A sweeping new review of decades of research has reached the kind of conclusion your pancreas could probably have offered for free: alcohol contributes to a startling range of diseases, injuries, cancers, infections, neurological problems, and assorted bodily catastrophes affecting pretty much every major organ system. Cheers!
Sinclair Carr, first author of the review, adds: “Our review of the current evidence on alcohol’s effects on health leads to a cautious but clear conclusion: alcohol is a major cause of disease and injury, and its harms outweigh any potential benefits.” Sinclair Carr is a PhD candidate at the Department of Epidemiology, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.
Reference: “A review of the relationship between dimensions of alcohol consumption and the burden of disease: 2026 update including Mendelian randomisation studies” by Sinclair Carr, Ana Lucia Espinosa Dice, Gerhard E. Gmel, Ahmed S. Hassan, Kevin D. Shield and Jürgen Rehm, 13 May 2026, Addiction.
DOI: 10.1111/add.70435Research reported in this publication was supported by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism of the National Institutes of Health (NIAAA), grant number 1R01AA028224.
In related news, cigarettes remain a suboptimal health choice.
Too bad the brain loves intoxication. Animals seem to love it too, birds and elephants are especially fond of eating fermented fruits.
Cheers to that!