Canadians deserve sound scientific information on responsible alcohol consumption

Recently, the Canadian Centre on Substance Use and Addiction released a new report titled Low-Risk Alcohol Drinking Guidelines funded by Health Canada. Mark Hicken is a wine industry consultant and former liquor policy adviser to the B.C. Ministry of Attorney General (under former attorney general and current Premier David Eby). Photograph courtesy of Mark Hicken While the report is not adopted or approved by Health Canada, the Canadian Centre on Substance Use and Addiction (CCSA) continues to brand this new report as Canada’s new drinking guidelines. Seeing as the federal government has not adopted the guidelines, that's misleading. This report is based on cherry-picked research which considered only alcohol-related cancer risks. It exaggerates those risks and generates unwarranted fear by only reporting the relative risk and not the absolute risk which is the scientific standard. The report is receiving an increased amount of scrutiny for these very reasons, even receiving a failing grade by scientific peers for the report’s lack of sound research. There are serious problems with the CCSA’s report When you look closely, the report’s authors cherry-picked their research sources. The research started with almost 6,000 relevant studies but disqualified all but 16 of them, many of which were authored by the same small group of people, meaning it is not representative of the science in this area. The report considered only alcohol-related cancer risk, while overlooking key variables such as diet, obesity, smoking, exercise, and family history. This is a prime example of confirmation bias: by seeking only alcohol-related risk, that is all it finds. The CCSA’s own technical analysis outlines various health benefits from drinking alcohol in moderation, particularly in respect to heart disease and stroke. It also fails to consider the well-documented psychological and social benefits of moderate alcohol consumption on the lives of Canadians. Canadian cardiologists raising concerns In Quebec, the provincial government did not sign on to the report, and the report was rejected by scientific experts in the province for its lack of scientific rigour. In fact, Martin Juneau, cardiologist and director of prevention at the Montreal Heart Institute deemed the recommendations "too restrictive" and "a little extreme." While the CCSA is pushing this report as the direction the science is taking us, Juneau says that this is not what the science says and that the reading of the scientific data by the CCSA is biased. He said, in French, “with cardiovascular disease, in particular, we continue to see the literature showing that alcohol in small quantities protects against myocardial infarction, and therefore heart attack, which is one of the most important causes of premature mortality." Like many experts, the cardiologist believes it is above all necessary to individualize risk and appeal to people's best judgement. In Ontario, Dr. Rakowski, a senior cardiologist, world-renowned specialist in hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, and former director and deputy director of Clinical Cardiology for the Peter Munk Cardiac Centre, says that while the CCSA claims it used new research to support its drastic change in guidance, most of the data used in January’s CCSA study was available for the previous less restrictive guidelines. He highlights that what changed was the method of analysis and the CCSA’s focus on looking at alcohol risk in isolation without considering the role of other associated risk factors. International community also raising concerns Outside of Canada, there is additional scepticism. The International Scientific Forum on Alcohol Research (ISFAR), an international group of invited physicians and scientists who are specialists in their fields and committed to balanced and well-researched analysis regarding alcohol and health, gave the CCSA report a failing grade due to poor science. Forum member R. Curtis Ellison, who has evaluated scientific data on the relationship between the consumption of alcohol and health outcomes for more than three decades, says in the critique, “I am appalled by the conclusions of the authors of this paper. They present a pseudo-scientific amalgamation of selected studies of low scientific validity that fit their preconceived notions and ignore many high-quality studies whose results may not support their own views”. He further stated that, “these recommended guidelines do not contribute to allowing Canadians to make well-informed decisions on alcohol use and how it will affect their health.” The serious concerns here at home and abroad about the CCSA’s report should give pause to anyone in Canada looking to the report for public health advice. It’s clear that more research is needed to best inform Canadians on their alcohol intake. Canadians deserve better information so they can make better choices about their health. Mark Hicken is a wine industry consultant and former liquor policy adviser to the B.C. Ministry of Attorney General (under former attorney general and current Premier David Eby). The Hill Times