The advice to limit yourself to one drink a day is gaining new scientific backing. According to a study published Tuesday in the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs, adults in the United States should consume no more than a single alcoholic drink per day, a recommendation that breaks with current federal guidance.

How This Differs From U.S. Guidelines

The new recommendation, from an international team of scientists, departs from U.S. dietary guidelines both past and present. Earlier guidelines set a daily limit of two drinks for men and one for women. The latest version, released by the Trump administration in January, is far less precise, advising only that Americans “consume less alcohol for better overall health.”

For study co-author Priscilla Martinez-Matyszczyk, deputy scientific director of the Alcohol Research Group at the Public Health Institute, that vagueness is the problem. She argued that while the “less is best” message is accurate, people need quantified guidance to make informed decisions about their drinking.

The Backstory

The research grew out of a government process. Martinez-Matyszczyk is part of a team of American, Canadian, and British scientists asked in 2022 to review alcohol research to help inform the latest dietary guidelines, which the Agriculture and Health and Human Services departments update every five years.

The Biden administration released the scientists’ report in January 2025, but according to an accompanying editorial by Robert Vincent, a former associate administrator at the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, its findings were sidelined under the Trump administration. HHS spokesperson Emily Hilliard responded that the guidelines are shaped by the totality of the scientific record rather than any single report or analysis.

Importantly, the scientists’ 2025 report had laid out alcohol’s health risks but stopped short of specifying a maximum number of drinks, leaving that to the government. The new paper, which is not government policy, takes on both tasks.

What the Numbers Show

To reach their conclusions, the researchers examined 56 systematic reviews on the relationship between alcohol and health, then applied those findings to U.S. mortality data. The resulting risk gradient is striking:

• Men drinking more than 6.5 drinks per week and women drinking more than seven faced a greater than 1-in-1,000 lifetime risk of dying from an alcohol-related disease or injury.
• At more than 8.5 drinks a week, the risk climbed above 1 in 100 for both sexes.
• At 14 drinks a week, the lifetime risk rose to 1 in 25.

As co-author Jürgen Rehm, a senior scientist at the Center for Addiction and Mental Health at the University of Toronto, put it, a 1-in-25 risk is very high.

Weighing Harms Against Benefits

The study found that a daily drink was associated with a higher risk of dying from liver cirrhosis, several cancers (oral, pharyngeal, laryngeal, esophageal, colon, and liver for both sexes, plus breast cancer in women), and injuries, compared with people who never drink. There was a flip side: drinking was linked to a lower risk of dying from ischemic stroke and ischemic heart disease. However, that protective effect is wiped out by occasional binge drinking.

On balance, Martinez-Matyszczyk said, the harms from injuries, cancers, and other diseases far outweigh any benefit to the heart.

Keith Humphreys, a Stanford psychiatry professor not involved in the research, put the takeaway bluntly: the idea that drinking is healthy is a myth, even though many people still believe a drink or two a day helps them live longer.

A Cautious Note From Cancer Experts

The American Cancer Society recommends that people who choose to drink limit themselves to one drink per day for women and one or two for men. But its chief scientific officer, Dr. William Dahut, wrote that avoiding alcohol entirely is best for optimal cancer prevention, adding that those at highest risk for cancer or recurrence should be especially cautious.

A Personal Calculation

The researchers stressed that their findings reflect mortality patterns across an entire population, meaning individuals must weigh their own circumstances. Rehm offered a vivid illustration: someone with a strong family history of heart disease might choose a drink every other day to protect their heart, while someone whose relatives mostly died of cancer might reasonably reach a very different conclusion.

In short, the science points toward less drinking overall, but how each person applies that guidance may depend heavily on their own health and family history.

Since this touches on alcohol and health, it’s worth noting this is a sensitive area for some readers. If you or someone you know is struggling with alcohol use, a doctor or a dedicated support service can offer personalized guidance and help.