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US alcohol ‘safety’ report slammed

A new report concerning the consequences of alcohol intake upon health has been fiercely criticised as being “rife with bias and conflicts of interest”.

The Alcohol Intake and Health report from the Interagency Coordinating Committee on the Prevention of Underage Drinking (ICCPUD) particularly focused on the relationship between the consumption of alcohol and morbidity. According to the study, published this week, US adults have a 1 in 1,000 risk of dying from alcohol use if they consume more than seven drinks per week, and this chance rises to 1 in 100 if they consume more than nine drinks in a week.

However, the ICCPUD report has been met with heavy criticism, both for its methodology and its authors.

A statement from a coalition of US agriculture, beverage and hospitality associations read as follows: “Today’s [14 January] report is the product of a flawed, opaque and unprecedented process, rife with bias and conflicts of interest. Several members of the six-member ICCPUD panel have affiliations with international anti-alcohol advocacy groups, and the panel has worked closely with others connected with these advocates. Congress never authorised or appropriated money for the panel or its work, and numerous letters from Congress and industry have voiced serious concerns over the process.”

According to the statement, the ICCPUD study relied on observational studies rather than randomised, controlled trials. The ‘Science over Bias’ movement (the name for this group of organisations) also highlights that the work of one of the ICCPUD report’s authors, Dr Jürgen Rehm of the Institute for Mental Health Policy Research at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH), has been “touted” by anti-alcohol lobbying group Movendi.

“Our collective organisations are a broad-based group representing seed to store, horticulture to hospitality. We are committed to science over bias,” the statement continued. “This report heightens our concerns that the Dietary Guidelines for Americans’ recommendations with respect to alcohol will not be based on a preponderance of sound scientific evidence.”

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Among the groups to have given their names to the statement are the Associated Cooperage Industries of America Inc., the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States, the National Barley Growers Association, and Wine America. In addition to the trade associations, 85 organisations are also supporting the ‘Science over Bias’ movement.

“We urge the Secretaries of Agriculture and Health & Human Services to uphold the integrity of the DGAs to promote informed and responsible decision-making around alcohol. The agencies should disregard the ICCPUD report in their final assessments for the 2025-2030 Dietary Guidelines,” the statement concluded.

The current dietary guidelines in the US state that a man (aged 21 or above) should have a maximum of two alcoholic drinks a day, and a woman should have a maximum of one.

The signatories also suggest that the ICCPUD report should be ignored in favour of a Congressionally-mandated one published in 2024 by the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine (NASEM) which suggested that moderate alcohol consumption may be more beneficial to health than being teetotal.

However, despite evidence for the benefits a small amount of alcohol can do the human body, it will be an uphill struggle for proponents of moderate drinking in the US, with the Surgeon General recently suggesting that drinks packaging should come with a cancer warning.

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