Abstract
Aims
The aim of this consensus paper is to review the available evidence on the association
between moderate alcohol use, health and disease and to provide a working document
to the scientific and health professional communities.
Data synthesis
In healthy adults and in the elderly, spontaneous consumption of alcoholic beverages
within 30 g ethanol/d for men and 15 g/d for women is to be considered acceptable
and do not deserve intervention by the primary care physician or the health professional
in charge. Patients with increased risk for specific diseases, for example, women
with familiar history of breast cancer, or subjects with familiar history of early
cardiovascular disease, or cardiovascular patients should discuss with their physician
their drinking habits. No abstainer should be advised to drink for health reasons.
Alcohol use must be discouraged in specific physiological or personal situations or
in selected age classes (children and adolescents, pregnant and lactating women and
recovering alcoholics). Moreover, the possible interactions between alcohol and acute
or chronic drug use must be discussed with the primary care physician.
Conclusions
The choice to consume alcohol should be based on individual considerations, taking
into account the influence on health and diet, the risk of alcoholism and abuse, the
effect on behaviour and other factors that may vary with age and lifestyle. Moderation
in drinking and development of an associated lifestyle culture should be fostered.
Keywords
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: May 03, 2013
Accepted:
February 27,
2013
Received in revised form:
January 29,
2013
Received:
November 13,
2012
Identification
Copyright
© 2013 Elsevier B.V. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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Access this article on ScienceDirectLinked Article
- Commentary on Alcohol use and healthNutrition, Metabolism and Cardiovascular DiseasesVol. 24Issue 7
- PreviewThe paper by Poli et al. [1] may stimulate a number of comments mostly oriented to the potential consequences in terms of public health after the statement that “Moderation in drinking and development of an associated lifestyle culture should be fostered”. A straight forward comment, which identifies the dangerousness of the communication of this sentence is expressed in the letter by Testino et al. [2].
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