Reply to Even a Little Alcohol Can Harm Your Health

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]“Notably, none of the experts we spoke to called for abstaining completely, unless you have an alcohol use disorder or are pregnant.”

I mean, the main message here is what we have heard from the medical profession for a long time - stick to the drinking guidelines or abstain.  [/quote]

That is the messaging, but the reality is that any alcohol can harm your health. Public health authorities can't say everyone should stop drinking. But you should not try to convince yourself that alcohol is harmless or beneficial. It isn't. Drinking is a health decisions, just like eating doughnuts or drinking soda. [/quote]

I just posted, but this message is the kind of all or nothing thinking that’s not helpful, from a public health perspective.  Someone having, for example, one drink per month is not meaningfully harming your health.  We need to be thinking about regular behaviors, not occasional ones.  Health communications shows that messaging like “any alcohol can harm your health” often ends up pushing people to heavier drinking, because they think well, f it, rather than thinking, less alcohol is better than more.  Think of it as harm reduction vs. abstinence.[/quote]

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