A study commissioned by the Biden administration linking even moderate alcohol use to serious health risks was sidelined by the Trump administration from new federal dietary guidelines — and the scientist who led it says he was told to bury it.
Robert Vincent, a former Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration alcohol policy official who spent years on the Biden-era research, said he was “asked to kill the study” while serving under the Trump administration. He refused. Mr. Vincent, who was later laid off in a government reduction in force, made the accusation Tuesday in an editorial published alongside the study in the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs.
The findings are stark: health risks increase with just one drink a day, and no level of alcohol offers a protective effect against death. Researchers linked even “moderate” drinking to more than 200 diseases, including cancer and heart disease.
The Trump administration’s new dietary guidelines advised Americans to drink “less alcohol for better overall health” — but stopped short of specific limits, which researchers say leaves the public without actionable guidance.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services denied sidelining the science, saying the guidelines were informed by “the totality of the scientific record.”
The alcohol industry called the study “irretrievably flawed.”
Read more:
• A government-commissioned study found drinking risks. U.S. guidelines didn’t feature its findings
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