If stay-at-home orders have you reaching for the liquor cabinet more often, it might be time to cut down. According to new advice issued in the U.S. Dietary Guidelines for Americans, men and women should limit themselves to one alcoholic drink per day.
Previously, the advice on alcohol consumption stated that men could safely consume two drinks a day and women one drink a day. However, recent research has found no evidence that giving different alcohol recommendations for men and women made any difference. For the purposes of the report, one drink is the equivalent of one 12-ounce can a beer, a five-ounce glass of wine or a shot of liquor.
“As a nation, our collective health would be better if people generally drank less,” Dr. Timothy Naimi, an alcohol researcher at Boston University and one of the experts on the committee convened by federal officials told the AP. Naimi said someone who had two drinks a day was linked to an increased risk of death as compare to someone who had fewer or none at all. The increase was reportedly moderate, but it was enough for the committee to make the recommendation that men cut down to one drink per day.
That also means you shouldn't 'save' your drink on Thursday and have two on Friday night.
Links between drinking habits and various causes of death, including heart disease, cancer, or car accidents, have been established in previous studies.
Other changes recommended by the committee include limiting added sugars to less than 6 percent of your daily calorie intake. The new guidelines are due by the end of the year as federal officials consider all public comments and input from other agencies.
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