Canada approves low-risk alcohol drinking guidelines
“Alcohol is a health hazard,” says Deb Matthews, Ontario minister of health and long-term care. “It’s really important that we now have national guidelines.”
According to the new guidelines, women should consume no more than two drinks most days, up to 10 a week, and men should consume no more than three drinks most days, up to 15 a week. The guidelines also point out the importance of non-drinking days, to ensure that consumers are not developing a habit. Furthermore, the guidelines also states that each drinking occasion should not be more than three drinks for women, and four for men, to reduce the risk of injury.
The guidelines are not only for information to consumers, but also important for the medical community when addressing screening and brief intervention.
These guidelines represent a healthy limit, but are not guidelines to optimize health. Tim Stockwell, executive director of the Centre for Addictions Research of B.C., he points out that a daily drink is where “the risk of cancer starts.”
A next step after circulation and promotion of the guidelines is labelling with information on how many standard drinks are in each container, according to Michel Perron, CEO of the Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse (CCSA). “Without them, it’s like having a 100-kilometre speed limit and no speedometer on your car,” says Perron. “How do you gauge consumption if you don’t know how much you are drinking.” Stockwell support the label initiative, but wants to go a step further, and move to warning labels addressing the link between alcohol and cancer.
Source: The Star