Lifestyle Sports: Latest from Food Politics: The MAHA Dietary Guidelines V. The Alcohol Non-Recommendation

By Marion Nestle

January 14 2026

The MAHA Dietary Guidelines V. The Alcohol Non-Recommendation

The Dietary Guidelines for America 2025-2030 simply say “Limit alcoholic beverages: Consume less alcohol for better
overall health.” They go on to specify who should not drink alcohol.

People who should completely avoid alcohol include pregnant women, people who are recovering from alcohol use disorder or are unable to control the amount they drink, and people taking medications or with medical conditions that can interact with alcohol. For those with a family history of alcoholism, be mindful of alcohol consumption and associated addictive behaviors.

This guideline

Does not specify what is meat by “limit” or “less.”
Does not mention cancer as a risk of alcohol consumption.

These are big issues. Excessive alcohol intake poses problems for society as well as for individuals: car accidents and gun violence, for example.

From a public health perspective, the lower the overall level of alcohol consumption in a population, the fewer the health and societal problems it causes. The overall message always should be: drink as little alcohol as possible.

This message is complicated by evidence, highly contested, that low levels of alcohol might reduce risks for heart disease and overall mortality. Even if correct, advice about alcohol would need to balance the purported benefits for heart disease against risks for cancer, particularly breast cancer.

The Biden-era 2025 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee did not discuss alcohol because the agencies were waiting for the results of commissioned reports on alcohol and health. As it happened, three reports came out just after the DGAC submitted its report late in 2025.

The Surgeon General: Advisory on Alcohol and Cancer Risk (see my post on this): It emphasized the role of alcohol in raising the risk for seven kinds of cancer, particularly breast cancer and called for warning labels. The World Health Organization also did so.
The National Academies of Sciences: Review of Evidence on Alcohol and Health (my post is here): This one emphasized potential benefits of alcohol for reducing risks for heart disease and overall mortality, but minimized cancer risks (see Roni Rabin’s account in the New York Times, which notes conflicted interests among some members of the panel).
The HHS: Interagency Coordinating Committee on the Prevention of Underage Drinking (ICCPUD) According to Roni Rabin’s stories in the New York Times, the report “warned that even one drink a day raises the risk of liver cirrhosis, oral and esophageal cancer, and injuries.” HHS withdrew the report, and Congress told the agencies to rely only on the National Academies of Sciences report as the basis for the dietary guidelines. And a House Committee has just trashed it for being Biden-biased. So much for cancer risk.

Even so, the take-home lesson from all of these reports is that less alcohol is better.

At issue is how much less.

As I’ve explained previously, the dietary guidelines have long stated that 2 drinks a day for men and 1 for women (because women metabolize alcohol differently) is a safe amount.

The omission of these limits is difficult to interpret. Do these guidelines consider those limits too low or too high?

At the press conference, Mehmet Oz said:

Alcohol is a social lubricant that brings people together. In the best-case scenario, I don’t think you should drink alcohol, but it does allow people an excuse to bond and socialize, and there’s probably nothing healthier than having a good time with friends in a safe way..You look at the Blue Zones, for example, around the world, where people live the longest. Alcohol is sometimes part of their diet…Again, small amounts. There is alcohol on these dietary guidelines, but the implication is don’t have it for breakfast.

Yes, but what is a “small amount?” And what about cancer risk? Shouldn’t people be warned?

As Roni Rabin put it:

Though there is robust debate within the medical community as to the relationship between moderate drinking and various forms of cardiovascular disease, there is more scientific certainty about the link between alcohol and at least seven types of cancer. Warnings about alcohol increasing the risk of breast cancer were included in the dietary guidelines 25 years ago. Former Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy last year called for putting cancer warning labels on alcoholic beverages, similar to those for cigarettes.

The alcohol industry works unceasingly to convince everyone that alcohol poses no health risks. Unfortunately, it does.

Yes, consume less, but how much less? The guidelines leave this up to you to decide.

I see these dietary guidelines as a big win for the alcohol industry.

No wonder it supports them so enthusiastically: Distilled Spirits, Beer & Wine Associations Support New Health and Human Services 2025-2030 ‘Dietary Guidelines for Americans’

Moderation? Whatever you think it means.

The post The MAHA Dietary Guidelines V. The Alcohol Non-Recommendation appeared first on Food Politics by Marion Nestle

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