[bitontheslide]

In Canada, it should be Dry January all year round, according to new national recommendations that say zero alcohol is the only risk-free approach.

If you must drink at all, two drinks maximum each week is deemed low-risk by the government-backed guidance.

The advice is a steep drop from the previous recommendation, published in 2011.

Those guidelines allowed a maximum of 10 drinks a week for women and 15 drinks for men.

The new report, funded by Health Canada, also suggested mandatory warning labels for all alcoholic beverages.

"The main message from this new guidance is that any amount of alcohol is not good for your health," said Erin Hobin, a senior scientist with Public Health Ontario and a member of the expert panel that developed the guidelines. "And if you drink, less is better."

The nearly 90-page report, from the Canadian Centre on Substance Use and Addiction (CCSA), details a variety of health risks associated with what was previously considered low alcohol consumption.

According to the CCSA, any more than two standard drinks - each the equivalent of a 12-ounce (341ml; 0.6 pints) serving of 5% alcohol beer or a five-ounce (142ml; 0.26 pints) glass of 12% alcohol wine - brings an increase in negative outcomes, including breast and colon cancer.

It may be a rude awakening for the roughly 80% of Canadian adults who drink.

"The new guidance is maybe a bit shocking," Dr Hobin said. "I think it's very new information for the public that at three standard drinks per week, the risk for head and neck cancers increases by 15%, and further increases with every additional drink."

"Three standard drinks per week to most Canadians wouldn't be considered a large amount of alcohol," she added.

Canadian experts say the drastic change in guidance - from nearly two drinks per day to two per week - is the result of better research over time.

"The data across the board is improving in terms of how and what we're measuring," said Jacob Shelley, a professor of health and law at Western University.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-64311705

[LeatherTrumpet]

[Cherie]

Jeez no cake and now no alcohol ..