Biden-Era Alcohol Risk Study Released Independently After Not Being Featured in 2025–2030 Dietary Guidelines

A study commissioned by former President Joe Biden’s administration that examined alcohol-related health harms was released independently on Tuesday after the Trump administration decided not to feature its findings in the 2025–2030 Dietary Guidelines for Americans.

The study, published in the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs, concluded that health risks increase with just one drink a day and that no level of alcohol has a protective effect on mortality. Even moderate consumption raises the risk of premature death and more than 200 diseases, including heart disease and cancer, the researchers found.

The new study was one of two government reviews intended to inform the dietary guidelines. ” Robert Vincent, the former Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration alcohol policy official who led the yearslong effort, wrote in an accompanying editorial that the Trump administration had sidelined the research. Vincent was laid off last year as part of a government reduction in force.

“The challenges confronting alcohol policy today are not rooted in scientific uncertainty,” Vincent wrote. ” The Trump administration denies the allegation. S. ” The department stated that the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration was not involved in the review or clearance of the study for publication.

Vincent told The Associated Press that the researchers were thoroughly vetted for conflicts and that the findings were scientifically sound.

He said that while serving in the Trump administration he was “asked to kill the study” but did not. The House oversight committee released a report earlier this year that called the study “fraught with bias” and accused the authors of having predetermined conclusions. ” Dr.

Timothy Naimi, director of the University of Victoria’s Canadian Institute for Substance Use Research and one of the study’s authors, said the guidelines’ message that “less is best” aligned with the research but lacked specific quantity information.

“I’m glad that they had a message that corresponds with our science, and that is that less is best,” Naimi said. ” Priscilla Martinez-Matyszczyk, another author and deputy scientific director at the Public Health Institute’s Alcohol Research Group, said the study examined mortality specifically attributed to alcohol rather than all-cause mortality to avoid confounding factors.

About half of Americans age 12 or older had a drink in the past month, the researchers said. One drink equals about one 12-ounce can of beer, a 5-ounce glass of wine, or a shot of liquor.