Roundup: Alcohol Consumption Declining in U.S. But Still Higher Than Pre-COVID Levels; and More News

U.S. Alcohol Use Is Declining, but Drinking Remains Above Pre-Pandemic Levels

Alcohol use among U.S. adults declined between 2022 and 2024, marking the first confirmed drop since the COVID-19 pandemic began, according to a new study published in Annals of Internal Medicine.

The improvement was driven partly by younger adults. However, researchers found a different pattern among people ages 50 to 64, whose heavy drinking has increased substantially since 2018.

Drinking Declined After Pandemic-Era Increases

Researchers analyzed National Health Interview Survey responses from 114,352 U.S. adults collected between 2018 and 2024.

From 2022 to 2024, the proportion of adults reporting any alcohol use fell by nearly 2 percent. Heavy drinking dropped by more than 8 percent. Despite those declines, overall alcohol use remained higher than before the pandemic.

For this study, heavy drinking was defined as five or more drinks in a day or at least 15 drinks a week for men, and four or more drinks in a day or at least eight drinks a week for women during the previous 12 months.

Older Adults Showed a Different Trend

Adults ages 50 to 64 stood out from the national pattern. Between 2018 and 2024, alcohol use among this group increased by nearly 4 percent, while heavy drinking rose by more than 36 percent.

The researchers highlighted the trend because the health risks associated with alcohol can increase with age. Alcohol use is associated with conditions including liver disease, certain cancers and cardiovascular disease, which refers to diseases affecting the heart and blood vessels.

One serious alcohol-related condition is cirrhosis, permanent scarring of the liver that can prevent the organ from working normally.

Younger Adults Reported Larger Declines

Drinking trends also differed by generation and sex. Generation Z adults experienced the largest decrease in any alcohol use, with consumption declining by more than 5 percent from 2022 to 2024. Millennials had the largest decline in heavy drinking, at 17 percent.

Men had a larger decrease than women in any alcohol use, 2.4 percent compared with 1.1 percent. Women, however, had a somewhat larger decline in heavy drinking, 9 percent compared with 7.7 percent for men.

The study did not determine why younger adults are drinking less, so the results cannot establish what caused the change.

What the Findings Mean for Consumers

The findings offer evidence that the rise in alcohol use during and immediately after the pandemic may be changing. But researchers cautioned that lower drinking rates do not necessarily mean alcohol-related health problems will immediately decline.

The results also show why national averages do not tell the entire story. While alcohol consumption declined among younger adults and several other groups, heavy drinking remained elevated among adults ages 50 to 64.

The researchers said the differences could help inform more targeted approaches to alcohol screening, prevention and treatment.

CDC: Women Eat More Fruit Than Men, While Income Gaps Persist in Fruit and Vegetable Consumption

Nearly 7 in 10 U.S. adults eat fruit on a given day, while more than 9 in 10 eat vegetables, according to a new report from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). But consumption varies considerably by sex and family income.

The report, released in September by the CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics, examined fruit and vegetable consumption among adults age 20 and older from August 2021 through August 2023. Researchers used data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), a nationally representative survey that tracks Americans’ health and nutrition.

Fruits and vegetables provide essential nutrients, including vitamins and fiber, and eating them is associated with a lower risk of chronic diseases. Current federal dietary guidelines recommend that adults consume a variety of fruits and vegetables.

Women More Likely to Eat Fruit

Overall, 69.9 percent of adults reported eating some type of fruit on a given day. Women were more likely to do so than men — 73.5 percent compared with 66.1 percent.

The difference was particularly noticeable for whole fruits. About 35 percent of women consumed citrus fruits, melons or berries, compared with 27.2 percent of men. Other types of whole fruit were consumed by 52.9 percent of women and 47 percent of men.

Researchers found no significant difference between men and women in consumption of 100 percent fruit juice.

Vegetable Consumption Is More Common

Vegetables were considerably more common in Americans’ diets. About 93.3 percent of adults reported eating some type of vegetable on a given day, with no significant overall difference between men and women.

Differences emerged, however, when researchers looked at specific vegetables. Women were more likely to consume dark green vegetables, such as spinach and broccoli, with 41.8 percent reporting them compared with 33.7 percent of men. Women were also slightly more likely to eat vegetables categorized by researchers as “other vegetables.”

Income Linked to Fruit and Vegetable Consumption

One of the report’s clearest findings involved family income. Fruit consumption increased steadily as income rose. Among adults whose family income was below 130 percent of the federal poverty level, 56.9 percent consumed fruit on a given day. That increased to 67.4 percent among middle-income adults and 76.5 percent among those whose family income was at least 350 percent of the federal poverty level.

A similar pattern appeared with vegetables. Consumption ranged from 88.5 percent among adults in the lowest-income group to 95.9 percent in the highest-income group. Higher-income adults were also more likely to report eating dark green vegetables and red or orange vegetables.

What the Findings Mean

The findings provide a snapshot of whether Americans consumed fruits or vegetables on a particular day — not whether they ate the recommended daily amounts.

Researchers relied on participants to recall what they had eaten during a 24-hour period. Self-reported dietary information can be affected by inaccurate reporting or memory, the CDC noted. The survey is designed to estimate dietary patterns across the U.S. population rather than evaluate an individual person’s diet.

Overall, the national pattern has remained relatively consistent: nearly 7 in 10 adults consume fruit and more than 9 in 10 consume vegetables on a given day. The latest findings also highlight continuing differences in the types of produce Americans eat — and who is most likely to eat them.

Starting Statins Soon After a Type 2 Diabetes Diagnosis May Be Linked to Lower Dementia Risk, Study Finds

A large nationwide study from Denmark suggests that people who start statin therapy soon after being diagnosed with type 2 diabetes may have a lower risk of developing dementia later in life, compared with those who start treatment later or do not start at all.

The research, published in The Lancet Regional Health – Europe, analyzed health records from 132,585 adults with newly diagnosed type 2 diabetes who had never previously used statins. Statins are medications commonly prescribed to lower LDL ("bad") cholesterol and reduce the risk of heart attack and stroke.

Researchers followed participants for a median of 7.1 years and evaluated whether the timing of statin initiation affected dementia risk.

Why Researchers Investigated This Question

Dementia, a group of conditions that cause progressive memory and thinking problems, has no cure. As populations age, the number of people living with dementia is expected to rise substantially.

Type 2 diabetes is already recognized as a risk factor for dementia. High LDL cholesterol has also recently been identified as a potentially modifiable risk factor, meaning it may be something that can be treated to help lower dementia risk.

Because statins are routinely used to lower LDL cholesterol in people with diabetes, researchers wanted to determine whether starting treatment earlier might offer additional long-term benefits for brain health.

How the Study Was Conducted

Participants were divided into three groups:

• Early statin users: Started statins within one year of diabetes diagnosis.
• Late statin users: Started statins one to five years after diagnosis.
• Non-users: Did not start statins within five years of diagnosis.

The researchers used advanced statistical methods designed to make the observational study resemble a randomized clinical trial as closely as possible. However, participants were not randomly assigned to treatment groups.

What the Study Found

Over the study period, 3,592 participants (2.7 percent) developed dementia.

The estimated 10-year risk of dementia was:

• 3.9 percent among people who did not start statins.
• 3.5 percent among those who started statins one to five years after diagnosis.
• 3.3 percent among those who started statins within the first year.

Compared with non-users, early statin use was associated with a 15 percent lower relative risk of dementia, while later statin use was associated with a 10 percent lower relative risk.

The researchers also found a stronger relationship for vascular-related dementia, a type of dementia linked to reduced blood flow and damage to blood vessels in the brain. They found little evidence of a similar effect for Alzheimer's disease specifically.

Important Limitations

The study was observational, meaning it can identify associations but cannot prove that statins directly prevented dementia.

Although researchers adjusted for many factors, differences between people who did and did not take statins may still have influenced the results. For example, people prescribed statins may differ in overall health, healthcare use, or other lifestyle factors.

The authors note that only randomized clinical trials can determine whether early statin treatment truly reduces dementia risk.

What This Means for Patients

The findings add to growing evidence that managing cardiovascular risk factors may also benefit brain health. For people with newly diagnosed type 2 diabetes, starting recommended cholesterol-lowering treatment promptly may provide benefits beyond heart disease prevention.

However, experts caution that the results should not be viewed as proof that statins prevent dementia. For now, statins remain primarily recommended to lower cholesterol and reduce cardiovascular risk, with any potential dementia benefit requiring further confirmation through clinical trials.