Scientists who reviewed alcohol risks for the US government published the Alcohol Intake and Health Study in the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs, NBC News reported. The PubMed record says the paper found no net health gain from alcohol at low levels. It also put the lifetime risk of an alcohol-caused death at 1 in 25 for men at 14 drinks a week, or two drinks a day.

NBC News said men above 6.5 drinks a week and women above seven drinks a week had more than a 1-in-1,000 lifetime risk of dying from an alcohol-linked disease or injury. That risk rose above 1 in 100 at more than 8.5 drinks a week for men and women. The authors say adults should have no more than one drink a day. Those figures are group estimates, not a personal risk score for any one drinker.

AP reporting carried by CNN said the study was ordered under the Biden team to help shape diet advice and was left out when the Trump team issued rules that only urge people to drink less alcohol. A former federal alcohol policy official wrote that the research was set aside. An HHS spokesperson said the rules rest on the full science record, not any single paper, NBC News and AP via CNN reported.

The paper is not government policy. Co-author Jürgen Rehm said each person still has to weigh their own health history when deciding whether to drink. About half of Americans age 12 or older had a drink in the past month, AP via CNN noted.

What we know: The published study finds no net health gain from light drinking, puts a 1-in-25 lifetime alcohol-death risk at two drinks a day for men, and urges a one-drink daily cap.
What we don't: Whether future US diet rules will adopt a numbered daily limit based on this paper.