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To: Les H who wrote (47444)	9/4/2025 3:29:56 PM
From: Les H	Respond to of 49101

Major report that tied moderate drinking to disease won’t be released, researchers say Lack of action is sign that Kennedy isn’t making alcohol use a MAHA cause By Isabella Cueto, STAT Chronic Disease Reporter Sept. 4, 2025 A key government study about alcohol and its health harms will not be released publicly, despite several years of taxpayer-funded work and a growing body of evidence connecting drinking with disease. A final version of the Alcohol Intake and Health Study led by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration will not be published, “to the detriment of the people’s health,” scientific review panelist Priscilla Martinez told STAT in an email Thursday morning. Another panel member confirmed that they have not heard from the Trump administration since submitting their work months ago. News of the killed report was first reported by Vox. A Department of Health and Human Services spokesperson said the alcohol study had been provided to HHS and the Department of Agriculture for consideration, but declined to answer questions about whether the final report would be released or used to develop the dietary guidelines. The treatment of the study is yet another sign that health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will not add alcohol to his list of “Make America Healthy Again” priorities, despite robust evidence that heavy drinking is a major driver of disease and death in the U.S. (And despite many alcoholic drinks being ultra-processed and lacking clear labels, health advocates point out.) To recap: The SAMHSA study was one of two that were set to inform the next version of the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, which are due this year. Development of the new version began in 2022, and involved representatives from across federal agencies, as well as a committee of independent alcohol researchers. Earlier this year, a draft version of the report by alcohol researchers found that even moderate drinking (one or two drinks per day, depending on a person’s gender) could raise a person’s risk of injuries, liver disease and cancer. Risks increased the more a person drank, according to the analysis. By the numbers: America’s alcohol-related health problems are rising fastSeven drinks per week — one per day — is within the window dietary guidelines defined as “moderate drinking” for women. For men, that includes up to 15 drinks per week, or two per day. While some public health advocates celebrated the report as a step in the right direction (many Americans in recent years have said they are unaware of the link between alcohol and cancer risk), the alcohol industry came out hard against it. Representatives from alcohol companies said it should not be factored into dietary guidelines. It’s unclear whether the industry influenced the Trump administration’s decision to withhold the final findings, but companies have spent millions lobbying on the dietary guidelines and related matters. In June, Reuters reported the dietary guidelines will remove specific drinking guidelines, which have been in place, and relatively unchanged, for decades. The draft SAMHSA report is “very similar to the final draft; none of the findings changed,” said Martinez, deputy scientific director of the Alcohol Research Group at the Public Health Institute. Another federal review — commissioned for the first time by Congress and led by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine — found lower all-cause mortality for people who drank a moderate amount. It also found an increased risk of breast cancer. That panel was criticized by some for including members with financial ties to the alcohol industry. The question of how much alcohol is safe to consume remains a dicey one. The at-times-contradictory federal reports only added fuel to the debate. Kennedy, who is in long-term recovery from alcohol and drug use, has not weighed in on the issue. Trump has said he does not drink. Meanwhile, Americans are seemingly making up their own minds. Drinking patterns continue to shift toward lower consumption in many groups, according to a Gallup poll released last month. STAT’s coverage of chronic health issues is supported by a grant from Bloomberg Philanthropies. Our financial supporters are not involved in any decisions about our journalism. STAT