Part 1 | The WHO report

Months ago, I announced that I would write a blog post about the WHO report—the WHO report on alcohol consumption, which the media has been clamoring for months.

But it took time, and at first I didn't realize I was about to go down a deep rabbit hole. Because this blog post will only be part 1 of several. I don't yet know how many parts there will ultimately be. Currently, I've divided all my thoughts into 5 parts.

First, I'd like to make one important point: This series, in all its installments, is neither a glorification nor a trivialization of alcohol. With my contribution, I want to provide context, create transparency, highlight perspectives, and criticize the media.

What did the WHO actually report?

In January 2023, the World Health Organization (WHO) published a report in the journal The Lancet Public Health. In this publication, the WHO emphasized that there is no safe amount of alcohol consumption. Alcohol is a carcinogenic, toxic, and addictive substance. Even low consumption can lead to cancers such as breast and colon cancer.

• Even light to moderate consumption (e.g. less than 1.5 liters of wine per week) causes a large proportion of alcohol-related cancer cases.
• No threshold known: Even the first drop increases the risk – the less you drink, the safer it is.
• Positive effects (e.g. on cardiovascular health) are scientifically controversial and mostly influenced by faulty study methodology.

A rabbit hole in the rabbit hole

I personally consider it a logical consequence that alcohol consumption is associated with health risks. Alcohol is a neurotoxin, as is well known. At the same time, there are other studies that show that small amounts of alcohol have a positive effect on health. I have deliberately not gone down this other "rabbit hole" that alcohol can be healthy .

Did you notice it?

You may have noticed that I'm using the subjunctive mood when writing about the WHO report. Even before I started writing this blog series, I had taken the WHO report at face value and, in an initial draft, hadn't formulated it in the subjunctive mood. But the topic turned out to be a rabbit hole and led me to many, many opinions and criticisms.

Criticism of the WHO report

The WHO report has been criticized – not only because of the parallel studies on the positive effects of alcohol – but especially with regard to the study's methodology. More on this in Part 2.