The World Heart Federation Proclaims Alcohol Is Bad For The Heart (Unpublished)
Source: Drazen Stader / EyeEm / Getty[/caption]
This might be a distasteful blow to all the drinkers out there.
The World Heart Federation has just declared that drinking any amount of alcohol is actually bad for the heart. The WHF just revealed a new policy brief detailing their distaste for the notion that drinking moderate amounts of alcohol can decrease the risk of heart disease. The policy brief titled The Impact of Alcohol Consumption on Cardiovascular Health: Myths and Measures, presents scientific and statistical facts that supports their case in the “harms versus benefit” debate. In 2019, more than 2.4 million people died because of alcohol, accounting for 4.3% of all deaths globally and 12.6% of deaths in men aged 15 to 49.
The WHF believes drinking alcohol increases the risk of several cardiovascular problems, including coronary disease, heart failure, high blood pressure, stroke and aortic aneurysm. They see alcohol as an issue that can be an avoidable risk that people do not need to take in respect of their health.
The Geneva-based organization also sees that any other studies that claim the opposite are actually based on purely observational research. Observational research that fails to account for other factors, such as pre-existing conditions and a history of alcoholism in those considered to be abstinent. The brief even claims that to date, no reliable correlation has been found between moderate alcohol consumption and a lower risk of heart disease.
Monika Arora, Member of the WHF Advocacy Committee and co-author of the brief, contributed even more shocking fuel to the revelation.
The portrayal of alcohol as necessary for a vibrant social life has diverted attention from the harms of alcohol use, as have the frequent and widely publicized claims that moderate drinking, such as a glass of red wine a day, can offer protection against cardiovascular disease.
These claims are at best misinformed and at worst an attempt by the alcohol industry to mislead the public about the danger of their product.
The WHF finds the psychoactive as a proponent of many socio and economic issues within the world. Alcohol costs health systems, out of pocket expenditure, and productivity losses, as well as the increased risk of violence, homelessness, and criminal activity. The organization also found that most of the harm is inflicted onto people who fall within the lower socio-economic backgrounds.
The WHF also wants countries to push its citizens to become more aware of the matter with new alcohol policies, titled WHO's S.A.F.E.R.
- Strengthen restrictions on alcohol availability.
- Advance and enforce drink driving countermeasures.
- Facilitate access to screening, brief interventions, and treatment.
- Enforce bans or comprehensive restrictions on alcohol advertising, sponsorship, and promotion.
- Raise prices on alcohol through exercise taxes and other fiscal policies.
Within the brief, the new recommended alcohol policies are explained and provide current real world examples of them working. They strongly urge national societies and organizations to play a central role in advocating for stricter alcohol control measures. Prior to this new policy brief, The World Health Organization was already on the prowl for the reduction for alcohol usage globally. They called for a 10% relative reduction in the per capita use of alcohol between 2013 and 2030, but the report said a lack of investment in proven alcohol reduction strategies, in addition to misinformation from the industry, has sullied progress toward that goal.
Of course, there was backlash towards the claims of any consumption of alcohol is bad.
The presence of resveratrol in wine has been known for its cardioprotective characteristics in light to moderate drinkers for 3 decades. Scholars like Emmanuela Gakidou still believe that to be true. The professor at University of Washington’s Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation told CNN that some scientific studies support their claims but don't support the information gathered in her studies.
Given that the WHF report references this [Lancet alcohol study] paper, it is really odd that their conclusion is that ‘no amount of alcohol is good for the heart'.
There are some scientific studies that support their headline, but based on my work on the Global Burden of Disease Study, which pulls together all the available evidence to date, the claim by the WHF is not supported by the scientific evidence currently available.
Comments
Post a Comment