Percentage of Americans drinking alcohol hits historically low

Fewer Americans say they drink alcohol in the midst of ongoing research that has found that it has a negative impact on health in the long term.

Fifty-four percent of Americans say they drink alcohol-the lowest ever registered by Galupwho began to poll people about their drinking habits in 1939. The number has been steadily declining since 2022, when 67% of Americans reported drinking; In 2023 it fell to 62%. Last year, 58% reported drinking alcohol.

For the first time in the survey, the majority of Americans (53%) say to drink, even with measurements, is bad for your health.

The news comes in the midst of ongoing reports of the negative health effects from drinking; On one 3 Jan -ReportSurgery general Dr. Vivek Murthy required alcohol to carry Warning labels For cancer, to say that it causes almost 100,000 cancer cases and about 20,000 cancer cases each year.

As little as eight alcoholic beverages a week have been linked to one increase in dementiafor one study In the scientific journal Neurology; Author Alberto Fernando Oliveira Justo from the University of Sao Paulo Medical School in Brazil said in a press release that “heavy alcohol consumption damages the brain, which can lead to memory and thinking problems.”

A study from 2022 from Lansen journal Found that for people aged 15 to 39, there is no health benefit in drinking alcohol, only health risks.

Younger people, who have grown up to hear about the negative effects of alcohol, probably lead the trend, Time Reported: “Older people have lived during the period when the medical advice” drinking can be of use to you “, so hearing that it is now harmful to your health is an 180 for them and then they must mentally move a greater distance to say” maybe I should not drink, “” “” Lydia Saad, Gallup director for us social research.

She explained that for younger people, “it is not, I think, so much of a behavioral change for them … as it would be for their parents and grandparents who have to make a real pivot when it comes to how they look at the risks of drinking.”

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The survey found that only 50% of those aged 18 to 34 report drinking, while 56% of these 35-55 and 55 and older drinks.

“I think the change in public feeling is a good reflection of the change in science,” said Tim Naimi, head of the University of Victoria’s Canadian Institute for Substance Use Research, told Washington Post. “The risks of alcohol, in what some people may have previously regarded low levels, are higher than previously estimated.”