NEW YORK: Here’s some sobering news: A large international study says adults should average no more than one alcoholic drink per day, and that means drinking guidelines in many countries may be far too loose.
The study found that people who down more than seven drinks a week can expect to die sooner than those who drink less. Regularly drinking more than 100ml of alcohol per week — about five or six medium glasses of wine or pints of beer — was linked to a shorter life expectancy for men and women, according to research published in Lancet.
The team analysed data on about 600,000 drinkers aged 30-100, from 83 studies in 19 high-income countries.
“Recommended limits in Italy, Portugal, and Spain are almost 50% higher than this, and in the USA, the upper limit for men is nearly double,” the researchers found.
The researchers factored in other health-related data such as the participants’ age, gender, diabetes history, their socio-economic status, and whether they smoked.