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alcohol consumption“Even the smallest amount is dangerous” – Canada enacts zero-alcohol rule
The Canadian government has released new guidelines on alcohol consumption. The rule is clear: the population should completely avoid drinks.
“If you have to drink at all, the maximum is two drinks per week as low-risk,” says the new alcohol guidelines.
imago images/Geisser
Canada is taking drastic action against alcohol consumption. The new guideline replaces the one from 2011, when the Department of Health allowed 10 drinks per week for women and 15 drinks for men.
imago images/Geisser
That’s what it’s about
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Canada has had new government alcohol recommendations since mid-January 2023.
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Canadians should avoid alcohol altogether.
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The change in guidelines is the result of better research over the last few years.
Alcohol is normalized nowadays, drinking is considered largely socially acceptable. But now the Canadian government is turning off the tap: a new report by the Ministry of Health recommends that people completely avoid alcohol. “If you have to drink at all, the maximum is two drinks per week as low-risk,” says the new alcohol guidelines.
Canada is taking drastic action against alcohol consumption. Just 12 years ago, the Department of Health allowed 10 drinks a week for women and 15 drinks for men. But recently, Erin Hobin, senior scientist at Public Health Ontario, has joined the expert panel that developed the current guidelines. Hobin led a special study on cancer in relation to alcohol consumption in 2017, and she claims: “Even the smallest amount of alcohol is bad for your health.”
For Canadians, the message might come as “a bit shocking,” says Hobin, but “just three standard drinks a week increases the risk of head and neck cancer by 15 percent, and it increases with every additional drink,” warns the researcher. The change in guidelines is the result of better research over the past few years.
Swiss people are allowed two drinks a day, Swiss women one
The 90-page study speaks of “standard drinks”. Each of these corresponds to 341 milliliters of beer with five percent alcohol content or 142 milliliters of wine with twelve percent alcohol content. Consuming more than two standard drinks increases the risk of developing breast or colon cancer. Canadian experts say even alcoholic beverage labels should have a cancer warning.
The zero-alcohol rule puts Canada on the outside when compared to policies in other Western countries. For example, Switzerland and the USA recommend no more than two drinks per day for men and one for women.
The French and Australians are allowed a maximum of 10 standard drinks per week, while the UK Department of Health recommends the public not to drink more than 14 “units” of alcohol per week – the equivalent of about six glasses of wine or 3.4 liters of beer.