Speaker 1: Hey, there are folks. It is Sunday, November second, and
Speaker 1: did you just wrap up a Sober October. Well, even
Speaker 1: if you didn't participate in Sober October, there's a really
Speaker 1: good chance you have cut back on your alcohol intake
Speaker 1: because Americans are doing it in record numbers. And with that,
Speaker 1: welcome to this episode of Amy and TJ. What a
Speaker 1: positive health alert. Right, this is huge. But we are
Speaker 1: not drinking as much as we you too.
Speaker 2: It's true, and this has been something that a lot
Speaker 2: of folks have been pointing to.
Speaker 3: The messaging has changed.
Speaker 2: We had been hearing a lot of us of a
Speaker 2: certain age for most of our lives that moderate drinking
Speaker 2: there actually were health benefits to certain types of alcohol.
Speaker 2: It wasn't demonized in the way it's been in the
Speaker 2: last several years. We have heard on equivocally from doctors,
Speaker 2: from researchers who say higher drinking the leads to higher
Speaker 2: rates of cancer. It certainly does not improve your health
Speaker 2: in a way that benefits you. So basically, we heard
Speaker 2: no amount of drinking is healthy for the first time
Speaker 2: really in a concentrated way in the past few years,
Speaker 2: and that messaging is sinking in.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it really is how much of it has to
Speaker 1: do with people having alternatives right now? Who knows, But
Speaker 1: for whatever reason, the numbers are bearing it out that somebody,
Speaker 1: something is working and some messaging is getting through because
Speaker 1: folks are not drinking as much to the tune of
Speaker 1: some of the lowest rates we've seen in decades, some
Speaker 1: thirty plus years in this country.
Speaker 2: Yes, lowest numbers in three decades, the percentage of US
Speaker 2: adults who admit to drinking alcohol. And we're at the
Speaker 2: highest number ever in history of Americans who believe that
Speaker 2: even moderate alcohol consumption is a health risk.
Speaker 3: Those are two really good things.
Speaker 2: We have the lowest number and the highest number, and
Speaker 2: they're going in the right direction, respectively.
Speaker 1: I don't how are they explaining this?
Speaker 2: So they think that what they're saying now is sinking in.
Speaker 2: And they're also saying a lot of what's driving this
Speaker 2: are younger Americans, younger kids who are now of drinking age,
Speaker 2: have been hearing since they can remember how dangerous alcohol is.
Speaker 2: They also some will point to have the alternative of
Speaker 2: legalized marijuana, which they consider to be a safer or
Speaker 2: a better alternative to alcohols.
Speaker 1: So do doctors right, Yes.
Speaker 2: So between those two things. They're attributing a lot of
Speaker 2: these numbers. But even us older folks, it is sinking in.
Speaker 3: And they broke this down.
Speaker 2: This Gallop poll for twenty twenty five broke down how
Speaker 2: and who is consuming what and how often in a
Speaker 2: really interesting way. So we're at the lowest point in
Speaker 2: three decades. Just fifty four percent of US adults report
Speaker 2: drinking alcohol.
Speaker 3: Remarkable, and by the way.
Speaker 2: In twenty twenty two that percentage was sixty seven percent.
Speaker 2: In twenty twenty three, d it's sixty two percent. Last
Speaker 2: year it was fifty eight percent, and this year fifty
Speaker 2: four percent. That is significant. And so this is among
Speaker 2: the lowest number ever reported since the question was first
Speaker 2: asked in nineteen thirty nine. Wowep, And here's something else interesting.
Speaker 2: Guess what the period was the just give me like
Speaker 2: a year period for the highest reported drinking percentage.
Speaker 4: Among US adults highest.
Speaker 2: Yeah, what were the years where you Americans admitted to
Speaker 2: drinking the most?
Speaker 1: Thirty nine, nineteen thirty nine, twenty twenty. Going back, I'm
Speaker 1: thinking about historical YEP times, Actually, what do you have.
Speaker 3: You're not You're not close.
Speaker 2: So they're the period of highest reported drinking was between
Speaker 2: the years of nineteen seventy four and nineteen eighty one,
Speaker 2: where anywhere between sixty eight and seventy one percent.
Speaker 3: Of Americans were regularly drinking.
Speaker 2: What you're again, seventy four to eighty one, right when
Speaker 2: we you and I were kind of in our prime.
Speaker 3: Well yes, I mean I was one when that started.
Speaker 3: You were in elementary school.
Speaker 2: But just think about that, we were surrounded by advertisements, adults,
Speaker 2: people who were heavily drinking and not concerned about it.
Speaker 1: Wow, the highest rates of alcohol consumption were right around
Speaker 1: the time you and I entered the world.
Speaker 3: Yes, indeed.
Speaker 2: And also here's another interesting fact about what's happening this year.
Speaker 2: In this latest poll, even among those who do drink alcohol,
Speaker 2: everyone reports drinking less. They're more aware, they're acknowledging the
Speaker 2: health risks, and you and I fall into that category.
Speaker 2: We've done dry genuine I've done it once. I've done
Speaker 2: a damp January, and we definitely acknowledged when we were
Speaker 2: in a stressful year that we went in the other direction.
Speaker 3: So we've corrected.
Speaker 2: However, interestingly, we had a good conversation with my brother
Speaker 2: who's a physician, in early October, and we.
Speaker 3: Made a big decision. We made a change a shift.
Speaker 1: Oh that was my cue. Yes, I'm sorry, I was
Speaker 1: taking a sip in my drink.
Speaker 3: Of water.
Speaker 1: No, it's it's interesting. And it was on that trip
Speaker 1: we heard from uh. I think we made a bunch
Speaker 1: of health decisions after that. We just got exposed with
Speaker 1: some folks who hadn't seen it in a while and
Speaker 1: got help on running and injury and nausea. We came back.
Speaker 1: But yeah, one of the things we heard, ye, yes,
Speaker 1: your brother, who's certainly a drinker, but he say, yeah
Speaker 1: it is, don't even who, and a physician as well.
Speaker 1: He was like, yeah, there's no there's no upside to it.
Speaker 1: So he just decided to drink during the week Yeah,
Speaker 1: like yourself out party on the weekend. But just it's
Speaker 1: just a matter of moderation and that's a pretty good
Speaker 1: plan and if you stick to that, it's really easy
Speaker 1: to do. And we've gotten into that habit now.
Speaker 2: So yeah, we came back from that trip to go
Speaker 2: see Georgia play and hung with my brother and we said,
Speaker 2: you know what, we're going to give it a try,
Speaker 2: and we have really liked it. It's kind of nice
Speaker 2: when you give yourself a specific limitation and just say hey,
Speaker 2: on the weekends, I'll drink, you know, in moderation.
Speaker 3: On the weekdays, I don't need to.
Speaker 2: Yes, if there's a special occasion, yes, If there is
Speaker 2: a one off of this, I'm not going to say
Speaker 2: oh no.
Speaker 3: But it does make for.
Speaker 2: Intentional and purposeful drinking, which I think has helped a lot.
Speaker 3: Like I have loved it.
Speaker 2: I can't imagine going back, honestly to the way we were.
Speaker 2: So that's been a cool change that we've made. But
Speaker 2: there's a big I know it's not going to be
Speaker 2: surprising to anyone. Men versus women. The decline in drinking
Speaker 2: has been more pronounced among women. So women are down
Speaker 2: a lie eleven percentage points just from twenty twenty three,
Speaker 2: So fifty one percent of women report drinking. Men are
Speaker 2: down five percentage points from twenty twenty three, so fifty
Speaker 2: seven percent of men say they're drinking. Well, still dropping,
Speaker 2: still dropping, still dropping, So that's good, just not dropping
Speaker 2: as quickly. Republicans versus Democrats, what do you think in
Speaker 2: this year's.
Speaker 1: Poll, who drinks more Republicans or Democrats. I think Republicans
Speaker 1: might admit it.
Speaker 3: That's hilarious. Okay, so Republicans.
Speaker 2: Drinking among Republicans is at forty six percent, drinking among
Speaker 2: Democrats sixty one percent.
Speaker 3: Boy, so for pole taken like so twenty twenty five
Speaker 3: in July. In July of this.
Speaker 1: Year, Oh you sure it wasn't thinking like November twenty four.
Speaker 3: But here's something really interesting.
Speaker 2: For whatever reason, they say there was a sharp drop
Speaker 2: in reported drinking among Republicans, falling nineteen points to forty
Speaker 2: six percent. They say Democrats held steady at sixty one percent.
Speaker 2: So who knows flip self reporting?
Speaker 1: It's Republicans who didn't want to report it. Okay, I
Speaker 1: had it flipped so hard. There's not a nineteen percent drop.
Speaker 3: In that's shocking, right, right.
Speaker 1: So why would the what in the world happened?
Speaker 2: Okay, how about white people versus people of color this
Speaker 2: year in twenty twenty five, that's the percent who drinks
Speaker 2: more white.
Speaker 3: People are people of color?
Speaker 1: People of color?
Speaker 2: You're wrong, White people fifty six percent, people of color
Speaker 2: fifty two percent. Again, this is people who admit that
Speaker 2: they drink regularly. That's always important.
Speaker 1: You're gonna call us for a pole, of course, we're
Speaker 1: gonna lie to you. I don't know who's on the phone.
Speaker 2: And of course, as my brother, my favorite anecdote here
Speaker 2: tell me is that whatever you tell your doctor how
Speaker 2: many drinks you have a week, they automatically double it
Speaker 2: because they know everybody's lying.
Speaker 3: So this poll should be taken with a grain of salt.
Speaker 2: How about this, people who make less than forty thousand
Speaker 2: dollars a year versus people who make more than one
Speaker 2: hundred thousand dollars a year.
Speaker 3: This was the biggest disparity.
Speaker 1: Uh, the the under forty drinkers forty thousand do what
Speaker 1: do more of the drinking?
Speaker 2: You're wrong, less than forty thousand, thirty nine percent, more
Speaker 2: than one hundred thousand, sixty six.
Speaker 3: It just can't afford to drink, That's what it would
Speaker 3: seem to be. That's exactly what it would appear to be.
Speaker 3: Or they're working so much they don't have time to drink.
Speaker 2: I mean, it could be a lot of things, right
Speaker 2: when you're in that situation.
Speaker 3: This is so interesting. So we're at a record high.
Speaker 2: I mentioned fifty three percent of US adults now say
Speaker 2: moderate drinking is bad for health. That is up from
Speaker 2: twenty eight percent who believed that.
Speaker 3: Just ten years ago.
Speaker 2: That speaks to the fact that the messaging is worse
Speaker 2: Today's number. I'm sorry, fifty three percent of US adults
Speaker 2: now say hey, yes, we admit even moderate drinking is
Speaker 2: bad for you. Only twenty eight percent of people said
Speaker 2: that or believed that in twenty fifteen.
Speaker 3: That's kind of crazy, right.
Speaker 1: We still get studies every once in a while to
Speaker 1: tell you that red wine is good for you.
Speaker 2: Yes, And that was what was complicating things. They said
Speaker 2: that we were getting enough of a reason to somehow
Speaker 2: convince ourselves that it was not just okay to drink,
Speaker 2: but good to actually have a glass of red wine.
Speaker 3: Correct. So, anyway, that was really interesting is hydrating?
Speaker 1: Do you have that information in there as well?
Speaker 2: You love to say that. So do you know what
Speaker 2: the current government recommendations are?
Speaker 1: Did they cut them? Are they new? How about this?
Speaker 1: Have they been updated in recent months?
Speaker 2: They're expected to be soon, but they are not as
Speaker 2: of right now. So do you know what the current
Speaker 2: government recommendations are for drinking?
Speaker 1: The limits are two a day for man, one a
Speaker 1: day for women.
Speaker 3: You are absolutely correct.
Speaker 2: So the federal government's current dietary guidelines recommend that Americans
Speaker 2: if they consume alcohol, Men should limit themselves to two
Speaker 2: drinks a day or fewer, and women should stick to
Speaker 2: one drink a day or fewer. Okay, So it was
Speaker 2: a big problem with that, yes, and that is considered
Speaker 2: moderate drinking.
Speaker 3: Correct.
Speaker 2: So the outgoing US Surgeon General for VC Murphy, we
Speaker 2: know him, we love him. Earlier this year he is
Speaker 2: recommending putting a label on beer, wine liquor that would
Speaker 2: clearly outline the link between drinking alcohol and cancer.
Speaker 3: And that has not happened. But certainly he was asking
Speaker 3: that happened.
Speaker 2: And there are a lot of folks who say, look
Speaker 2: at this study and what's even happened with the messaging?
Speaker 2: And people do change their habits when the government changes
Speaker 2: their recommendations or puts a warning label on something.
Speaker 1: You really think that warning label is going to make
Speaker 1: it onto a bottle of tetoes exactly?
Speaker 4: All right.
Speaker 3: So here's the interesting thing.
Speaker 2: The government is expected to release new guidelines regarding alcohol
Speaker 2: by the end of the year. Don't know if it's
Speaker 2: going to happen, but that is what has been promised
Speaker 2: under the directive of RFK Junior. He has promised big changes,
Speaker 2: but he has not hinted on how the alcohol recommendations
Speaker 2: may shift. We don't know which direction he's going to
Speaker 2: take them in.
Speaker 1: But people have taken an issue with these recommendations forever.
Speaker 1: Because you say two drinks, what is two drinks? Because
Speaker 1: one bottle of beer you consider one drink. They also
Speaker 1: consider one margarita one drink. But a margarita is made
Speaker 1: up of two shots if it's done directly at least right.
Speaker 1: So it's that they're a mess. I don't know what
Speaker 1: recommendations they can come out. All you can really say
Speaker 1: is drink less alcohol. You can't put a number on it.
Speaker 1: Because of my body and your body, we patabolize alcohol.
Speaker 1: All kinds of things are different.
Speaker 2: And perhaps with the guidelines, if they said there is
Speaker 2: no safe amount of alcohol.
Speaker 4: That's there, you go, that's on.
Speaker 1: And we know that, don't we.
Speaker 2: And we know that this worked with cigarettes, We know
Speaker 2: that this worked with tobacco. Clearly, when you don't just
Speaker 2: make Americans aware of it, but remind them and almost
Speaker 2: constantly barrage them with the messaging, hey, this could kill you,
Speaker 2: this will likely end your life or severely lessen your life,
Speaker 2: or lower the quality of your life. And when that
Speaker 2: messaging just is constant, people change their habits.
Speaker 3: That's been proven.
Speaker 2: All Right, do you know what the most popular alcoholic
Speaker 2: beverage was in twenty twenty five?
Speaker 1: The most popular? Like you're talking about beer or wine
Speaker 1: or something or.
Speaker 3: Yep, between beer, liquor or.
Speaker 4: Wine liquor liquor to go with beer?
Speaker 3: All right, we'll tell you if TJ's right when we
Speaker 3: come back.
Speaker 1: All right, folks, we are back. We left it with
Speaker 1: a cliffhanger. That's old school. That was a tease, right,
Speaker 1: ask a question, wait for the answer. Was he right?
Speaker 1: We'll tell you right after the break. So I hope
Speaker 1: you stuck around for it. I had nothing to do
Speaker 1: with that. Okay, by the way, folks, and I still
Speaker 1: don't know the answer. What was the most popular you said, beverage?
Speaker 1: Alcoholic beverage in twenty twenty five? So far? Yes, between beer, wine,
Speaker 1: and liquor. Yeah, you said, I went with beer.
Speaker 3: You went with beer. How would you order it?
Speaker 1: How would I order beer?
Speaker 4: Like?
Speaker 2: No, that was a fair follow up, how would you
Speaker 2: order frosty glass beer? Like? If you had to rank
Speaker 2: the beer, wine, liquor, how would you rank it?
Speaker 1: Man? You said that you asked that question, really strangely,
Speaker 1: how would you order it?
Speaker 3: How would you rank?
Speaker 1: I know what you say? Yeah, okay, wait is the
Speaker 1: first one, right though?
Speaker 3: Yes, you are correct?
Speaker 1: Okay, correct on beer after that? This is America. So
Speaker 1: let's go with liquor after that, and then wine, ding
Speaker 1: ding ding ning ning.
Speaker 3: But here's the funny thing. So that's twenty twenty five.
Speaker 3: When you asked.
Speaker 2: When they asked folks, what's your favorite type of alcohol
Speaker 2: to order, thirty eight percent said beer, thirty percent said liquor,
Speaker 2: and twenty nine percent said wine.
Speaker 1: Now you close there.
Speaker 2: In ninety yes, in nineteen ninety two, forty seven percent
Speaker 2: of Americans said beer, twenty seven percent said wine, and
Speaker 2: only twenty one percent said liquor.
Speaker 3: That was interesting to you. That was nineteen ninety.
Speaker 1: Two, ninety two, so.
Speaker 3: Like thirty years ago, give or take.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I was just coming into my drinking era.
Speaker 2: And yes, exactly, nineteen ninety two was my freshman year
Speaker 2: in college.
Speaker 1: Yes, so, oh, that wasn't my drinking I was still
Speaker 1: in elementary school with that.
Speaker 3: That's not true. You were in high school. Let's just
Speaker 3: be honest, all.
Speaker 2: Right, this won't be shocking, But there were some big
Speaker 2: gender differences in terms of who likes what.
Speaker 3: All right, obviously I shouldn't.
Speaker 4: Say obviously, oh you shouldn't see.
Speaker 2: Okay, fine, but turns out, yes, men far more likely
Speaker 2: than women reach for a beer, So fifty two percent
Speaker 2: prefer beer versus twenty three percent of.
Speaker 4: Women prefer beer.
Speaker 1: Prefer it. Yes, hey, that's a special group of women.
Speaker 3: Twenty three percent.
Speaker 2: That was me in college. One hundred percent. That's not
Speaker 2: only was do I actually like the taste of beer?
Speaker 4: It was the cheapest option, and she's frugal.
Speaker 1: Really, you find jeans, t shirt and can belly up
Speaker 1: to the bar and have a draft beer and watch
Speaker 1: a college football game. You just you hold on to
Speaker 1: that woman.
Speaker 2: Yeah, well I see while you fallen in love with me.
Speaker 3: Because check, check and check. All right, women were more
Speaker 3: likely than men to choose wine.
Speaker 2: This is hilarious. Forty four percent to fourteen percent. Come
Speaker 2: only fourteen percent of men chose wine first seeing.
Speaker 1: Their number one choice. Okay, maybe that reads okay, that
Speaker 1: makes sense. Number one.
Speaker 2: That's why when we said, shibli the driest you have
Speaker 2: that was hilarious line in a movie American History.
Speaker 3: We Died last.
Speaker 1: We have to go back and watch.
Speaker 2: Yes, all right, and then men and women are equally
Speaker 2: likely to opt for liquor. Twenty nine percent of men
Speaker 2: will choose liquor first and thirty two percent of women will.
Speaker 3: Choose liquor first.
Speaker 1: Wow.
Speaker 2: I thought those were some interesting differences the beer and
Speaker 2: the wine.
Speaker 3: Maybe not that shocking.
Speaker 1: Great generally speaking, your first option for a drink is
Speaker 1: what wine?
Speaker 2: Is it?
Speaker 1: Really? I know it depends on the setting, but yeah.
Speaker 2: And honestly, the only reason why this is so embarrassing
Speaker 2: in me to admit that I wouldn't have said beer
Speaker 2: is the carbs. I just don't want that heavy beer
Speaker 2: belly carb fuel. But I love the way it tastes.
Speaker 2: I mean, if I could, if nothing else mattered, pick
Speaker 2: my first drink, I'd pick a beer and then I'd
Speaker 2: move on from there.
Speaker 1: This is it's so difficult. That's what I asked. What
Speaker 1: would your first drink be? What would it be? What
Speaker 1: do you want to drink?
Speaker 2: Yeah, if it was if nothing else mattered, I would
Speaker 2: pick a cold.
Speaker 1: Beer if nothing else mattered.
Speaker 3: In the world as in carbs. Okay, yes, how about you.
Speaker 1: I don't know, I have to give it more thoughts.
Speaker 2: But yes, and we did kind of hint at this,
Speaker 2: but cannabis use in the US obviously has significantly increased
Speaker 2: over the last couple of years, particularly among the eighteen
Speaker 2: to twenty nine year olds who have now in the
Speaker 2: same I saw a similar study saying that fifty percent
Speaker 2: of kids between the age of eighteen and twenty nine
Speaker 2: report using cannabis regularly fifteen fifty five zero fifty percent
Speaker 2: of folks ages eighteen to twenty nine reported using regularly cannabis.
Speaker 2: That is a huge shift and absolutely has had to
Speaker 2: have had an impact on some of these thankfully declining
Speaker 2: alcohol numbers, but they're also clearly looking for another way
Speaker 2: to unwind or escape.
Speaker 1: Is it a cheaper than liquor.
Speaker 3: It's cheaper than liquor.
Speaker 2: It doesn't have the same health implications so far as
Speaker 2: we know them. And people feel like, you know, you
Speaker 2: can microdose, you can function. You start drinking on the job,
Speaker 2: you're gonna get fired, right you have something on your
Speaker 2: smoke break or a little gummy or what little weed water?
Speaker 2: Who's gonna know it's a you know, you can function
Speaker 2: in a way. I think some folks think then you
Speaker 2: could never if you had been drinking.
Speaker 1: Get any other alarming statistics over there, no, you get
Speaker 1: no more quizzes.
Speaker 2: Were done with my statistics and my quizzes. So there
Speaker 2: is some good news and there is some news to
Speaker 2: still be studied.
Speaker 1: Perhaps I don't know what I feel like making a
Speaker 1: drink now all this talk. I think I'm going for Manhattan. So, folks,
Speaker 1: we always appreciate you spending some time with us. And look,
Speaker 1: we should give a shout out to the folks today
Speaker 1: running the New York City Marathon. We weren't able to
Speaker 1: do it this year for a variety of reasons we
Speaker 1: won't get into right now, but we are having some
Speaker 1: serious fauxmo yes right about now. But man, that beer
Speaker 1: at the end of that marathon is maybe the best.
Speaker 3: The best beer ever.
Speaker 1: Absolutely all right, folks, always appreciate your hanging with us
Speaker 1: for now on d J. Holmes on behalf of Amy Robot.
Speaker 1: We'll talk to y all soon, yeah, h