효율적인 적정음주기준의 개발

Developing Effective Guideline for Moderate Drinking

Alcohol consumption has been associated with favorable as well as adverse health effects. Alcohol is an addictive substance, therefore some individuals who drink alcoholic beverages develope alcoholism and others experience various alcohol problems. We have a permissive cultural background to alcohol drinking, so the prevalence of alcoholism and alcohol problems are generally high. Therefore, it is needed to develope effective guideline for moderate drinking to prevent drinking related harm. Many countries have moderate drinking guidelines to prevent heavy drinking and drinking related harm. Generally, guidelines recommend 35-50 gram of alcohol as a tolerable level of daily consumption. But, developing and application of guidelines are very carefully considered because even small amount of alcohol can cause various risk by individual’s vulnerabilities and different sociocultural background. And, it is not recommended that the abstinences start drinking to obtain health effect of moderate drinking. We reviewed some drinking guidelines of other countries, and suggested several principles of conducting moderate drinking guidelines. First, considering our permissive legal and cultural environment, we need a more strict guidelines. Second, to developing effective drinking guidelines, the efforts to increase public awareness of drinking related harm need to be conducted. Third, the intensive researches which is related to pharmcokinetics and toxic effects of alcohol in Korean should be followed.