After a short run on a cold January night, the Fleet Feet Des Moines social running club ends with a treat: drinks at Single Speed Brewery.
Runners spread out over three tables chatting on an otherwise slow Thursday night at the local brewery. The team has a deal with the brewery. Every time they show up for the semi-weekly run, they get a token for a free drink.
For Lana Snyder, the club鈥檚 coach, the gatherings allow her to enjoy a Quirk, her favorite hard seltzer, and hang out with her team.
She鈥檚 not concerned about the impact the ritual could have on her health.
鈥淲e do enough running, and we do enough other activities and, like, one or two drinks...doesn't seem to be a big factor health wise,鈥� she said.
Current health guidance says 鈥撯�� defined as no more than two drinks per day for men, one for women by the current U.S. Dietary Guidelines 鈥撯�� can limit negative health impacts but a growing body of research and influential experts are shifting away from this, saying any amount of alcohol could elevate serious health risks, like cancer.
A new published on Jan. 14 found that drinking even one alcoholic beverage a day raises a person's cancer risk. Separately, just days into the New Year, U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy issued new guidance that grabbed headlines. He called for an update on the addressing its link to seven different types of cancer: mouth, throat, esophagus, voice box, liver, colon and rectal, and breast.
This comes at a time when Midwestern states have seen in recent years.
Research supporting alcohol as a carcinogen is something that鈥檚 .
It鈥檚 even taken , the deputy director of the Holden Cancer Center at University of Iowa Health Care, by surprise.
鈥淔or me, personally, it was a revelation about the strength of the data. I had no idea how strong it was before I looked at it,鈥� he said.
Research has found the risk is 鈥渄ose dependent,鈥� Henry said. This means the more someone drinks, the higher their risk of cancer is. That鈥檚 because alcohol is converted into aldehyde when it enters the body that can damage the DNA in your cells, he said.
鈥淚t's very well-established that cancer is a genetic disease that is driven by accumulation of mutations in disease and often that occurs over a lifetime,鈥� he said.
For breast cancer, Henry said alcohol can alter levels of the estrogen hormone. Estrogen plays an important role in the development and progression of many breast cancers. Alcohol consumption leaves those who already have a genetic predisposition for the disease at an even higher risk of developing it, Henry said.
Whatever happened to a little wine is good for the heart?
Cancer is just part of a long list of health issues linked to alcohol.
The World Health Organization says in more than 200 diseases, injuries and health conditions, including liver and heart diseases and even mental health issues like anxiety and depression.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimated in the U.S. from 2020 to 2021 鈥撯�� around 117,000 鈥撯�� were from chronic conditions that developed from drinking over time.
鈥淭here is this emerging consensus that there really aren't any health benefits of drinking alcohol,鈥� , an associate professor of public health at the University of Iowa, said.
Researchers are looking back on studies from the 1980s and 1990s, such as the widely cited research that found drinking red wine in moderation might have and finding they might be flawed, he said.
鈥淭hey weren't done quite as well, quite as rigorously as we would do today, so it kind of casts some doubt on those findings,鈥� Gilbert said.
by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services linked alcohol consumption with an increased risk for dying early, and found cancer risks are elevated even if people use alcohol at the level of the current recommended guidelines.
But not everyone agrees alcohol is universally harmful.
A from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine released last month seemed to go against this growing consensus. It found moderate drinking could be linked to some health benefits such as fewer heart attacks and strokes as compared to abstaining entirely.
Both the HHS report and the evidence review are expected to influence the updated U.S. Dietary Guidelines coming out this year.
鈥淭here is a hot debate right now among the scientific community about any benefits from alcohol use,鈥� Gilbert said.
Social patterns are hard to break
Data from the CDC show many Midwesterners already exceed of no more than two drinks per day for men, one for women.
States like Iowa, Minnesota and Wisconsin have some of the in the country, according to the CDC, which defines it as five or more drinks for men, four or more for women on one occasion.
Recent trends suggest drinking among some is increasing, which could affect breast cancer rates years down the road, Gilbert said.
鈥淭his could be an effect that we don't fully see for, you know, 1, 2, 3, more decades from now, knowing that cancers don't just pop up spontaneously,鈥� he said.
A 2022 report by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism found total alcohol use in the Midwest and the rest of the U.S. since the 1990s.
But Gilbert said social patterns tend to shift slowly over time. He expects this to be the case for alcohol, as .
Recent polls show Americans are increasingly identifying drinking alcohol as , while fewer younger people are as compared to previous generations.
Gilbert said while it鈥檚 possible that drinking alcohol may have no health benefits, there are benefits to the social activity that often surrounds it.
鈥淚t is such a fundamental part of a lot of our cultural social practices. It's how we mark major life events, you know, births and marriages and deaths and retirements and graduations and all sorts of things like it,鈥� he said.
For Snyder, the running coach, the semi-weekly post-run brewery hangouts are a chance for her to chat with her team.
鈥淲e unwind, we talk about our run, we talk about our next run, we talk about other stuff that we're going to go do,鈥� she said.
At a neighboring table, fellow runner Eric Schmidt said he too enjoys hanging out after runs. He said he often grabs a beer, but this time, he鈥檚 drinking a non-alcoholic IPA.
Schmidt said over the past year, he鈥檚 cut back on alcohol and feels better without it.
鈥淚 enjoy sleeping a little bit better. I wear my watch to bed, and that monitors your sleep, and I actually do notice a difference,鈥� he said.
Schmidt said he鈥檚 not very concerned about long-term health risks tied to alcohol use, like cancer, but said he鈥檚 just getting more motivated to be healthier as he grows older.
Side Effects Public Media is a health reporting collaboration based at WFYI in Indianapolis. We partner with NPR stations across the Midwest and surrounding areas 鈥� including KBIA and KCUR in Missouri, Iowa Public Radio, Ideastream in Ohio and WFPL in Kentucky.
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