By Will Hall, Baptist Message executive editor
SEATTLE (LBM) – A study conducted by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation with the
University of Washington has a published a study in Lancet, a British medical journal, finding that any amount of alcohol is unhealthy for people under 40 years old.
The global study, which looked at 22 health outcomes, found that even as little as one-tenth of a standard drink (translating into 0.34 ounces of red wine, 13 percent alcohol by volume; or 1.2 ounces of beer, 3.5 percent alcohol by volume) for a male, 16-39 years old, and one-fourth of a standard drink (0.85 ounces of red wine; 3 ounces of beer) for the same aged girl, per day, had negative impacts, including car accidents, suicides and murder.
The research was released just after the National Institutes of Health released its findings that alcohol-related deaths had surged during 2020.
In Louisiana the “under 40” study likely will be alarming to parents and policy makers as the state’s high school students lead their peers in the nation in alcohol use (35 percent).