Explaining Canada's New Alcohol Guidelines

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Canada’s new alcohol guidelines took a radically different approach. Most health recommendations provide advice on safe amounts of the substance in question. But Canada’s 2023 Guidance on Alcohol and Health tells us there is no safe amount when it comes to drinking spirits, wine or beer. Sidestepping any suggestion for specific consumption levels, they instead inform Canadians about the risk we incur for an alcohol-caused death at given consumption levels per week. To learn about the implications for us all, Medcan chief medical officer Dr. Peter Nord walks us through interviews with guideline coauthors Dr. Tim Naimi, physician and director of the Canadian Institute for Substance Use Research, and Dr. Jürgen Rehm, epidemiologist at CAMH and professor at the University of Toronto. We also check in with guideline critic Dr. Dan Malleck, historian and health sciences professor at Brock University.

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