I’ve posted a piece at Psychology Today on the methodological problems surrounding Britain’s new alcohol consumption guidelines:
The UK government has published new guidelines on healthy alcohol consumption and, yes, as might be predicted, they are controversial. According to the new advice, adults — male or female — should drink no more than 14 units of alcohol per week. That approximates to around 6 glasses of beer or 7 glasses of wine. Beyond this, the UK Department of Health argue that the risk of alcohol-related death, especially cancer, is significantly increased.
To say that folks were unhappy about the new guidelines would be putting it mildly.
Feel free to read the rest of the piece here, if you are sober enough.
Brian Hughes is an academic psychologist and university professor in Galway, Ireland, specialising in stress, health, and the application of psychology to social issues. He writes widely on the psychology of empiricism and of empirically disputable claims, especially as they pertain to science, health, medicine, and politics.