Overview
- The 2025–2030 federal guidance replaces the long-standing one-drink-for-women, two-for-men benchmark with a single admonition to cut back.
- CMS administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz said the prior numeric targets lacked strong supporting data and defended the simplified message.
- Evidence remains divided, with the WHO declaring no safe level of alcohol use in 2023 while NASEM and the American Heart Association reported associations between moderate intake and lower mortality and cardiovascular risk.
- Experts urged individualized counseling, as Forbes quoted Dr. Laura Catena advising many healthy adults under 65 to stick to roughly one drink for women or two for men with skip days and cancer-risk caveats.
- Local and state health leaders warned the vaguer language could invite risky self-interpretation, even as Wisconsin researchers highlighted harms at any level and advocates noted the shorter nine-page guidelines and other shifts such as less ultra-processed food and, per KSBY, an emphasis on red meat.