This post is reprinted with permission from Sue’s Substack, by Sue Rusche.
HHS Secretary RFK finally announced the Dietary Guidelines for 2025-2030, which are updated every five years. The alcohol industry loves them, but not the nation’s cancer doctors.
A coalition of national agriculture, beverage, and hospitality industries issued the following statement shortly after Mr. Kennedy’s announcement:
“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, reaffirms this important guidance.”
Why is the industry so happy? It succeeded in persuading RFK to scuttle an important review called for by the Biden administration to update the science for the new guidelines. Conducted by the Interagency Coordinating Committee on the Prevention of Underage Drinking (ICCPUD), that review found:
In the United States, males and females have a 1 in 1000 risk of dying from alcohol use if they consume more than 7 drinks per week. This risk increases to 1 in 100 if they consume more than 9 drinks per week.
The review also found that alcohol can cause seven kinds of cancer, with breast cancer in an overwhelming lead.
For decades, the guidelines warned children and teenagers under age 21 not to drink. Scientists have established the earlier alcohol use begins, the more likely addiction and health problems will occur later.
Industry knows the earlier it can get kids to drink, the more likely it will produce a lifetime customer, and it lobbied hard. It persuaded RFK to reject the ICCPUD review in favor of one conducted by the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine, which included on its committee at least one researcher funded by the alcohol industry.
Might this explain why RFK eliminated the underage warning from his new guidelines?