A new study on the affects of alcohol has a shock result for all people under 40.
For most of us, our late teens and early 20s are a time when we drink and party the hardest. However, a new study has discovered that people under 40 really shouldn’t be drinking at all.
The Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) at the University of Washington in Seattle released a peer reviewed Global Burden of Diseases study, looking at “21 regions, including 204 countries and territories”.
Published in British medical journal The Lancet, researchers found that the negative health effects of alcohol on people under 40 was so severe that we shouldn’t consume it at all.
Those health affects include heart disease, strokes and diabetes — not to mention that the study found alcohol increased the chances of a person being involved in auto accidents, injury and even murder.
Unlike in the over-40s, where a small amount of alcohol was actually found to potentially have some health benefits — like reducing the risk of heart disease — there were no health benefits at all found for someone under 40 who drank.
It’s not a fact that has deterred most people from drinking so far, however. The researchers reported that approximately 1.34 billion people consumed a “dangerous” level of alcohol in 2020 — which yes, probably had something to do with Covid and lockdowns — and that 59 per cent of those people were aged between 15 to 39. It also found that men were the biggest over-drinkers, a full 76.9 per cent of those 1.34 billion “dangerous” drinkers being male.
The IHME shared a press release about the results if this study, making it clear the centre realised its findings weren’t about to make a generation abstain from drinking, but they hoped it would help some people make better choices.
“Our message is simple: Young people should not drink, but older people may benefit from drinking small amounts,” the statement read.
“While it may not be realistic to think that young people will abstain from drinking.
“We do think it’s important to communicate the latest evidence so that everyone can make informed decisions about their health.”
It may just be the kick many need to join a growing trend of 20-somethings in Australia choosing to skip the booze.
“I loved going to the pub, I was a bit of a party animal,” Jack Burton, 28, told news.com.au in an interview earlier this year.
“But last year I just got a bit over it so I took a month off for the first time ever.
“I just started to love it – the energy, and waking up feeling good, feeling more fit … I think lockdown changed a lot of people’s behaviours. We stopped going out because we couldn’t, but that broke the back of a habit of going out every weekend. You started looking for other things to do.”
Originally published as ‘Message is clear’: Study says under-40s shouldn’t be drinking
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