The Trump administration has shelved the final draft of a government study which warns of the link between alcohol consumption and mortality risk, according to authors of the report.
In January, the Interagency Coordinating Committee on the Prevention of Underage Drinking (ICCPUD) released draft findings that suggested the risk of dying from alcohol-related causes starts even with low average consumption levels.
The study was one of two reports intended to inform the new Dietary Guidelines for Americans in 2025-2030.
Two co-authors of the Alcohol Intake and Health Study told Just Drinks they understood the final version of the report would no longer be used to support the development of the new guidelines.
Co-author Dr Priscilla Martinez said, "we were told the Alcohol Intake and Health report will not be used to inform the drinking guidelines as planned, and I am unaware of another report that is going to replace the AIH report".
She added that the group plans to publish the Alcohol Intake and Health Study findings in a separate academic journal "but we have not been told that will be used to inform the drinking guidelines".
Three of the study's six co-authors confirmed to Vox, which first reported on the story, that the government did not plan to publish the final report nor its findings.
Just Drinks however also understands the report has been given to the US Department of Health and Human Services Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health (HHS/OASH) and the Department of Agriculture for examination.
The news follows the White House confirming at the start of this month that the government would be defunding the ICCPUD.
In a statement, it said the committee had been used "improperly" by the previous administration "to carry out activities related to adult alcohol consumption".
According to the draft findings in the Alcohol Intake and Health Study, men and women drinking just one drink a day have "increased risk of liver cirrhosis, esophageal cancer, oral cancer, and injuries but a lower risk for ischemic stroke".
The report also suggested that in the US, “males and females have a one in 1000 risk of dying from alcohol use if they consume more than seven drinks per week”.
This risk is said to escalate to one in 100 if alcohol consumption exceeds nine drinks per week.
Present Dietary Guidelines for Americans define “one drink” as 12 ounces of beer (5% alcohol), five ounces of wine (12% alcohol), or 1.5 ounces of distilled spirits (40% alcohol).
Speaking to The New York Times on the withdrawal of the report, Mike Marshall, CEO of US Alcohol Policy Alliance, said the Department of Health and Human Services was "doing the work of the alcohol industry".
"They’re burying the report so the information about the health consequences is not widely known,” he added.
Alongside the Alcohol Intake and Health Study, the second study intended was to inform the new US dietary guidelines was the Review of Evidence on Alcohol and Health, published at the end of last year by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM).
NASEM's findings suggested that “with moderate certainty… compared with never consuming alcohol, moderate alcohol consumption is associated with lower all-cause mortality”. It clarified that "all-cause mortality refers to the total number of deaths in a population due to any cause".
The study did, however, highlight “with moderate certainty” that moderate alcohol consumption was linked to an increased risk of women developing breast cancer.
Dr Martinez said she understood it is now solely the NASEM report that will inform new drinking guidelines.
In a LinkedIn post yesterday (8 September), Marshall also said: "Most people probably think the Dietary Guidelines of America (DGA), released every five years, are not relevant or considered by most Americans. But if you Google "how much alcohol is healthy" the first thing that comes up is the current recommendations of the DGA: 2 drinks/day for men and one drink for women.
"Policy makers, healthcare professionals and adults across the country use these recommendations as a guide to drinking. But recent studies (and the World Health Organization) make it abundantly clear that there is no safe or healthy level of alcohol use. The DGA should say exactly that so that everyone can make the best decisions for themselves. But RFK, Jr is preventing that from happening."
The ICCPUD’s draft findings received some backlash from the drinks industry when they were released in January. A statement co-signed by trade groups as part of the Science Over Bias coalition called for the US Department of Agriculture and Department of Health and Human Services to reject the findings.
Distilled Spirits Council of the United States (DISCUS), American Cider Association and the Brewers Association were among a list of over 20 agricultural, drinks and hospitality associations that called for the ICCPUD results to be ignored.
