at least periodically.”
Sick Quitters and Unhealthy Abstainers: The Bias in Alcohol Studies
On a Sunday night in 1991, America watched as 60 Minutes correspondent Morley Safer raised a glass of red wine at a French bistro, suggesting it explained why France had lower heart disease rates despite a high-fat diet. Within a year, US red wine sales rose 40%. Meanwhile, large epidemiologic studies — including the Framingham Study in 1983 and the Physician’s Health Study in 2000 — found a reduced risk for coronary artery disease with light-to-moderate drinking. By 2011, a major review of 84 studies concluded that the debate was essentially over.
But doubts were emerging, and for good reason: The widely reported “J-shaped curve” — graphs showing higher heart risks for abstainers, lower risks for moderate drinkers, and highest risks for heavy drinkers — turned out to be wrong.
Abstainer groups often included many “sick quitters” — former drinkers who’d stopped due to health problems — and never-drinkers who avoided alcohol because of life-long poor health, reported Canadian researchers in a 2016 analysis. Meanwhile, low-to-moderate drinkers typically enjoyed other major health advantages like higher incomes, healthier diets, more exercise, and less obesity, according to a 2023 follow-up analysis. Adjusting for these biases reduced alcohol’s survival protection to a statistically meaningless 3%.
Suggestions that light drinking benefits cholesterol or blood pressure have also lost out to newer data. In a 2025 Japanese study of 58,943 adults, light-to-moderate drinkers who quit saw blood pressure fall by their next annual check-up. Slight changes in cholesterol are not clinically significant, noted the American College of Cardiology.
“The science doesn’t lie — alcohol isn’t good for us,” said Douglas Spotts, MD, a family physician in Mifflinburg, Pennsylvania, and spokesperson for the American Academy of Family Physicians. “Physicians and scientists know enough now to confirm that the old adage about red wine is nothing more than a myth. No amount of alcohol is safe — full stop.”
Talking to Patients About Alcohol
Recent trends may be on the physician’s side: alcohol use among US adults dropped to 54% in a July 2025 Gallup poll, the lowest in its 90-year-history. But alcohol remains deeply embedded socially. “Alcohol helps people socialize,” said LoConte. “It’s culturally normed. Adults enjoy it. These all make it hard for doctors to bring up with patients.”
Cardiologist Columbus Batiste, MD, agrees. “We get the head nod of ‘Ok, Doctor’ just to appease us, and you know the patient will do something completely different when they leave,” said Batiste, Chief of Cardiology at Kaiser Permanente in Moreno Valley, California.
Finding the right approach to discuss alcohol could be lifesaving, Batiste said. Acknowledging flawed older research starts with a positive, nonjudgmental attitude.
1. Shift the Focus From ‘Harm’ to ‘Health Promotion’
Flip the script from ‘alcohol is bad’ to a discussion of achieving health goals. “If the question is ‘How do I achieve health?’ then we’re talking about whether alcohol consumption is health promoting, which is a different question than ‘Will it harm you?’” Batiste said.
That moves alcohol into a healthy lifestyle context. “Alcohol is one component, along with a healthy diet, exercise, stress relief,” Batiste said. “When we look at a recipe for life, for health, sometimes those small ingredients matter a lot — a pinch of salt, a pinch of baking powder. It’s the same with alcohol and health.” If patients are relying on a few drinks to relax, feel comfortable in social situations, or numb physical or psychological pain, it’s time to talk about healthier options, he added.
2. Put the Patient in the Driver’s Seat
Batiste recommends framing the dynamic collaboratively. He tells patients: “You’re the CEO of your body. If you want it to flourish, here’s my advice as your professional advisor. You have the right to accept, veto, or ask for more supporting information.” The American Heart Association recommends this approach for supporting healthy lifestyle changes for patients — beginning with asking the patient for permission to give advice; providing clear, specific, and customized advice that increases patient knowledge about their health; and then asking the patient what actions they want to take.
3. Use Motivational Interviewing and Tracking
Rather than simply telling patients to drink less, experts said it can be more effective to start with a conversation about their habits and concerns. LoConte recommends asking whether patients are worried about their drinking and encouraging them to track when and how much they drink before discussing the results at a follow-up visit. While reducing alcohol is a positive step, she said it’s important to be clear about the evidence: “The number is zero for cancer.”
That doesn’t mean every conversation should sound the same. Batiste said recommendations should be tailored to a person’s overall health and drinking patterns. Someone who already has cardiovascular disease, heart failure, or an irregular heartbeat may face different risks than someone who drinks occasionally. But even for lighter drinkers, he said, patients should understand that “even light alcohol on a consistent basis could be harmful” over time.
4. Actively Debunk Common Patient Myths
Mistaken beliefs about alcohol include “red wine is healthier”, “beer is safer because it’s lower in alcohol by volume”, or “drinking is only a problem if you have an addiction” and “My friend’s aunt drank whiskey every day and lived to 100.” “I see patients every week with these beliefs,” LoConte said.
5. Confront ‘Nutritional Whiplash’ Directly
Experts said it’s worth acknowledging that patients may feel confused by yet another shift in health advice. Explaining that scientific recommendations evolve as stronger evidence emerges can help put the change in context.
“As we saw with COVID, seeing science as iterative, the back-and-forth process can be deeply unsettling,” LoConte said. “It’s an opportunity to talk about research and health.” She also reminds patients that alcohol is different from many foods that seem to swing in and out of favor. “Alcohol isn’t like those,” she said. “It’s always been a Class 1 carcinogen-like ultraviolet light, tobacco, and the human papillomavirus. And now, we’re solidifying the risk.”
Batiste takes a similar approach by encouraging patients to explore the evidence themselves. He shows them how to find trustworthy information online — including using AI tools that surface authoritative sources — and revisits the conversation at future appointments. “If I tell people they can’t do something, it will drive them toward doing it,” he said. “I try to give them the why and show them where to find more good information.”
The experts cited in this article had no relevant disclosures.
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