above, and afforded several additional advantages. First, it reduced the potentially distorting effects of reverse causality by focusing on current drinkers without previous cardiovascular disease who survived at least 12 months of follow-up. Second, it enhanced generalisability by including individual-participant data from 83 prospective studies in 19 different high-income countries. Third, it used a variety of established and emerging risk factors, enabling investigation of potential confounders and mediators.Implications of all the available evidenceThe chief implication of this study for public policy is to support reductions of alcohol consumption limits in existing guidelines, suggesting that the threshold for lowest risk for all-cause mortality is about 100 g per week (about 5–6 standard UK glasses of wine or pints of beer per week). The chief implication for scientific understanding is the strengthening of evidence that the association between alcohol consumption and total cardiovascular disease risk is actually comprised of several distinct and opposite dose–response curves rather than a single J-shaped association.
