Canada is implementing new health guidelines
when it comes to drinking alcohol.
The recommendation says that Canadians limit
themselves to two drinks a week, a week,
or ideally, cut out alcohol altogether,
saying that moderate drinking can pose
a number of serious health risks.
Our nine health expert Doctor
Pyle Coley is joining us now.
And first of all,
Canada revised their guidelines.
Literally.
Yesterday we did a story on
saying that moderate alcohol
reduces your risk of dementia.
Well, let's be clear, moderate
alcohol doesn't reduce your risk.
It's associated with the lower.
OK, see, we knew there
was more to that story.
It could be a marker for
other healthful behaviors.
For example, the study that you're
talking about came came out of Korea.
In Korea, if you're able to access a
couple of glasses of alcohol a day,
you're probably in a.
What's your demographic status?
That's a little bit better.
So it could be a marker for wealth.
It could be a marker for access
to medical care, something else.
But alcohol itself,
it's quite clear,
is not good for our brain
health and our bodies health.
Well, tell us about the Canadian
study then, or at least what their
their recommendations are becoming.
Yeah, the guidelines have done
a 180 and it's really turned the
whole medical community on its head
because we're wondering if we should
be doing the same thing here in the
US so they used to have 10 to 15
drinks a week as the sort of safe,
moderate drinking limit.
Now they've taken that down to two.
As you can see, there's a dose dependent
relationship between alcohol and risk.
So anymore than two,
meaning three to six increased risk
for cancer and then when you're
getting into more than seven a week,
not a day, but a week,
you're talking about significantly,
exponentially increased risk for
heart disease,
stroke and cancer.
This is, this is just guidance.
It's not not a rule or anything in Canada,
but when you go from 10 to 15 to 2,
that's a significant,
yes it is, it's a significant change,
but it's a long time coming.
It's time we woke up here in the
US and take note of the emerging
medical literature because what we're,
we've been holding on to with
what we had here in the US,
which was seven for women,
you know, one drink a day for women
and two drinks a day for men.
So 7 to 14 drinks a week.
That's historical artifact that's
based on old studies from decades ago
where we thought it wasn't as bad for
us as it actually turns out to be.
Yeah, well,
I mean, we always have to fill that out.
When you go to the doctor,
how do you drink?
How much do you drink?
And and you always wonder, well,
why does it matter that much?
What does happen?
What does happen with
that information? Well,
a lot of different things.
So at the doctors, we're talking
not just about our health risks,
but also medication interaction.
So are there medicines you might
be taking that could be affecting?
We also look at how much you drink
as part of your overall behavior.
And especially after the COVID-19 pandemic,
we have seen increases
in those numbers go up.
And my problem is it's become a social norm.
What do we do when we go out on weekends?
We meet friends for drinks.
What do we do when we try to relax?
We drink. We have to turn that culture.
A difference so that we're now
thinking non-alcoholic choices,
we're thinking water,
we're thinking other ways to socialize
that doesn't involve alcohol.
It it seems like it's going to
be a difficult push from this
sociological component of that.
You're talking about a cultural shift.
You've you hate to use
broad brush stereotypes,
but Canadians are famous, you know,
for having a few molsons,
going to the curling match,
going to the hockey game.
And it's just,
it's part of culture there.
It is part of culture. But you know,
the Canadian guidelines are much more
in alignment with other countries,
even European countries,
where the stereotype is that they drink.
Not, but in the UK for example,
it's 6 drinks a week.
So here in the United States at 7 to
14 that is off the charts high and
we're misrepresenting the the health
risks of alcohol by leaving it at that.
So I think this is going to be a
wake up call for other countries,
US especially,
which kind of leads the charge in
the high number of drinks that
we say are OK to really start
to think again about what's safe
when it comes to alcohol.
One thing I've learned over the
past two or three years is that
Americans like being told by the
medical community what to do.
That's. It's just gonna say this
is gonna make me wildly popular
to tell everyone that they
should drink less than two. But
that's those are the facts.
That's that's the the medical analysis.
And here's what I would say.
If you wanna drink for a week,
it is better to drink one every
day for four days than it is
to be a weekend warrior and do
four on Friday or 4 on Saturday
because it's the effective dose
of alcohol that your body has to
metabolize and sort of break down.
When you're doing that on the
week #2, don't you
also for 250 pound people and 112 pound.
People that that that's
going to be a very different
drinks is a lot. It's
certainly, of course,
and it's variable if you're a
man or woman because the volume
of your body is different size.
So the amount of distribution
that the drug has is different.
How much you drink at baseline,
you whether you work in
the morning or at night,
you know whether you use use other
medications that can interfere,
those all impact your risk.
But I think it's just time for
every American to wake up,
ask themselves critically what they're
doing with their alcohol consumption,
why they're doing it and whether they
should continue or try to cut back.
Yeah. If it, if nothing else,
I mean we none of us like to
be told what we should do.
But if we're talking about it,
maybe we can do it, you know,
and and do it amongst our friends.
You know, make it part of the social
norm. Yes. So you meet your
friends for a walk in the park
or coffee or something else.
I'm not positive. Yes.
Rather than necessarily the
alcohol centered behavior.
See what that impact has from the
those who are north. Thanks as always.
Doctor Pyle Coley visiting with us today.