A doctor has issued a stark warning about a popular drink consumed by millions of Britons, which is officially classified as a carcinogen. According to the medical expert, there is no safe amount of this beverage that a person can consume.
Alcohol Consumption in the UK
Drinking alcohol is a common pastime in the United Kingdom, with a YouGov survey indicating that approximately 82 percent of Brits admit to drinking. Data from 2022 reveals that six percent of British adults have an alcoholic drink every day, while another four percent consume alcohol five or six days per week. Around one in seven (14 percent) enjoy alcohol on three or four days weekly, 23 percent drink once or twice a week, and a third (33 percent) drink less frequently but still partake. However, a doctor has explained that even small amounts of alcohol are detrimental to health.
Doctor's Warning on Social Media
In a video uploaded to the social media platform TikTok, Doctor Sermed Mezher elaborated on the risks. He stated: “The Government says drink less than 14 units of alcohol per week. They're not saying that is a safe limit, so what are they saying?” He continued: “Let's look at the facts. The consumption of alcoholic drinks is intertwined with human history, stemming back likely thousands of years across multiple cultures from far east to west. But our modern-day lens shows us that not all traditions are good for us. In fact, with alcohol, it is quite the opposite. And in 2023, the World Health Organisation published a position statement that there is no safe level of alcohol consumption. But why? Well because alcohol is one of the most studied substances on the planet. And for us to say that there is a safe level of consumption, there needs to be a point of regular drinking that does not have negative health consequences. And the research cannot support that.”
Alcohol and Cancer Risk
He warned that alcohol consumption has been linked to cancer. “What it does support is that alcohol is a group one carcinogen,” he said. “It is linked to at least seven cancers. And around half of the cancers caused by alcohol consumption are done by light to moderate drinking.” He rebutted the theory that alcohol can have some health benefits. Dr Mezher said: “You may then say, what about the health benefits of alcohol - antioxidants like resveratrol in red wine? While the early studies which showed a benefit actually were flawed because those who were in the abstinent group had been previous drinkers, not abstinent their whole lives. And there's a big difference between somebody that is and someone who's only not been drinking for a week, but had a pint a day before that.” He added: “When the government says drink less than 14 units per week, what they're saying is that this is a realistic target for many people considering how intertwined alcohol is with culture. If you're really wanting to maximise your health, then we cannot recommend a safe drinking level at all.”
World Health Organisation Statement
In a statement made in 2023, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said: “To identify a ‘safe’ level of alcohol consumption, valid scientific evidence would need to demonstrate that at and below a certain level, there is no risk of illness or injury associated with alcohol consumption. The new WHO statement clarifies: currently available evidence cannot indicate the existence of a threshold at which the carcinogenic effects of alcohol ‘switch on’ and start to manifest in the human body. Moreover, there are no studies that would demonstrate that the potential beneficial effects of light and moderate drinking on cardiovascular diseases and type 2 diabetes outweigh the cancer risk associated with these same levels of alcohol consumption for individual consumers.”
On the WHO website, public health specialist Dr Carina Ferreira-Borges commented: “We cannot talk about a so-called safe level of alcohol use. It doesn’t matter how much you drink – the risk to the drinker’s health starts from the first drop of any alcoholic beverage. The only thing that we can say for sure is that the more you drink, the more harmful it is – or, in other words, the less you drink, the safer it is.”
Current NHS Guidelines
Current NHS guidelines recommend drinking no more than 14 units of alcohol a week. This equates to six pints of beer or six small glasses of wine. However, experts stress that even this level is not without risk, and the safest option for health is to drink less or abstain entirely.
