Photo: Getty Images
The "widespread notion" that drinking a glass of wine per day may be good for you is actually false, according to the World Heart Federation.
The organization issued a new policy briefing in which it aimed to "challenge the widespread notion" that consuming moderate amounts of alcohol could decrease the risk of heart disease and called for immediate action to be taken in an effort to ease the worldwide rise in alcohol related deaths, Bloomberg.com reports.
"The portrayal of alcohol as necessary for a vibrant social life has diverted attention from the harms of alcohol use, as have the frequent and widely publicized claims that moderate drinking, such as a glass of red wine a day, can offer protection against cardiovascular disease," said Monika Arora, a member of WHF's advocacy committee and co-author of the briefing obtained by Bloomberg this week. "These claims are at best misinformed and at worst an attempt by the alcohol industry to mislead the public about the danger of their product."
The new briefing from the WHF reports more than 2.4 million deaths were caused by alcohol in 2019 globally, which is equal to 4.3% of all deaths worldwide and 12.6% for men between the ages of 15 and 49, according to Bloomberg.
The WHF's briefing comes after the Royal College of Psychiatrists issued a previous warning earlier in the week revealing millions of people in Great Britain were putting themselves through "silent harm" through drinking after the Government's Office for Health Improvement and Disparities reported a significant increase in drinking at levels deemed to be a high risk.