If you’re hoping for a reason to raise a glass and celebrate when it comes to alcohol and your health, you’d be best off substituting seltzer for that chardonnay. When it comes to alcohol and aging, despite the occasional study that suggests there may be some possible health benefits to moderate drinking, the reality remains that alcohol- whether beer, wine, or liquor- is not a good way to support or improve your health and in fact, evidence continues to mount regarding the harms of alcohol for aging bodies (and really anybody). For a good overview of the damage that may result from drinking alcohol as you age, click here.

While we’re not likely to convince any of you who enjoy a glass of wine or a cocktail that you should give that up, it is important to underscore what we know about the negative health consequences of even modest alcohol consumption. We now know from a recent study in Nature Medicine that alcohol consumption may increase your risk for over 60 diseases (many of which were not previously associated with alcohol) and that drinking alcohol is responsible for about 3 million deaths each year around the world. Another new study in JAMA Network Open makes clear that even moderate amounts of alcohol- previously thought to possibly be healthier than no alcohol consumption- is, in fact, also damaging to your health. In this new study, a meta-analysis of 107 earlier studies on alcohol consumption, researchers were able to determine that the more you drink the higher your risk of an early death. Even low levels of alcohol consumption- perhaps an ounce a day for women and 1.5 ounces a day for men- were still found to up your risk of death. As one researcher made clear, “It’s comforting to think that drinking is good for our health, but unfortunately, it’s based on poor science.” 

Previous studies suggesting that moderate alcohol consumption was better for you than total abstinence were apparently flawed studies that failed to account for the fact that those who give up drinking probably do so due to poor health, which is why the health of abstainers may appear worse off than those who drink modestly. But in fact, alcohol at any level of consumption poses a threat to your health. Despite somewhat lenient CDC guidelines regarding drinking alcohol, the World Health Organization has made clear that no amount of alcohol is safe for your health, and experts are firm that when it comes to alcohol and cancer risk, even small amounts of alcohol are a carcinogen, on par with smoking or UV light exposure. Canada now recommends alcohol abstinence for better health and data now confirms that even moderate consumption, including red wine, contributes to a higher risk for breast, esophagus, and head and neck cancer, along with high blood pressure and atrial fibrillation. While there is some new research out of Mass General Hospital that seems to link light to moderate alcohol consumption with a lower risk for cardiovascular disease, these results need to be balanced against the harmful effects of alcohol, including potential adverse impacts on other non-cardiac disease processes, such as malignancy, dependence, and alcohol abuse. In essence, as the researchers made clear, the lower risks of cardiovascular disease in the study came at the expense of higher cancer risks- so the best next step for this research is to determine how alcohol consumption lowers cardiovascular risk so that other, non-alcohol solutions can be found to mimic these results.

We also have new evidence that older, heavy drinkers are at increased risk for muscle loss and frailty later in life. In this study of people mainly in their 50s and 60s, those who drank the most (the equivalent of a bottle of wine per day) had the lowest amount of skeletal muscle as they grew older, increasing the likelihood of frailty and perhaps even fatal falls. Unfortunately, our healthcare system is not very good at screening and detecting serious problem drinking and alcohol use disorder in older adults. According to a recent post in Roll Call, excessive drinking and alcohol-related deaths are on the rise among older adults. This is further exacerbated by providers who are unaware of treatment options that could be offered to older adults and by ignorance in not even screening for alcohol abuse among older patients, despite the serious risks and rising numbers. We don’t fund research or addiction programs to help older adults with alcohol problems, even though deaths attributable to alcohol are greater than those attributable to drug addiction. Given the rising rates of alcohol use disorder and our ever-increasing understanding of the harms of alcohol consumption, this approach seems penny-wise and pound-foolish and many will suffer as a result.