The Health Risks of Alcohol, a Red Dye Ban and Commercial Space Flights

Science Quickly

Scientific American

Science

4.3 • 1.4K Ratings

🗓️ 20 January 2025

⏱️ 7 minutes

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Summary

A report that was recently released by the Department of Health and Human Services highlights the risks of drinking alcohol, even moderately. The Food and Drug Administration has banned the use of the dye Red No. 3 in food and other products. Experts argue that body mass index (BMI) is a flawed way to diagnose “obesity.” A SpaceX rocket successfully brought two lunar landers into orbit—but in another launch, part of a separate SpaceX vehicle exploded after takeoff. Plus, Australia has another scary spider. Recommended reading: – What to Know about the Ban on Red Dye in Foods and Drugs – Blue Ghost, a Private U.S. Lunar Lander, Launches to the Moon – People Who Are Fat and Healthy May Hold Keys to Understanding Obesity E-mail us at [email protected] if you have any questions, comments or ideas for stories we should cover! Discover something new every day: subscribe to Scientific American and sign up for Today in Science, our daily newsletter. Science Quickly is produced by Rachel Feltman, Fonda Mwangi, Kelso Harper, Madison Goldberg and Jeff DelViscio. This episode was hosted by Rachel Feltman. Our show is edited by Madison Goldberg with fact-checking by Shayna Posses and Aaron Shattuck. The theme music was composed by Dominic Smith. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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0:29.8	Happy Monday listeners. For Scientific American Science Quickly, I'm Rachel Thalpman.
0:34.7	Let's kick off the week by catching up on some science news you might have missed.
0:39.2	Last Tuesday, a U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Committee released a new draft report on
0:44.5	alcohol. The review of existing data tied just one drink a day to increased risk of liver
0:50.4	cirrhosis, oral cancer, and esophageal cancer.
0:58.6	The committee also found that alcohol use was associated with a higher risk of death from seven types of cancer.
1:01.0	And this isn't the first time that the health effects of alcohol have made headlines
1:04.7	in 2025.
1:06.4	Earlier this month, Surgeon General Vivek Murthy argued that alcoholic drinks should
1:10.7	come with cancer
1:11.4	warning labels. The report did find some counterintuitive connections too. People who had one
1:18.1	drink a day had a lower risk of ischemic stroke than people who didn't, and women who consumed
1:23.6	one, two, or three drinks per day had a lower risk of diabetes. But these apparent
1:29.0	benefits are fickle. The lower risk of ischemic stroke, for example, can disappear if people
1:34.8	even occasionally drink four or five servings in one sitting. And women who consumed two
1:40.3	alcoholic drinks per day may have had a lower risk overall of diabetes, but they also
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