U.S. study finds low levels of alcohol raise health risks

A long-delayed federal study has sharpened the warning around alcohol at the very moment Washington is rewriting the nation’s drinking advice. Published June 9, 2026 in the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs, the research found that even low levels of drinking raised health risks, adding new weight to public-health officials, doctors and lawmakers who say alcohol should be treated less like a lifestyle choice and more like a preventable health hazard.

The study had been commissioned under the Biden administration to help inform alcohol guidance, but the Trump administration did not use it for the final federal guidelines. Its estimates were stark: the lifetime risk of dying from an alcohol-related cause, including injuries and road accidents, was at least 1 in 1,000 for Americans drinking one drink per day and rose to 1 in 100 for those consuming two drinks per day. For American men at two drinks per day, the risk was 1 in 25.

That matters because the 2025-2030 Dietary Guidelines for Americans, released January 7, 2026, told Americans to “consume less alcohol for better overall health” and, in USDA wording, to “limit alcohol consumption for better overall health,” but stopped short of setting a daily serving cap. It was the first time in 25 years that the guidelines gave advice directly to consumers, and the removal of a specific limit drew concern from medical groups, including the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases, which warned that stripping out evidence-based alcohol guidance could weaken public-health messaging.

The dispute has also exposed the power of the alcohol lobby in Washington. The Distilled Spirits Council of the United States said a congressional investigation led by Republican Rep. James Comer of Kentucky concluded the study was “irretrievably flawed,” and the trade group argued the research should not be considered for the dietary guidelines. At the same time, the federal government has been emphasizing a broader cancer warning: HHS says alcohol use is causally linked to at least seven cancers, including breast, colorectal, esophageal, liver, mouth, throat and laryngeal cancers, and that fewer than half of U.S. adults know about the alcohol-cancer connection.

The new study does not end the debate. A separate National Academies review used for the latest guidance found moderate drinking was associated with a lower risk of dying from any cause, leaving policymakers to weigh competing interpretations of risk and benefit. But with labels, doctor recommendations, insurance coverage, public education and preventive medicine all shaped by federal advice, the publication of this study makes one thing harder to ignore: the old claim that “light” drinking is low-risk no longer looks secure.