A groundbreaking Gallup poll released Wednesday reveals Americans are abandoning alcohol at unprecedented rates, with drinking habits plummeting to levels not seen in nearly a century.
The survey shows only 54 percent of U.S. adults now report consuming alcoholic beverages, marking the lowest percentage in three decades.
This dramatic shift represents a stunning reversal from previous trends that saw steady alcohol consumption across American society.
Health concerns are driving this historic decline.
A record-breaking 53 percent of Americans now believe moderate drinking poses health risks, representing a massive jump from just 28 percent in 2015.
This nearly doubled percentage reflects a fundamental change in how Americans view alcohol consumption.
Young adults are leading this transformation.
Approximately two-thirds of Americans aged 18 to 34 now consider moderate drinking unhealthy, compared to roughly 40 percent in 2015.
The poll, conducted in July, captures a nation increasingly skeptical of alcohol’s safety.
Even moderate consumption, once considered harmless or potentially beneficial, now faces widespread doubt among health-conscious Americans.
Government data previously showed alcohol consumption trending upward before the COVID-19 pandemic. However, recent surveys indicate declining consumption, particularly among teenagers and young adults, signaling a broader cultural shift.
Scientific evidence has fundamentally altered perceptions of alcohol’s health impacts.
Medical professionals now point to overwhelming research linking alcohol consumption to negative health outcomes and identifying it as a leading cancer cause.
The transformation in medical understanding has dismantled previous beliefs about alcohol’s benefits.
Past studies suggesting moderate drinking provided heart health benefits have been discredited as imperfect research that failed to include younger populations and couldn’t establish cause-and-effect relationships.
This scientific consensus shift has prompted several countries to lower their alcohol consumption recommendations.
The Associated Press (AP) reported that earlier this year, outgoing U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy recommended warning labels on alcoholic beverages clearly outlining the connection between alcohol consumption and cancer.
Current federal dietary guidelines suggest Americans avoid drinking entirely or limit consumption significantly.
AP noted that men should consume no more than two drinks daily, while women should restrict themselves to one drink or fewer per day.
Lydia Saad, Gallup’s director of U.S. social research, explained that older Americans have been slower to accept alcohol as harmful due to changing health advice throughout their lives.
“Older folks may be a little more hardened in terms of the whiplash that they get with recommendations,” Saad said.
She noted generational differences in processing health information. “It may take them a little longer to absorb or accept the information. Whereas, for young folks, this is the environment that they’ve grown up in … in many cases, it would be the first thing young adults would have heard as they were coming into adulthood.”
The federal government plans to release updated guidelines later this year under Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s direction, who has promised significant changes.
Kennedy has not indicated how alcohol recommendations might change.
Women and young adults show particularly pronounced declines in reported alcohol consumption.
Current American drinking levels rank among the lowest since Gallup first asked this question in 1939. For most recent decades, at least 60 percent of Americans reported consuming alcoholic beverages, with only occasional dips below that threshold.
The survey reveals that health concerns influence drinking frequency even among those who continue consuming alcohol.
Among Americans worried about moderate drinking’s health impacts, approximately half consumed alcohol within the previous week.
This contrasts with roughly 70 percent of those who don’t consider drinking harmful to health, AP outlined.
Overall consumption patterns show remarkable restraint.
Only about one-quarter of Americans who drink consumed alcohol within the prior 24 hours, representing a record low.
Roughly 40 percent reported going more than a week since their last drink.
The post Americans Ditch the Bottle: Shocking New Poll Reveals Historic Drop in Drinking as Health Fears Skyrocket appeared first on Resist the Mainstream.
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Author: Jordyn M.
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