I've heard the WHO says there is no safe level of alcohol. Is that accurate?

The WHO's 2023 statement, "no level of alcohol consumption is safe for our health", is accurate in its public health framing and poorly calibrated for individual risk counseling. At the population level, when you integrate all health risks (cancer, liver disease, cardiovascular harm, injury, addiction), zero alcohol minimizes population-level harm. This is a legitimate and defensible epidemiological position.

For an individual man making a decision about his personal risk, the statement needs calibration. A healthy 42-year-old with normal ApoB, normal blood pressure, no AFib history, CAC score of zero, and two drinks per week is not in the same situation as the population-level analysis describes. His incremental AFib risk from 2 drinks per week is real but small in absolute terms. Conversely, a 55-year-old with CAC of 250, prior AFib, and two drinks per night is in a situation where "no safe level" maps reasonably onto his individual profile. The WHO statement is a public health tool, not a clinical prescription. The honest individual answer requires the individual's risk profile. (GBD 2016 Alcohol Collaborators, Lancet, 201831310-2/fulltext))

Cardiologist's calibrated position, Solid (1) at the population level. Individualized risk requires individualized assessment.

What to do: Know your individual cardiovascular risk profile before applying population-level statistics to your personal decision. If you do not know your ApoB, CAC score, AFib risk factors, and blood pressure trend, you cannot accurately calibrate what "safe" means for you.

For the full picture, read The Bourbon Collector's Honest Reckoning.