Non-alcohol consumption is best for health, says research

BANGKOK, September 11 (TNA) - A US research project has found that alcohol is the 7th most serious risk factor causing the death and physical disability for up to about 2.8 million world population in 2016 alone. Asst. Prof. Dr. Udomsak Ngao, a senior academic at the Center for Alcohol Studies (CAS) and the Center of Excellence in Health System and Medical Research CE-HSMR) of Bangkok-based Walailak University, told journalists on Tuesday that the information, discovered by a team of researchers at Washington University, was published in "The Lancet", a world oldest and most recognized medical journal. Asst. Prof. Dr. Udomsak stated that the research project on alcohol-borne diseases, conducted during 1990-2016 when most relevant data and information were gathered from 195 nations worldwide, found alcohol was the world's 7th most serious risk factor for the death and physical disability of global population slated at up to 2.8 million in 2016 alone. Based on the research project, alcohol consumption, though slightly at a drink (10 grams), could cause more than 200 diseases, including liver, breast, oral cavity, esophagus, larynx and intestine cancer, as well as tuberculosis, brain attack, or cerebral hemorrhage, and heart attack from high blood pressure for all groups of people, especially men, although the slight drink of alcohol could minimally ease the risk of coronary disease. Asst. Prof. Dr. Udomsak warned that the risk of death could begin from only a drink of alcohol per day, meaning that there was no safety at all from any amount of alcohol, which was in line with the warning published in the UK Chief Medical Officers’ Low Risk Drinking Guidelines in 2016 and in the World Cancer Research Fund and the American Institute for Cancer Research in 2018. "This US research project, which was based on the world's most data and information, showed clearly that drinking alcohol, though only slightly, could affect people's health. The research found that only a drink, or 10 grams equivalent to a can of beer), could cause four cases of death among 100,000 world population", the senior Thai academic said. (TNA)