PISCATAWAY, NJ / ACCESS Newswire / June 9, 2026 / Even what many Americans consider moderate drinking is linked to an increased risk of death, disability, and chronic diseases such as cancer and heart disease, according to a new study in the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs, published at Rutgers University.

The new research, called the Alcohol Intake and Health Study-initially commissioned by the U.S. federal government to inform development of the new U.S. Dietary Guidelines-found a mortality risk from alcohol of 1 in 25 for people who consumed an average of 14 drinks per week. In contrast, drinking up to 7 drinks per week was associated with only minimally elevated risks for most conditions.

'Even low levels of alcohol use come with health risks,' says lead study author Kevin Shield, Ph.D., an associate professor at the University of Toronto and a senior scientist who leads the World Health Organization (WHO)/Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) Collaborating Centre in Addiction and Mental Health. 'And that risk continues to increase the more someone drinks.'

Shield and co-authors from the United States and Canada aimed to estimate how lifetime drinking habits affect Americans' risk of illness and death related to alcohol. After medical experts reviewed more than 7,200 scientific articles on alcohol-related diseases and injuries to determine the level of risk for each condition, the researchers applied those risks to large national health data sets. They then used statistical modeling to estimate how different drinking levels influence long-term health outcomes.

The study offers more concrete guidance than the new U.S. Dietary Guidelines, which currently advise Americans to 'limit alcoholic beverages' without specifying how much alcohol is safe to drink. Previous guidelines recommended a daily limit of two alcoholic drinks for men and one for women.

'While the new U.S. Dietary Guidelines contain a useful 'less-is-best' message, they provide no quantitative framework. Our study was designed to do just that across the drinking spectrum,' says study co-author Timothy Naimi, M.D., M.P.H., director of the University of Victoria's Canadian Institute for Substance Use Research and an adjunct professor at Boston University.

'It turns out that two drinks per day, which might be considered ‘moderate' from a social standpoint, is associated with a substantially elevated risk of a premature death caused by alcohol,' explains Naimi.

In an accompanying editorial, Robert M. Vincent, a former Associate Administrator for the U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, discusses his view of the behind-the-scenes environment in which the study was produced. 'The Alcohol Intake and Health report was explicitly invited to inform alcohol guidance during development of the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2025-2030,' he writes. 'Despite the study's adherence to its mandate, its findings were sidelined.'

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To arrange an interview with Kevin Shield, PhD, please contact him at [email protected]. To arrange an interview with Timothy Naimi, M.D., MPH, please contact Amanda Farrell-Low, Communications Officer at the Canadian Institute for Substance Use Research at the University of Victoria, at [email protected] or 250-853-3239.

To arrange an interview with Robert M. Vincent, MSEd, please email him at [email protected].
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George, S., Naimi, T. S., Keyes, K., Martinez-Matyszczyk, P., Milam, A. J., Rehm, J., Alonso, A., Bell, S., Britton, A., Llamosas-Falcón, L., Hobin, E., Judd, S. E., Justice, A., Kahler, C., Liangpunsakul, S., Jones, S. K., Marcus, G., McGlynn, K., Satre, D., Song, M., Thrift, A. P., Udo, T., Wettlaufer, A., Zhang, Z.-F., & Shield, K. (2026). Alcohol Intake and Health Study: No protective effect at low levels, with mortality increasing to 1 in 25 at 14 drinks per week. Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs, 87(4), 621-638. https://doi.org/10.15288/jsad.25-00435

Vincent, R. M. (2026). Alcohol policy, commercial influence, and the public health costs of ignoring evidence: The case of the Alcohol Intake and Health Study. Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs, 87(4), 639-641. https://doi.org/10.15288/jsad.26-00142
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The Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs considers this press release to be in the public domain. Editors may publish this press release in print or electronic form without legal restriction. The journal is published by the Center of Alcohol and Substance Use Studies at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey.
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To view the public domain, stock-photo database of alcohol, tobacco and other drug-related images compiled by the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs, please visit www.jsad.com/photos.

SOURCE: Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs