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Saturday, January 17, 2026
New U.S. guidance says to consume less alcohol. What does that mean?
Madeline Heim
In the first edition of the U.S. dietary guidelines, published in 1980, the authors wrote: "One or two drinks daily appear to cause no harm in adults. If you drink you should do so in moderation."
Though our scientific understanding of alcohol has sharpened since then, every edition up through 2020 has included such limits: moderate drinking is defined as one standard drink or less per day for women and two or less per day for men.
In the newest edition, however, they're gone. Americans should "consume less alcohol for better overall health," the 2025 guidelines say, adding that pregnant women, people with alcohol use disorder, and those on certain medications should avoid it entirely.
The change is perplexing to health experts nationally and in Wisconsin, which ranks among the worst states for excessive drinking, and where alcohol contributes to more than 3,000 deaths each year. Though drinking less is certainly the right approach, people appreciate clear and specific guidelines about alcohol, said Maureen Busalacchi, director of the Wisconsin Alcohol Policy Project at the Medical College of Wisconsin.
"One of the most visited parts of our website talks about serving sizes ... how much people can drink and what the risk is," she said. "By not putting that out there, that changes things. There's no reason we should back away from the research that has been coming, certainly for the last decade, in terms of health harms from alcohol."
The link between alcohol and health is complex and often cherry-picked for headlines – like the notion that drinking red wine is good for the heart. (Experts say red wine drinkers could have better heart health outcomes for other reasons.)
Excessive alcohol use is linked to a number of health concerns, with liver problems the most well-known among them. In Wisconsin, alcohol-related liver disease deaths escalated dramatically between 2019 and 2023, and liver problems due to alcohol are showing up in younger people.
In recent years, awareness has also grown regarding the link between cancer and alcohol, even at moderate levels. Drinking alcohol raises a person's risk of cancers of the mouth, throat, voice box, esophagus, colon and rectum, and liver cancer, as well as breast cancer in women, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
In January 2025, former U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy called on Congress to require health warning labels on alcohol products detailing the risk of cancer, saying many Americans were unaware of them. Even women who consumed one drink daily had about a 10% higher breast cancer risk than women who did not drink, according to Murthy's advisory.
Busalacchi said now that more specific criteria about alcohol have been removed from the dietary guidelines, she and other public health entities will need to fill the gap. She said she wants people to understand that a pint of beer or full pour of wine is more than one serving size of alcohol – defined as 12 ounces of beer, 5 ounces of wine or 1.5 ounces of distilled spirits.
Addressing the changes to alcohol guidance in the dietary guidelines, Dr. Mehmet Oz, administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, said in a press conference that alcohol is a "social lubricant," and while "in the best case scenario, I don't think you should drink alcohol," it can bring people together to bond and socialize. It hit home for some, particularly as the U.S. struggles with a loneliness epidemic.
Busalacchi said she doesn't disagree but did point to the number of events in Wisconsin – from watching sports to weekends at a cabin – that are based around alcohol, "a mindset that's hard to break," she said.
"The challenge is, you don't need that in order to socialize," she said.
She did say she sees a turning tide across the state in terms of residents' relationships with alcohol, particularly this month, when many abstain from alcohol as part of Dry January – and bars and restaurants make efforts to cater to them.
"If you haven't started yet, jump into Dry January," Busalacchi said. "Give yourself a week or two without alcohol, and see if you don't feel better."
Sunday, December 21, 2025
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Friday, May 9, 2025
Thursday, May 8, 2025
Female fencer who took a knee rather than face trans athlete recalls ‘betrayal’ by sport’s boss
Friday, March 7, 2025
Monday, February 10, 2025
Friday, March 4, 2022
New Study: COVID Can Infect Men's Genitals, Cause Infertility and Erectile Dysfunction
It's been some months since Nicki Minaj and others amplified the falsehood that COVID vaccines made men's testicles swell up. And now some researchers have found that the COVID-19 virus gets into the penis, prostate, and testicles of some men, and can cause long-term problems with their sexual health and fertility.
There's a good deal of Venn diagram overlap between anti-vaxxers, COVID deniers, and macho Republican and libertarian men who think the virus is no match for them and their great, Trumpian personal strength. But wait til they hear their bouts with COVID might give them some trouble getting their dicks hard!
A pre-print, non-peer-reviewed study in the journal Northwestern Medicine reveals that "multiple tissues of the male genital tract can be infected with SARS-CoV-2," and the finding is based on PET scans of COVID-infected rhesus macaques. (The primates have been found to have similar disease progression to humans when infected with the SARS-CoV-2 virus, and are therefore used as study subjects.) Researchers say they expected mostly to find the virus present in the upper nose and brain area — which would be the reason that COVID patients often lose their sense of taste or smell. But they found it also present in 10 to 20 percent of male subjects' genitals — specifically in the prostate, the vasculature of testicles, the penis and the testicles.
Friday, June 18, 2021
Thursday, June 17, 2021
Australia: Private All Men’s Organization Votes to Continue Not Allowing Women to Join
It is now an international scandal if a small private club in Australia refuses to allow women to join.
Members of an elite all-male “gentlemen’s club” in Sydney have voted against allowing women to join their ranks.
The Australian Club said on Tuesday that a “record turnout” of members at the special general meeting voted on the resolution, which would have amended the club’s constitution to allow female members.
“The meeting determined that the 75% threshold to pass the resolution was not met,” the club said in a statement.
The Macquarie Street club’s members include former Liberal prime ministers John Howard and Malcolm Turnbull. Both declined to comment on the outcome of the vote.
The Sydney Morning Herald reported that 693 member votes were cast with 62% against allowing women members, 37% in favour and 1% abstaining. There had been a campaign over several years for an amendment to the constitution.
Women are allowed to attend the club as guests. It was founded in 1838.
The Labor MP Andrew Leigh criticised the vote, which came after the club received more than $2m in jobkeeper payments that it decided not to repay despite doubling its surplus.
According to its website, “tradition and modernity have been skilfully blended” at the club, which provides “excellent dining facilities, en-suite bedrooms and apartments, a fully equipped gym [and] … first-rate business facilities”.
It is one of several Australian clubs that still prevent women from becoming members including the Melbourne Savage Club.
They are eventually going to make this illegal.
The reason this is international news is that women are propelling it into the international news cycle so that they can stir up widespread outrage and try to force their way into the club. Once they are in, they will proceed to destroy it.
Women are like cockroaches. They just crawl in everywhere, and try to get involved in anything. They get involved in things that they have zero interest in, simply to cause drama and make themselves the center of attention.
Wednesday, May 12, 2021
UK: Frumpy Women Want to Outlaw Flirting with Women
But isn’t this racist though?
Men who harass women from cars should face criminal charges, a cross-party group of MPs has urged, as the government comes under mounting pressure to criminalise sexual harassment.
Labour’s Harriet Harman and Caroline Nokes, the Conservative chair of the women and equalities select committee, have formed a cross-party alliance to push the government to beef up anti-misogyny measures via amendments in the police, crime, sentencing and courts bill.
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