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A study commissioned by President Joe Biden’s administration to investigate alcohol-related health harms<\/a> was released independently on Tuesday, after President Donald Trump’s administration decided not to feature the researchers’ findings in new dietary guidelines<\/a> as it faced pushback from the alcohol industry and a congressional committee.<\/p>\n The findings of the study, in the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs, were in line with years of research, saying that health risks go up with just one drink a day and no level of alcohol has a protective effect on mortality. Even levels considered \u201cmoderate\u201d raise the risk<\/a> of premature death and more than 200 diseases, including heart disease and cancer, researchers found.<\/p>\n The new study was one of two government reviews meant to help inform the new dietary guidelines. Released earlier this year, the guidelines advised consuming \u201cless alcohol for better overall health.\u201d The authors of the independently released study say that didn\u2019t provide detailed practical advice about the risks of drinking.<\/p>\n One of the officials involved in the study commissioned by Biden’s Democratic administration<\/a> accused Trump’s Republican administration<\/a> of \u201csidelining\u201d the research \u2014 an allegation the Trump administration denies.<\/p>\n Robert Vincent, a former Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration alcohol policy official who led the yearslong effort, made the accusations in an editorial published alongside the study. Vincent was laid off last year as part of a government reduction in force<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cThe challenges confronting alcohol policy today are not rooted in scientific uncertainty,\u201d Vincent wrote. \u201cWhat remains contested is whether evidence will meaningfully inform policy when it conflicts with commercial interests.\u201d <\/p>\n The dispute over the study underscored the increasingly tense relations between the medical and scientific community and the Trump administration, which has questioned or ignored longstanding science in its policymaking, fired a slew of veteran scientists<\/a> from the federal workforce and cut scientific grants that proponents say help keep the U.S. at the forefront of medical innovation.<\/p>\n After the study’s researchers released a draft report last year, the alcohol industry mobilized against it, launching campaigns to discredit its work. The House oversight committee also criticized the study, releasing a report earlier this year that called it \u201cfraught with bias\u201d and accused the study authors of having predetermined conclusions based on their past research and affiliations.<\/p>\n Emily Hilliard, a spokesperson for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, denied any notion that the study wasn\u2019t considered.<\/p>\n HHS and the U.S. Department of Agriculture “reviewed the study alongside the broader body of available scientific evidence and followed the established process for developing the 2025\u20132030 Dietary Guidelines for Americans,\u201d she said. \u201cThe Guidelines are informed by the totality of the scientific record, not any single report or analysis.\u201d<\/p>\n Vincent told The Associated Press in an interview that the researchers were thoroughly vetted for conflicts and the findings were scientifically sound. He said that while he was in the Trump administration, he was \u201casked to kill the study\u201d but did not. HHS didn\u2019t immediately respond to that claim. <\/p>\n The Trump administration earlier this year released new dietary guidelines that advised consuming \u201cless alcohol for better overall health.\u201d The researchers said that they don’t dispute that advice but that their findings support a more detailed and forceful recommendation that current adult drinkers consume one drink or fewer a day. <\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m glad that they had a message that corresponds with our science, and that is that less is best,\u201d said Dr. Timothy Naimi, director of the University of Victoria\u2019s Canadian Institute for Substance Use Research and one of the study\u2019s authors. \u201cBut giving people quantity information is necessary to make a truly informative guideline.\u201d<\/p>\n The study differed from the other research commissioned by the government to help inform the dietary guidelines on the issue, which said moderate alcohol use was associated with a decreased risk of mortality from all causes but also an increased risk of some diseases.<\/p>\n Priscilla Martinez-Matyszczyk, one of the authors of the new study and a deputy scientific director at the Public Health Institute\u2019s Alcohol Research Group, said their study didn\u2019t look at mortality from all causes but instead examined mortality specifically attributed to alcohol to avoid confounding factors. <\/p>\n