In 2009, Australia issued new guidelines (see the FAQs section here (PDF 454KB)) - replacing those from 2001 - for the consumption of alcohol through the government’s National Health and Medical Research Council. The 2009 Australian Guidelines to Reduce Health Risks from Drinking Alcohol (keep this title in mind) halved the acceptable levels of consumption for men from four to two glasses of alcohol daily (the level for women remained at two glasses).
In 2010, the United States issued a draft - through its Department of Agriculture - of Dietary Guidelines for Americans, which is reissued every five years. The group responsible for the alcohol section (PDF 323KB) was headed by epidemiologist Eric Rimm of Harvard Medical School, where he is a co-director of the Health Professionals Follow-Up Study. This “prospective” research project has tracked groups of doctors’ and nurses’ health outcomes and drinking for decades.
The two sets of guidelines differed rather substantially. The American guidelines assert: “the lowest mortality risk for men and women [occurs] at the average level of one to two drinks per day, [and] is likely due to the protective effects of moderate alcohol consumption on CHD [coronary heart disease], diabetes and ischemic stroke as summarized in this chapter.” . . . . .
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