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A 21-year-old individual from Karnataka has tragically passed away after consuming five bottles of hard liquor in a challenge with his friends that involved a wager of Rs 10,000. Karthik had boasted to his friends, including Venkata Reddy and Subramani, and three others that he was capable of drinking five entire bottles of liquor straight, without mixing it with water. Venkata Reddy offered to give him Rs 10,000 if he succeeded. After finishing the five bottles, Karthik quickly fell severely ill and was rushed to a hospital in Mulbagal, located in Kolar district. Unfortunately, despite medical efforts, he did not survive. Karthik, who had been married for one year, had a newborn child merely eight days prior to this incident. Consequently, a police report has been filed at the Nangali police station against six people, including Venkata Reddy and Subramani, both of whom have been arrested, while authorities are searching for the remaining suspects.
According to the World Health Organization, nearly 2.6 million individuals die each year due to alcohol consumption, representing 4.7 percent of all global deaths. The WHO states that there is no "safe" level of alcohol intake. "To establish a 'safe' level of drinking, credible scientific evidence would be necessary to prove that consumption at or below a certain point poses no risk of illness or injury related to alcohol," they explain. The latest statement from the WHO elaborates that currently available research does not support the idea of a threshold at which the harmful effects of alcohol begin to become evident in the human body.
Furthermore, there are no studies indicating that the possible benefits of moderate or light drinking regarding cardiovascular diseases and type 2 diabetes exceed the cancer risks associated with such levels of alcohol for individuals consuming it, as reported in 2023. "It is not feasible to define a so-called safe level of alcohol intake. Regardless of quantity, the risk to one's health begins with the very first sip of alcohol. The only definitive statement we can make is that increased consumption leads to greater harm, and conversely, lower consumption is associated with higher safety," states Dr. Carina Ferreira-Borges, who serves as the acting Unit Lead for Noncommunicable Disease Management and Regional Advisor for Alcohol and Illicit Drugs at the WHO Regional Office for Europe.
