How much alcohol is too much to drink?

Trump health officials released new nutrition guidelines on Wednesday that overturned decades of guidance on alcohol consumption, instructing people to limit the amount of alcohol they drink but not including clear limits or noting established links to breast cancer and other maladies.

Instead, the guidelines say people should “consume less alcohol for better overall health” — guidance that experts say ignores the science and is too vague.

“If you talk to serious researchers who study alcohol and health, you’ll find a consensus that the relationship between alcohol and health risks is a dose-response relationship, and health risks start even at low levels,” Katherine Keyes, an epidemiology professor at Columbia University, told The New York Times.

“The scientific evidence is clear: alcohol is a toxic, addictive carcinogen that kills about 178,000 Americans each year — a 30 percent increase in fatalities over the past decade,” U.S. Alcohol Policy Alliance CEO Mike Marshall said in a statement the non-profit shared with The Independent.

“The new federal guidelines are a big win for the alcohol industry and their advocates in Congress,” he said.

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“They fail to include what people need — transparent information on how and when the risk of alcohol increases, specifically, drinking one alcoholic beverage a day gives Americans a 1 in 1000 chance of dying an alcohol-related death; drinking two per day increases that risk to 1 in 25,” Tiffany Hall, the CEO of the non-profit Recover Alaska, said.. “The public deserves to know that information.”

When asked about the science behind the change, Dr. Mehmet Oz, the administrator for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, didn’t explain other than to say people should not “have [alcohol] for breakfast.”

“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,” he said.

“If you look at the blue zones for example, where people live the longest, alcohol is sometimes part of their diet. Again, it’s small amounts, taken very judiciously, and usually in a celebratory fashion.”

The recommendations that Americans limit their alcohol consumption to one or two drinks a day dates back to the first guidelines issued in 1980.

Since then, as scientists have uncovered more about how men and women metabolize alcohol differently and the increased risk of mouth, throat, voice box, esophagus, colorectal, liver and breast cancer, the guidelines have been updated.

In 1990, the guidelines were changed to recommend that men limit their alcohol consumption to two beverages a day and women limit consumption to one drink.

Previous guidelines also detailed standard drink sizes, including 12 fluid ounces of beer, five fluid ounces of wine and 1.5 fluid outcomes of 80-proof distilled spirits.

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Today, doctors say any amount of alcohol is unsafe.

“We cannot talk about a so-called safe level of alcohol use,” Dr. Carina Ferreira-Borges, the Regional Advisor for Alcohol and Illicit Drugs in the WHO Regional Office for Europe, said in a statement. “It doesn’t matter how much you drink – the risk to the drinker’s health starts from the first drop of any alcoholic beverage.”

“Even just one drink a day adds health risk,” Dr. Johannes Thrul, an associate professor at Johns Hopkins Medicine, explained.

Beyond cancer, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says drinking alcohol can lead to high blood pressure, heart disease, liver disease, stroke, digestive problems, a weaker immune system and alcohol use disorder.

Nearly 28 million Americans suffer from alcohol use disorder, according to the National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism.

It can also have an impact on mental health, making anxiety and depression worse.

“Even low-level drinking can worsen anxiety and depression, particularly in those who use alcohol to cope emotionally,” Dr. Keith Humphreys, a professor at Stanford Medicine, said. “What helps in the short term can harm in the long run.”