New Dietary Guidelines Abandon Longstanding Advice on Alcohol
- Reference: 0180538699
- News link: https://news.slashdot.org/story/26/01/07/1848240/new-dietary-guidelines-abandon-longstanding-advice-on-alcohol
- Source link:
> Ever since the federal government began issuing the Dietary Guidelines in 1980, it has told Americans to limit themselves to one or two standard alcoholic drinks a day. Over time, the official advice morphed to no more than two drinks a day for men, and no more than one for women. [1]No longer
[2]non-paywalled source
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> The updated guidelines issued on Wednesday say instead that people should consume less alcohol "for better overall health" and "limit alcohol beverages," but they do not recommend clear limits. The guidelines also no longer warn that alcohol may heighten the risk of breast cancer and other malignancies. It is the first time in decades that the government has omitted the daily caps on drinking that define moderate consumption -- standards that are used as benchmarks in clinical studies, to steer medical advice, and to distinguish moderate from heavy drinking, which is unquestionably harmful.
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> The new guidance advises Americans who are pregnant, struggle with alcohol use disorder or take medications that interact with alcohol to avoid drinking altogether. The guidelines also warn people with alcoholism in the family to "be mindful of alcohol consumption and associated addictive behaviors." They do not, however, distinguish between men and women, who metabolize alcohol differently, nor do they caution against underage drinking. The guidelines also no longer include a warning that was in the last set issued in 2020: that even moderate drinking may increase the risk of cancer and some forms of cardiovascular disease, as well as the overall risk of dying.
[1] https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/07/health/dietary-guidelines-alcohol.html
[2] https://www.pbs.org/newshour/health/heres-whats-in-new-dietary-guidelines-from-the-trump-administration
Maybe they need it⦠(Score:1)
⦠to get through the day in the new administration.
No separate rules for women? (Score:1, Troll)
Don't you know that if a document mentions the word "women", it's woke? And if it's not in Times New Roman font, it's woke? And if I stub my toe in the night, it's on that fucking woke nightstand? And any hint of wokeness means you have to clutch your pearls for at least four hours!
Re:No separate rules for women? (Score:5, Funny)
Depending on how badly you stub your toe, everyone in the house or (where applicable) neighboring apartments may be woke.
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Where's my mod points when I need them:)
Alcohol producers are in trouble (Score:4, Interesting)
Due to Trumps tariffs other countries aren't consuming much American alcohol suddenly. Those producers are in financial pain so out comes a study saying it is healthy to drink more alcohol. Seems politically motivated to me.
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Maybe. I live in Ontario, the world's largest buyer of alcohol, and all US alcohol imports have been stopped. Definitely having an effect, especially in Kentucky... no US bourbon being sold here.
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> Maybe. I live in Ontario, the world's largest buyer of alcohol, and all US alcohol imports have been stopped. Definitely having an effect, especially in Kentucky... no US bourbon being sold here.
It's been theorized that Canada's import decline has a lot to do with why Jim Beam, which has a hand in pretty much all bourbon distilling, is [1]shutting down its main distillery in Kentucky for all of 2026 [npr.org].
[1] https://www.npr.org/2026/01/01/nx-s1-5662610/jim-beam-to-pause-production-at-its-main-plant-in-2026
Re:Alcohol producers are in trouble (Score:4, Interesting)
Alcohol consumption is way down due to younger generation preferring cannibus, and older generation using fat drugs (GPL1s reduce the urge for alcohol similar to other drugs). Has nothing to do with politics, this started well before Trump season 2.
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> Alcohol consumption is way down due to younger generation preferring cannibus, and older generation using fat drugs (GPL1s reduce the urge for alcohol similar to other drugs). Has nothing to do with politics, this started well before Trump season 2.
Yeah, alcohol consumption has been in a generation long decline regardless of who is in office because drinking habits have changed for the population at large. Trade wars don't help, but the biggest issue is that the young just don't see the point in drinking. Bars and clubs have been steadily closing for years now. All dating is done online via the Internet and none of the kids are meeting in clubs anymore. Women used to go to clubs to get noticed. Now they have Instagram for that, and it's killing the cl
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> Alcohol consumption is way down due to younger generation preferring cannibus
Or just that the younger generation doesn't have the money to blow on alcohol.
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I can't imagine a post that is further than the truth. Alcohol is cheap. Yes, there are fancy beverages, but throughout soooo much of history (including our own times) there have been poor drunk people because there are many affordable alcoholic drinks. They continue to be drunk because it is affordable.
If consumption is down, it is due to other reasons, not the cost.
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I am trying as hard as I can to make up for everyone else.
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gemini, yearly imports of alcoholic beverages from the us in canada
> year us->canada canada-us
> 2023 ~$1.0 Billion CAD ~$1.3 Billion CAD
> 2024 ~$1.1 Billion CAD ~$1.4 Billion CAD
> 2025 (est) ~$400 - $500 Million CAD ~$1.3 Billion CAD
source?
> Primary Data Sources
> The Distilled Spirits Council of the United States (DISCUS): Specifically their 2025 Mid-Year Report, which documented the 85% collapse in spirit exports to Canada in Q2 2025.
> The Wine Institute: Their 2025 factsheets tracked the 30% decline in wine exports and the historic flip from a trade surplus to a trade deficit with Canada for the first time in 36 years.
> U.S. International Trade Commission (USITC) DataWeb: Official U.S. Census Bureau merchandise trade statistics (specifically HTS codes 2204, 2205, and 2208).
> Statistics Canada (StatCan): Monthly reports on International Merchandise Trade (Table 12-10-0011-01) which recorded the retaliatory "Buy Canadian" shifts and provincial inventory backlogs.
> Figure,Source Reference
> $1.1 Billion CAD (2024),"Association of Canadian Distillers / Wine Institute. Reflects the total retail value and shipments during the last ""normal"" trade year."
> 85% Drop (Spirits),DISCUS 2025 Mid-Year Report. Highlights exports falling below $10M USD in a single quarter for the first time in decades.
> $161 Million Loss,USDA / Foreign Agricultural Service. Estimated export value lost by U.S. producers between March and September 2025.
> $80 Million Inventory,Ontario Ministry of Finance. Reports on U.S. alcohol stock being held in LCBO warehouses but withheld from sale during the dispute.
> Current Status (Early 2026)
> While federal retaliatory tariffs were officially lifted on September 1, 2025, most data from late 2025 suggests that trade has not "snapped back." Many Canadian provincial liquor boards have not yet resumed full re-ordering of U.S. brands, opting instead to clear existing backlogs or continue promoting European and domestic alternatives.
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"Has nothing to do with politics, this started well before Trump season 2."
Nonsense, it is nothing but flattery of Trump who makes clear that he is not a drinker. All they stopped short of is endorsing snorting of Adderall instead, something Trump does do. Nothing to do with health, it is pure politics.
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Nonsense, it is nothing but flattery of Trump who makes clear that he is not a drinker.
This will be the only good thing I'll say about King Orange. He saw his older brother die from alcohol abuse and decided he would never drink. Whether you think that is a reasonable choice is irrelevant. He saw what happened and made the decision, and has stuck to that decision, not to drink alcohol.
It's not cannabis (Score:2)
Most drinking is social. Most people don't drink booze just to drink booze they drink booze cuz they're hanging around people and trying to loosen up a bit.
The younger generation is flat broke.. they can't even afford to have House parties because they don't have houses and you can't make too much noise in an apartment especially when you have three or four roommates. Bars are out of the question way too expensive.
They're also quite a bit more level-headed. It's not that as a whole there on interest
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Why were they consuming it to begin with? I like America more than most Americans but will freely admit that our alcohol is shit. In the last few decades we've at least started getting decent beer, but our whisky is still shit. Any popular brand that might get exported is dog water compared to a no name Scottish or Irish distillery's third worst spirit. There are some locally distilled spirits that I enjoy personally, but I don't think they compete with the best of the best in the world or even the mid-rate
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Wait...there's a study?
Because I'm pretty sure they just tossed out a new recommendation they pulled out of their ******.
Remember, we need Gold Standard Science and Randomized Double-Blind Clinical Trials for crazy stuff like vaccines and birth control. But for things like alcohol and public health we use Good Ol' Common Sense(tm) around this country!
Damn good point (Score:2)
I hadn't thought of that but you are absolutely correct.
That's a shame (Score:3, Insightful)
All those multitudes of people who consult government tables to guide their consumption of various products, including alcohol, will now be lost in the darkness.
And the doctors who act as passthroughs for that guidance will also be completely without specific guidance - they couldn't possibly just keep saying what they've been saying for years.
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> All those multitudes of people who consult government tables to guide their consumption of various products, including alcohol, will now be lost in the darkness.
It doesn't help that medical researchers can't seem to agree on alcohol outside of "too much is bad". Kind of hard to issue any guidance when one group of doctors say that research indicates a glass of wine may have benefits while another group of equally distinguished doctors says nope, there are no good amounts, period, and you should completely abstain.
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Except much of the research that looks at whether alcohol causes xxxx (cancer, heart disease, obesity, etc) uses the 2oz (etc) standard. So while we aren't running trials looking at 2oz versus 4oz versus 8oz, we are often using none versus 2oz and we see a difference at that breakpoint. Repeating the research to try and find the exact point between 0-->2 seems excessive (and certainly not something the liquor industry is going to pay for!)
The regime wants fewer, poorer people (Score:2, Informative)
It really is that simple.
They want to destroy social trust domestically in order to isolate you, take your money (via the national sales tax masquerading as tariffs), take your vote so you can't fight back, and - if you're not a steady milk cow ready to be led around by the nose, they want you to die.
And if you're not white, their kind of Xian or attached to things like the franchise, well, they want worse for you.
This year is make-or-break for Freedom in the US, and probably a big chunk of Europe. The
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Yup. The midterms are the litmus test. If they are free, fair and respected, then democracy in the United States is not quite dead yet. Otherwise... welcome to the Fascist States of Amerika.
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Well for one they are incoherent, these do not strike me as the type of people to have a plan, as much as theyd like you to think they do. The military has plans, the admin does not.
Or if we want to take them with some of their contradictions they want fewer of *certain people* since so many of them are always talking about birth rates but they don't want immigration to bolster the population.
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A very good summary of the current state of affairs. If they can't profit from you, they want you to die.
Look a People's faces, when you go out. (Score:1)
Going to Grocery Store, Walmart, or Costco.
I observe people's faces .expressions.. I see glum faces mostly. Not often seeing intact families smiling and laughing.
Perhaps the grim faces point to stress/depression in their lives.
And follow-on, the reason of why they are drinking alcohol.
So, in actuality, it's reasonable to associate stress and depression to mortality rates, and cancer. The alcohol consumption is verily a secondary signal to stress and depression. Our society as a whole, is not well.
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It explains Russia, for sure, where alcohol is a leading reason the life expectancy for a male is 65.6 years.
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> Not often seeing intact families smiling and laughing.
The reason you're not seeing families smiling and laughing is because you're not living in a Disney movie. Mundane daily activities are boring and in real life people generally aren't going to break out into a song about [1]their trip to the market. [youtube.com]
[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tr6oHPmdNbg
New Dietary Guidelines (Score:2)
"You know what? The world is going to shit anyway. Just sorta/kinda limit the alcohol intake, and try to go easy on the heroin. I mean, we get it if you have to. We need something to take the edge off too. Just try not to OD, unless you really want to."
The stats on drinking are incredible (Score:2)
60% of the US population are essentially non-drinkers.
10% have 2 drinks weekly
10% have 1 drink daily
10% have 2 per day - a level i've never managed for more than 2 weeks
and the final 10%? SEVENTY FOUR WEEKLY!!
I think i might have managed that a very long time ago in a one month period. Exactly ONCE.
source is "Paying the Tab" by Philip Cook, 2007
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These posts just demonstrate how stupid MAGA people are. Reposting these quotes doesn't make the OP look bad, quite the opposite.
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And allowing 15 year olds to cut off their healthy genitals in the name of trans-affirming care is just good medical science, right? You forgot that part.
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There have been at least 8 vaccine recalls since 1958, If you want specifics, search for RotaSheild from 1998, or Pandemrix from 2009. That doesn't even begin to count the drugs that never made it out of clinical trials.
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> I understand 2016 and why people might have voted for Trump out of confusion and desperation.
Or giving him the benefit of the doubt. (I didn't vote for him, but could see this as an argument - then.)
> But by 2020 let alone 2024 you knew.
Exactly.
Obligatory Simpsons quote... (Score:5, Funny)
"To alcohol! The cause of, and solution to, all of life's problems" – Homer Simpson
Oh No! (Score:2)
There are real policy changes to be outraged over. This is not it. This is middling rewording on a website.
/yawn
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Policy is being generous. Trump does not have policy, he is a con man, a rapist and a criminal.
In related news... Get your diseases here! (Score:2)
The HHS [1]CDC Childhood Immunization Recommendations Fact Sheet [hhs.gov] says (as of 2026/01/07 anyway):
> The updated CDC childhood immunization schedule:
> 3. Ensures that all the diseases covered by the previous immunization schedule will still be available to anyone who wants them ...
I'm guessing they mean the vaccines for the diseases are still available, but that's not what it says.
To be fair, maybe RFK, Jr. is going all-in on immunity through actual infection.
(Three more years... *sigh*)
[1] https://www.hhs.gov/press-room/fact-sheet-cdc-childhood-immunization-recommendations.html
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Three years? You're at least a decade too optimistic. We're stuck with these morons, at least the ones that survive, for the rest of their lives..
Dietary guidelines are useless.. (Score:2)
...for maintaining health
They do, however, give insights into what industries influence/bribe politicians
RFK (Score:3, Insightful)
You need to eat a beef, butter and gin-based diet.
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With a generous side helping of heroin-infused brainworms.
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> You need to eat a beef, butter and gin-based diet.
Maybe frying stuff in beef tallow and endless pushups are the answer then, 'cause the guy looks better at 71 than just about everyone else.
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Even his face?
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> Even his face?
He's 71. With no Tom Cruise-ish plastic surgery or Botox. Put him in a lineup of other 71 year old faces and tell me he's worse than average.
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If JFK was your cousin, odds are you'd probably look good too
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Are you kidding? He looks like a fucking alien.
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Tim Walz looks so much healthier, lol.
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And gear. Lot's of gear, no way that guy isn't on it.
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I prefer scotch with my beef, but I guess that means I'm just a commie.