President Donald Trump famously does not drink alcohol. He learned this the hard way from his older brother’s alcoholism. Fred Trump began binge drinking in college, which ran his life into the ground and doubtless contributed to his early death at age 42.
The president has described Fred as a “great guy,” the “best-looking guy” with the “best personality — much better than mine.” Before Fred passed, he warned his younger brother to avoid alcohol and cigarettes.
Society has long recognized the deleterious impact of excessive drinking, while also recognizing that outright bans can have even worse unintended consequences. Therefore, the Department of Health and Human Services this month released common-sense changes to federal guidance on alcohol consumption.
The policies, announced in early January by HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., aim to provide a rational, science-based approach to alcohol consumption while simultaneously urging the public to eat healthier. Given that the biggest health problem in the country is obesity-related illnesses, improvement to the country’s health is long overdue.
Previous federal guidelines were studied and tweaked. This included the rather unscientific guideline that the drink limit for men and women should be two and one, respectively — better guidelines include age and weight and can be found on any number of digital safe-drinking resources. Moreover, a shot of hard liquor has much more alcohol in it than a beer, which made the past guidance confusing.
Former President Joe Biden’s surgeon general, Vivek Murthy, went so far as to call for cancer-warning labels on alcoholic drinks, like we’ve long had with cigarettes, but these new guidelines don’t go that far. At the announcement, Dr. Oz said that alcohol can serve as a valuable “social lubricant” in some cases, though he also said he doesn’t drink himself.
He did say pretty bluntly, “Don’t have it for breakfast.”
Those who should completely avoid alcohol, according to the federal guidelines and all conceivable scientific data, include pregnant women, recovering alcoholics, and anyone taking medications that could adversely interact with booze.
These common-sense changes to federal guidelines are underscored by encouraging data that show Gen Z drinks much less than previous generations. The three main reasons cited are concerns over health and money and because it isn’t “cool” anymore. Opinion seems to be divided on how much the children and young adults are smoking nowadays, with reports that cigarette smoking is at an all-time low, while others say it is becoming cool again among youth.
The new FDA guidelines also urge people to eat more whole foods, incorporate healthy fats, prioritize protein-rich meals, and consume full-fat dairy with no added sugars. One bogus “health” food trick that companies came up with a while ago was to advertise foods that were low in fat but had extra sugar, which is toxic.
The president previously noted that his brother’s premature death from alcohol abuse “affected everything that has come after it. … I think constantly that I never really gave him thanks for it. He was the first Trump boy out there, and I subconsciously watched his moves.”
If more people follow these guidelines, hopefully fewer similar deaths will occur in the future. Pardon the expression, but the country indeed appears to be getting healthy again.
