By John Q. Hosedrinker 
The alcohol industry, with allies in Congress and the Trump administration, has sought to bury a government study revealing the link between alcohol consumption and various health risks, including cancer. The industry’s efforts have apparently succeeded, as the Trump administration is not publishing the study, which found negative health effects starting at low levels of drinking. Simultaneously, the National Academies of Sciences published a controversial report potentially downplaying these risks, potentially paving the way for less restrictive dietary guidelines regarding alcohol consumption. This decision, seemingly in favor of the industry, could leave Americans less informed about the dangers of alcohol.
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RFK Jr. and the White House buried a major study on alcohol and cancer. Here’s what it shows. Let’s dive into a story that’s creating some serious waves, touching on health, politics, and the ever-present influence of big industries. It seems a major study linking alcohol to cancer was, shall we say, sidelined, and the implications are pretty significant.
The subject of the study, commissioned by the US Department of Health and Human Services, was the relationship between alcohol intake and overall health. Its aim was to explore how different levels of alcohol consumption impact various health outcomes. The research broke down findings by drinking levels, from one drink per day to three, focusing on health issues that have been proven to be linked with alcohol use. The conclusion was stark: the negative health effects of drinking alcohol begin at even low levels of consumption and rise rapidly as a person drinks more. The study estimated that a man drinking one alcoholic beverage a day had about a 1 in 1,000 chance of dying from an alcohol-related cause, such as cancer, liver disease, or a drunk driving accident. The odds, according to the study, jump to one in 25 with two drinks a day. That’s a dramatic increase, and it raises some serious questions about the risks we might be unknowingly taking.
Of course, this isn’t exactly news to the medical and scientific community. The World Health Organization has stated clearly that no amount of alcohol is safe for our health. Alcohol is a known carcinogen, a Group 1 carcinogen to be precise, the highest risk category, alongside substances like asbestos. Yet, many people in the US aren’t fully aware of this, and the alcohol industry, as the story suggests, has a vested interest in keeping it that way. It’s a well-known fact that selling alcohol is a highly profitable business, while healthcare-related issues often deal with smaller profit margins, especially if these findings were to impact alcohol sales.
Now, let’s get back to the study itself. The authors found that alcohol consumption is associated with increased mortality from several cancers including colorectal, breast in women, liver, oral, pharynx, larynx, and esophagus. They also concluded that the risk for these cancers increases with even a small amount of drinking and rises with higher consumption. Furthermore, the study noted that women may experience a higher risk of alcohol-related cancer per drink consumed than men. Sadly, the data also stated that those who die from alcohol-attributable causes die, on average, 15 years earlier.
The fact that this research seems to have been buried, potentially by the Trump administration, is raising a lot of eyebrows. The timing is interesting, especially with RFK Jr.’s known focus on health issues, such as vaccines and autism. It’s ironic that a major study about alcohol and cancer didn’t garner the same attention, even though alcohol, by many accounts, has a massive impact on public health.
The story really drives home a key point: We all deserve to have this information, so that we can make informed decisions about our own health. Despite the fact that alcohol is almost normalized in our culture, this research is evidence that even moderate consumption is a threat to our health. Perhaps it’s time to have a more open and honest conversation about alcohol and its impact on our lives.