Alcohol Use in the Czech Republic - Joint Statement of the Society for Addiction Medicine of the J. E. Purkyně Czech Medical Association and the Czech Society of Cardiology
Abstract
Recent evidence shows that it is both medically and ethically inappropriate to recommend "preventive" alcohol use. It has been proved that alcohol causes more deaths than it can prevent.
To recommend moderate drinking with reference to its preventive effect for a specific diagnosis (such as the cardioprotective effect mentioned here) means at the same time to ignore that the risk of another condition (such as liver cirrhosis or cancer) may rise significantly. The Czech national guidelines set the moderate drinking threshold at no more than 24 g per day for men and 16 g per day for women.
It has also been provided, however, that in order to comply with the definition, a person should refrain completely from alcohol use on at least two days within a week and no more than 40 g of ethanol should be consumed during a single drinking episode. Finally, it is also essential to take action aimed at the continuous education of the public and significant restrictions on alcohol advertising.