Ten years ago, scientists and health experts generally agreed that drinking alcohol in moderation was good for your physical and mental health.
Most health guidebooks explicitly state that it is safe to drink one or two glasses a day for most people.
Just last year, however, the World Health Organization's authoritative statement was like a thunderbolt, declaring that no matter how much alcohol is consumed, it is harmful.
Canadian authorities followed suit by reducing the limit of moderate alcohol consumption from 2 drinks a day for women and 3 drinks a day for men to 3 to 6 drinks a week.
Agencies in the U.S. have also updated their drinking recommendations, recommending 1 drink a day for women and 2 drinks a day for men.
So why are major health organizations revising their drinking recommendations?
Tim Stockwell, a psychologist at the University of Victoria and an expert who has been working in the field of healthy drinking guidelines for 25 years, reveals why.
He said that early standards were mainly aimed at curbing alcohol abuse, but they were not effective in protecting people from the risks of alcohol-related cancer, liver disease and early death.
So, how much of a risk is there in drinking?
Some scientific research institutions have pointed out that alcohol can cause a variety of diseases and greatly increase the risk of early death.
This is because alcohol forms a compound in the body called ethanol, which can damage DNA, which in turn increases the risk of cancer.
Studies have shown that alcohol damage to DNA can induce at least 7 types of cancer. According to the World Health Organization, half of all cancer patients in Europe are inextricably linked to the habit of "drinking alcohol in moderation".
In summary, light or moderate alcohol consumption not only does not bring benefits, but also carries the risk of early death.
Statistics from the Canadian Health Agency show that one in every 1,000 young deaths dies from alcohol, which is about 2 drinks a week.
As the amount of alcohol consumed increases, so does the chance of dying young, with one in every 100 people drinking six drinks a week.
Although it is a personal choice whether or not to drink alcohol, perhaps we can consider reducing the amount of alcohol we drink moderately for the sake of our health. After all, life is too precious to be squandered.