No minimum level of alcohol that is safe for health

One in three alcohol drinkers dies of alcohol-related health problems each year.

Even drinking a glass of wine or beer daily poses a health risk, according to a large study on the frequency and impact of alcohol consumption responsible for nearly 3 million deaths each year worldwide.

One in three alcohol drinkers dies of alcohol-related health problems each year, including 2.2 percent of women and 6.8 people of men, according to the study that advocates "zero alcohol". The world has 2.4 billion drinkers, 63% of whom are men.

The study, published Friday by the medical journal The Lancet, assesses levels of alcohol consumption and their effects on health in 195 countries between 1990 and 2016. Alcohol caused 2.8 million deaths in 2016.

In 2016, alcohol consumption was the seventh risk factor for premature death and disability in the world and the leading cause of death among people aged 15 to 49 (traffic accidents, suicides, tuberculosis ...).

Alcohol is associated with almost one in 10 deaths in this age group. Drink one drink a day for one-year increases among those aged 15 to 95 years of 0.5 percent the risk of developing any of the 23 health problems related to alcohol (cancer, cardiovascular disease, stroke, cirrhosis, accidents, violence, etc.), say the authors in comparison with non-drinkers.

This corresponds to an excess mortality of 100,000 deaths per year in the world for one drink a day, says Dr. Emmanuela Gakidou of the Institute of Metrology and Health Evaluation (IHME, University of Washington), co-author of the study.

According to her, these findings support other recent research that has found "clear and convincing correlations between alcohol consumption and premature death, cancer and cardiovascular problems".

"The myth that one or two glasses a day are good for you is just a myth," she says.

Only "zero alcohol" minimizes the overall risk of disease, she says.