Dicing with the demon

If Canadians are being told two standard alcoholic drinks a week is the safe limit, why is NZ's guidance at least five times higher?

- Nicky Pellegrino

No level of alcohol consumption is safe for our health, the World Health Organisation announced earlier this year. It went on to reveal that half the alcohol-attributable cancers in the WHO European region are caused by light and moderate consumption - that is, less than 1.5 litres of wine or 3.5 litres of beer or 450ml of spirits a week.

Canada has released guidelines advising people to limit themselves to no more than two standard alcoholic drinks a week. Canada's Guidance on Alcohol and Health says the risk of developing several types of cancer - including breast and colon - increases at three to six standard drinks a week and at seven or more drinks there is a significantly increased risk of heart disease or stroke.

Canadians are advised 3-6 standard drinks a week raises their risk of several cancers.

This is very different from the advice that continues to be given in this country by Manatū Hauora/Ministry of Health, which recommends no more than 10 standard drinks a week for women and 15 for men.

Meanwhile, alcohol-related injuries are keeping our ambulance crews and doctors busy - a report released by the Southern District Health Board in 2020 found almost one in 25 emergency department admissions was alcohol related.

Last year, a University of Otago study showed 26% of all New Zealand suicide deaths involve alcohol use. And an analysis from the Global Burden of Disease estimates 1.34 billion people worldwide consumed harmful amounts of alcohol in 2020.

Rebecca Williams, acting executive director of Alcohol Healthwatch, says for effective change to happen here it is going to take more than following in Canada's footsteps.