The percentage of U.S. adults who say they consume alcohol has fallen to 54%, the lowest by one percentage point in Gallup’s nearly 90-year trend. This coincides with a growing belief among Americans that moderate alcohol consumption is bad for one’s health, now the majority view for the first time.

Gallup has tracked Americans’ drinking behavior since 1939 and their views of the health implications of moderate drinking since 2001. The latest results are from Gallup’s annual Consumption Habits survey, conducted July 7-21.

Americans' drinking habits are shifting amid the medical world’s reappraisal of alcohol’s health effects. After decades of relative steadiness in the proportion of U.S. adults who drink, Gallup has documented three consecutive years of decline in the U.S. drinking rate as research supporting the “no amount of alcohol is safe” message mounts. Compounding the challenge for companies that sell alcohol, drinkers now appear to be dialing back how much they drink, as well.

Young adults were initially quicker than older Americans to embrace the idea that drinking is detrimental, possibly because they hadn’t been as exposed to earlier advice that moderate drinking, particularly wine, is heart-healthy. But the belief that drinking is detrimental is now gaining traction with older adults.

The continuation of these trends may hinge on whether recent pronouncements about drinking’s risks are the final word on the subject, similar to how the U.S. surgeon general’s warnings about tobacco in the 1960s marked the start of a long-term decline in smoking. The trajectory of U.S. drinking could also depend on how much doctors, health authorities and policymakers reinforce the message that no amount of alcohol is risk-free.

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