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Canadian drinking advice ‘at odds’ with world

The Canadian Centre on Substance Use and Addiction (CCSA) has released new national guidance that recommends citizens only consume a maximum of two drinks per week.

Canadian drinking guidelines
Health officials in the US recommend no more than two drinks per day for men and only one for women

The report calls for a substantial reduction in the consumption of alcohol, warning any amount “is not good for your health”.

The new guidelines, funded by Health Canada, represent a dramatic shift from previous recommendations issued in Canada’s Low-Risk Alcohol Drinking Guidelines, published in 2011, in which Canadians were advised that low-risk consumption meant no more than 10 drinks a week for women, and 15 drinks a week for men.

“The principles that we want to land on is that people have a right to know less is better, and that there’s harm reduction strategies that people can use to decrease the amount that they drink in order to improve their health and well-being,” commented Dr Peter Butt, co-chair of the project to develop Canada’s alcohol guidelines.

In its measurements, the CCSA considers a standard drink to be a 355ml serving of 5% ABV beer, a 148ml glass of 12% ABV wine, or a shot glass of 40% ABV spirit.

Health authorities around the world have said they would be unlikely to follow suit with the new guidelines, citing “no magic line in the sand we can all agree on”.

Matt Lambert, CEO of the UK’s alcohol social responsibility body the Portman Group, said: “Canada’s new drinking guidance is at odds with the vast majority of guidelines around the world that recognise that alcohol can be consumed in moderation and consumers can make their own choices based on practical official advice.

“The substantial and increasing majority of UK adults drink responsibly within the chief medical officer’s guidance of 14 units a week, which remains a robust and effective guidance for those who choose to drink.”

In the UK, the NHS recommends no more than six 170ml glasses of wine or six pints of 4% ABV beer per week – ideally spread across three days or more.

Health officials in the US recommend no more than two drinks per day for men and one for women.

Australia’s recommendation is five times more than Canada’s new advice at 10 standard drinks a week, and no more than four a day, for men and women.

No safe amount of alcohol

Earlier this month (January), the World Health Organization (WHO) published an article in health journal The Lancet, titled Health and cancer risks associated with low levels of alcohol consumption, which said there was no evidence that any level of alcohol consumption is safe.

The article went in to say that alcohol consumption was associated with 740,000 new cancer cases each year globally.

It concluded: “Evidence does not indicate the existence of a particular threshold at which the carcinogenic effects of alcohol start to manifest in the human body. As such, no safe amount of alcohol consumption for cancers and health can be established.”

New research has found that cutting out alcohol for Dry January leads to increased consumption in the months that follow.

Earlier this month, the drinks business published a run-down of what happens to your body when you drink alcohol.

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