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Before you duck out early for dollar-oysters and a round of IPAs, consider this: Canada just released new health guidelines for alcohol that assert "no amount" is healthy.
Canadian health officials now recommend people reduce drinking as much as possible. Previous 2011 guidelines urged women and men consume no more than 10 and 15 drinks per week, respectively.
Now, Canada has no recommended limit - just a "continuum of risk" associated with drinking even a few glasses of wine or beer over a seven-day period.
"Research shows that no amount or kind of alcohol is good for your health," the new guidelines read. "It doesn’t matter what kind of alcohol it is - wine, beer, cider or spirits. Drinking alcohol, even a small amount, is damaging to everyone."
Concern centers primarily around a large body of research linking regular alcohol use to increased risk of liver disease, cancer, heart disease, and alcohol-related accidents (e.g., car crashes). There are 140,000 alcohol-related deaths in the US each year.
While the Netherlands has come out with guidelines similar to Canada's, most countries aren't ready to "toss the sauce" just yet. Australian health officials are still okay with 10 drinks a week, and British officials recommend six or fewer. The US doesn't have a weekly recommendation, but urges no more than two drinks a day.
Anecdotally, there does seem to be an anti-alcohol movement forming, right? I, for one, am doing Dry Jan and have become the awkward guy chugging club soda with lime in the corner at social events. Never felt better, though...
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