This Study Suggests Men Should Only Have One Drink Per Day

A government-backed committee surprisingly halves the recommended alcohol limit

drinking
Kats Weil/Unsplash

One drink per day is plenty for men, according to a draft of a new report by the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee.

The committee — a panel of scientific experts convened every five years to submit dietary guidelines to the government — has dropped the drink limit from two to one per day and also suggested men cut down on added sugars.

Consuming  two drinks per day for men is associated with a “modest but meaningful increase” in death rates due to all causes, as the panel notes.

The news might be true but comes as a surprise, as the panel had been accused of having too many ties to the food industry.

The dietary guidelines from the committee are used to shape the federal nutrition program and the advice given out by health professionals.

Interestingly, the new guidelines aren’t necessarily about new science. “This [report] would suggest that there is a lot of new science on this topic, and there’s not,” as Eric Rimm, a nutrition researcher at Harvard, who served on the 2010 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee, told Politico. “It’s unfortunate because it’s going to create some confusion.”

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Kirk Miller

Kirk Miller

Kirk Miller is InsideHook’s Senior Lifestyle Editor (and longest-serving resident). He writes a lot about whisk(e)y, cocktails, consumer goods and artificial intelligence.
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