Alcohol received significantly less scrutiny than in years past in the Trump administration’s new dietary recommendations, which focus on moderation rather than on consumption guidelines.
The Dietary Guidelines for Americans, a document governing all federal food programs, used to recommend that men limit their alcohol intake to two drinks per day and women only one drink per day, but the new document published on Wednesday does not offer any specific quantity recommendations on alcohol consumption.
The eased guidance represents a victory for distillers, brewers, and winemakers, who have fought to stave off tougher recommendations. Yet, it is also at odds with the broader “Make America Healthy Again,” or MAHA, platform advanced by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., which is meant to improve health by improving diets and limiting exposure to food and drinks that cause disease.
Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz told reporters on Wednesday during the White House announcement of the DGAs that alcohol is a “social lubricant that brings people together” and the recommendations in the document reflect moderation rather than a specific amount.
“The implication is: don’t have it for breakfast,” said Oz. “This should be something done a small amount, with, hopefully, some kind of an event that may have alcohol added.”
The document also instructs that pregnant women, those recovering from alcohol use disorder, and those on certain medications should avoid alcohol completely. Those with family histories of alcoholism are also advised to “be mindful of alcohol consumption and associated addictive behaviors.”
Oz said that there was “never really good data to support” specific quantity recommendations for alcohol consumption in prior iterations of the dietary guidelines, which are produced every five years by the Health and Human Services and Agriculture Departments.
The new recommendations come amid a long-brewing conflict over the safety of alcohol.
Three studies published independently in December 2024 from the National Academy of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, HHS, and former Surgeon General Vivek Murthy each recognized with moderate scientific confidence that one alcoholic drink per day increased the risk of breast cancer for women.
But the surgeon general and HHS reports found that alcohol use is associated with increased mortality for six different types of cancers for both men and women, including colorectal, liver, oral cavity, pharynx, larynx, and esophageal cancers.
The World Health Organization in 2022 classified alcohol as a Group 1 carcinogen, the same category as asbestos and formaldehyde, saying that cancer risks “start from the first drop.”
Oz highlighted during the press conference that alcohol plays a significant role in the diets of people in the so-called Blue Zones, or countries with the highest concentrations of people with the longest lifespans, including Japan and the southern Mediterranean.
“If you look at the Blue Zones, for example, around the world, where people live the longest, alcohol is sometimes part of their diet, again, small amounts taken very judiciously and usually in a celebratory fashion,” said Oz.
AMERICANS ARE DRINKING LESS, WHY?
More than 20 trade associations, including the Wine and Spirits Guild of America, the American Beverage Licensees, and the Consumer Brands Association, praised the new recommendations.
“The Dietary Guidelines’ longstanding, overarching advice is that if alcohol is consumed, it should be done in moderation. These updated guidelines, underpinned by the preponderance of scientific evidence, reaffirm this important guidance,” the trade groups said.
The U.S. Alcohol Policy Alliance, though, a group that advocates for less drinking, said that the “new federal guidelines are a big win for the alcohol industry and their advocates in Congress. The scientific evidence is clear: alcohol is a toxic, addictive carcinogen that kills about 178,000 Americans each year — a 30 percent increase in fatalities over the past decade.”
