SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) — Two recent studies by the World Health Organization highlight the dangers of drinking alcohol.
The first states that alcohol consumption is responsible for over 2.6 million deaths per year, while the second concludes that there is no safe level of alcohol consumption in terms of health.
This is a departure from older, more traditional thought processes that recommend things like drinking one glass of red wine a day.
“The research is really evolving, so new studies are starting to come out that show new associations with cardiovascular disease and cancer that we hadn’t seen before,” said UCSF researcher Amy Conroy.
The new data comes at a time when drinking patterns across the country are slowly but steadily changing.
Read more: Alcohol was responsible for 2.6 million deaths in 2019, according to new WHO report
This is especially true among young people, whose drinking rates have been declining over the past two decades.
As the number of people drinking alcohol has decreased, the number of shops targeting this demographic has increased.
“They either removed the alcohol from the product or they didn’t ferment it into alcohol,” Carly Hall said.
Hall is the manager of The New Bar, a liquor store in San Francisco that sells only non-alcoholic beverages.
She says the company is growing rapidly, supported by loyal customers.
“I definitely feel like a lot of people during the week don’t want to drink or can’t drink so they’re looking for options other than water,” Hall said.
Read more: Dry Jamwary: What happened when I quit drinking for a month
The situation is similar at local restaurants, with many introducing non-alcoholic options to their regular menus.
Copra’s chief operating officer, Dana Katsakian, said the company plans to double the variety of non-alcoholic drinks it offers.
“If it’s a private party, we automatically serve both non-alcoholic and alcoholic drinks so no one has to declare what they’re drinking or why,” Katzakian said.
But despite the new scientific research, experts say the risk to individuals remains case-by-case.
“For people who drink regularly, are healthy and are at low risk to begin with, I think these factors need to be taken into account,” Conroy said.
But whether you drink alcohol or not, non-alcoholic options are likely here to stay.
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