Until recently, alcohol, like energy-dense food, was viewed as fundamentally different from tobacco in the sense that a little of what you like is fine. This contrasted with no safe level for smoking.
But the new health evidence underpinning the latest alcohol guidelines in the United Kingdom suggests that it may have much more in common with tobacco than thought. Which raises the question: could public attitudes to drinking become more like those on smoking?
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The country undoubtedly has a drink problem, with deaths from liver disease, three-quarters of which are due to alcohol, .
The chief medical officers for England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are determined to do something about it. Their new , the first since 1995, advise that any consumption has health risks, although these can be minimised by keeping below 14 units per week (a bottle and a half of wine), with several drink-free days each week. Pregnant women should abstain.
Tough love
Could the advice be tougher still, more akin to that on smoking? The Netherlands is heading that way, poised to lead its latest guidance with the blunt warning: .
The health evidence increasingly creates the potential for a shift in attitudes. First, the alleged protective effect of minimal drinking against heart disease seems much less certain. Factors such as lower smoking rates and improved treatment of high blood pressure mean that there is much less risk to protect against, while improved research methods suggest that the apparent benefits may have been due to other unmeasured factors.
Second, and more importantly, it is now clear that even very low levels of alcohol consumption increase risks of cancer, especially of the breast, oesophagus and throat. The main caveat is that a or exposure to increases disease risk substantially, whereas the increased risk associated with drinking within the new guidelines is .
Culture of denial
Yet the reaction of the drinks industry and its front groups, which the new UK guidelines for going beyond those of many other countries, is inadvertently bolstering the case that alcohol is more like tobacco.
Increasingly they are adopting the tactics used by the tobacco industry for decades, with , selective use of evidence and action to stop adoption of increased taxes and marketing restrictions that are most effective in tackling the overall disease burden.
Their messages, like those of the tobacco industry, are by 鈥渇ree-market think tanks鈥� that attack 鈥渘anny state鈥� tactics but often don鈥檛 disclose who funds them.
The most recent research on alcohol consumption, albeit now a few years old, shows that among those born since 1985, although the reasons for this are poorly understood.
Only time will tell if the rest of the UK public is ready to call time on their love of a drink.
Image credit: Don Tremain/Getty
