Even low risk drinking is driving ill health
- Study links ‘low risk’ alcohol consumption to higher rates of cardiovascular disease and cancer, as well as worse sleep, daily functioning and dental health
- Calls for Government to introduce health risk labelling and marketing restrictions to give people the facts about alcohol and curb tactics pushing us to drink more
Balance has joined calls for the Government to take more action to reduce alcohol harm as a new study reveals that even ‘low risk’ drinking is impacting the nation’s health and wellbeing.
The large scale ‘Alcohol Harm Across the Drinking Spectrum’ research, conducted by the Behavioural Insights Team (BIT) on behalf of Alcohol Change UK, examined the drinking habits of more than 4,000 UK adults and the wide range of harms associated with different levels of alcohol consumption.
Although it found that harms are more prevalent and severe among those drinking at hazardous and harmful levels, the study identified statistically significant associations between ‘low risk’ drinking up to the Chief Medical Officers’ “low risk” guidelines of 14 units per week (about six pints or eight medium glasses of wine a week) – and higher rates of cardiovascular disease (5% vs 1%) and cancer (4% vs 1%).
In addition, ‘low risk’ drinkers reported experiencing reduced sleep quality, worse daily functioning and poorer dental health, compared to those who have never consumed alcohol.
The report also highlights disparities in alcohol-related harms, with men and people from lower socioeconomic groups experiencing increased health problems related to their alcohol consumption.
The worrying research sits alongside latest NHS England figures which show around 1m people in England every year are admitted to hospital linked to alcohol. The North East now has the worst rate of alcohol deaths in England – the result of decades of health inequalities.
With over 30 million people in the UK drinking at these low-risk levels, Balance is also calling for more recognition of the wide range of medical harms that people experience. which it argues could be prevented with awareness raising campaigns, health warnings on products and greater regulation of alcohol marketing.
Sue Taylor, Head of Alcohol Policy for Balance, said: “These alarming figures show that just like tobacco, alcohol is driving disease on an industrial scale – illnesses such as cancer, heart disease, liver disease and stroke. For diseases such as cancer, evidence is clear that any level of regular drinking increases the risk.
“It is a myth that health risks are only faced by people drinking at very high levels and this has resulted in national inaction when it comes to the prevention of alcohol harms. But the number of hospital admissions in England show that the impact on the NHS and communities across the region is huge.
“Alcohol advertising and price deals are everywhere, encouraging us to drink and buy more alcohol, while alcohol product labels do not have to display even basic health information. How much longer can the profits of big alcohol multinationals be placed over the health of the public and impact on public health?”
She added: “People in the North East are more likely to die or be hospitalised from alcohol, and this impact is rising year on year for our people, our streets, our health and our economy. We need urgent national action to tackle this national emergency swiftly.”
Dr Richard Piper, CEO of Alcohol Change UK, said: “For decades, we’ve fallen prey to a binary but false idea that ‘drinking problems’ only affect a minority of people with alcohol dependence. But as this research makes clear, alcohol is taking a toll on our health and wellbeing right across the drinking spectrum, even at ‘low risk’ levels.”
Balance’s Blueprint for “Reducing Alcohol Harm” is calling for urgent national action to tackle the significant impact of alcohol on health, social care, crime, disorder, workplaces, and the economy. 82% of North East adults consider alcohol to be a problem both regionally and nationally.