The dangers of chronic alcohol use have been the “elephant in the corner of the room” for some time, Prof. David Ma told the Globe and Mail this week, in a story about Canada’s revised food guide. Those risks are now highlighted in the guide.

Ma is a professor in the Department of Human Health and Nutritional Sciences and director of the Guelph Family Health Study. He studies links between nutrition and cancer.

Ma said there is growing concern about alcohol and its relationship to obesity and cancers of various types, and that alcohol is becoming a bigger priority in disease prevention.

The new guide encourages a diet full of fruits and vegetables and non-meat proteins, and characterizes alcohol as a leading global health concern.