U.S. dietary guidelines remove numeric alcohol limits after internal push for one-drink cap

Federal dietary guidelines released this month drop longstanding numeric alcohol caps after officials last spring considered recommending that both men and women limit consumption to one drink a day, according to a March draft obtained by The New York Times and people with knowledge of the process who spoke anonymously.

The internal H.H.S. document, first reported in part by Reuters, said that “even moderate drinking can carry health risks” and stipulated that both men and women should “limit consumption to one standard drink or less per day.” That proposal did not become a formal recommendation; the team that worked on the document was disbanded, with some members terminated and others reassigned.

Andrew Nixon, a Health Department spokesman, said the process was lawful and transparent and that “the dietary guidelines were based on rigorous scientific review and independent oversight.” The debate has been shaped by two government-commissioned reviews. The National Academies report, which Congress required be the only alcohol-related study used to inform the guidelines, defined moderate drinking as one drink a day for women and two for men and found lower all-cause and cardiovascular mortality but higher breast cancer risk with drinking.

Key Topics

Health, Dietary Guidelines, Alcohol, Hhs, Robert Kennedy, Mehmet Oz