Ein Gläschen Wein am Abend hat noch niemandem geschadet? Von wegen: Forscher kommen in einer großen Studie über Alkoholkonsum und Erkrankungen zu einem anderen Ergebnis - und fordern ein Umdenken.

Schon der geringe Alkoholkonsum birgt gesundheitliche Risiken. Zu diesem Schluss kommen die Autoren einer Studie über den weltweiten Konsum alkoholischer Getränke und den Zusammenhang mit 23 Krankheiten. "Frühere Studien haben eine schützende Wirkung von Alkohol unter bestimmten Bedingungen ergeben", erklärt Max Griswold von der University of Washington in Seattle, "aber wir haben festgestellt, dass die kombinierten Gesundheitsrisiken im Zusammenhang mit Alkohol mit jedem Quantum Alkohol steigen."

Findings
Globally, alcohol use was the seventh leading risk factor for both deaths and DALYs in 2016, accounting for 2·2% (95% uncertainty interval [UI] 1·53·0) of age-standardised female deaths and 6·8% (5·88·0) of age-standardised male deaths. Among the population aged 1549 years, alcohol use was the leading risk factor globally in 2016, with 3·8% (95% UI 3·24·3) of female deaths and 12·2% (10·813·6) of male deaths attributable to alcohol use. For the population aged 1549 years, female attributable DALYs were 2·3% (95% UI 2·02·6) and male attributable DALYs were 8·9% (7·89·9). The three leading causes of attributable deaths in this age group were tuberculosis (1·4% [95% UI 1·01·7] of total deaths), road injuries (1·2% [0·71·9]), and self-harm (1·1% [0·61·5]). For populations aged 50 years and older, cancers accounted for a large proportion of total alcohol-attributable deaths in 2016, constituting 27·1% (95% UI 21·233·3) of total alcohol-attributable female deaths and 18·9% (15·322·6) of male deaths. The level of alcohol consumption that minimised harm across health outcomes was zero (95% UI 0·00·8) standard drinks per week.
Interpretation
Alcohol use is a leading risk factor for global disease burden and causes substantial health loss. We found that the risk of all-cause mortality, and of cancers specifically, rises with increasing levels of consumption, and the level of consumption that minimises health loss is zero. These results suggest that alcohol control policies might need to be revised worldwide, refocusing on efforts to lower overall population-level consumption.