It also addressed instances where moderate drinking or a goal of pursuing moderate drinking could be hazardous to your health and well-being. If you’ve come here after searching on the topic of moderate drinking, it’s likely that you’re wondering about your drinking and whether or not you should cut back to reduce alcohol-related problems or risks for problems. If you’ve not read the previous post I recommend doing so as they build on each other. Moderate drinking seems to be good for the heart and circulatory system, and probably protects against type 2 diabetes and gallstones. Heavy drinking is a major cause of preventable death in most countries. In the U.S., alcohol is implicated in about half of fatal traffic accidents.

On the one hand, this diversity can be advantageous in that the four disciplines complement each other in revealing drinking patterns and problems. On the other hand, the variability also can be a handicap, because the information collected about alcohol consumption often is not comparable across studies. For example, one survey may ask questions in a way that permits a diagnosis of alcohol dependence.

Drinking Levels Defined

So while some moderate drinkers might never experience health problems from drinking, “if you look at all the risks and all the benefits of alcohol, it’s probably net harmful, on average, for the whole population,” he says. In the United States, the CDC defines a standard drink as having about 14 grams of alcohol. Most individuals consume alcohol in moderation and can enjoy a few drinks during a night out with friends. These people are known as “moderate drinkers.” Continue reading for essential information about what moderate drinking is, how to know if you’re a moderate drinker, whether or not moderate drinking is considered safe, how to monitor your drinking, and more.

Loose use of the terms “moderate” and “a drink” has fueled some of the ongoing debate about alcohol’s impact on health. If drinking causes serious problems in your life, you may have alcohol use disorder. However, eating a healthy diet and being physically active have much greater health benefits and have been more extensively studied.

Cautions About Changing Drinking Habits

People who abstain completely from alcohol are a minority, and those who aren’t teetotalers for religious reasons are more likely to have chronic health problems, to have a disability or to be from lower income backgrounds. It doesn’t matter how much you drink – the risk to the drinker’s health starts from the first drop of any alcoholic beverage. Alcohol is a toxic, psychoactive, and dependence-producing substance and has been classified as a Group 1 carcinogen by the International Agency for Research on Cancer decades ago – this is the highest risk group, which also includes asbestos, radiation
and tobacco.

For some analyses, such as studies investigating drinking consequences (e.g., drinking and driving and other alcohol-related injuries and violence) not only the amount but also the pattern of alcohol consumption is important and should be assessed. For example, imagine two people who consume identical average volumes of alcohol (e.g., 14 drinks per week). One person consumes 2 drinks each evening, whereas the other person ingests all 14 drinks within https://ecosoberhouse.com/article/binge-drinking-how-to-stop-binge-drinking/ a few hours on a Saturday night. That difference in drinking pattern has considerable implications for the drinkers with respect to the likelihood of experiencing negative outcomes, such as alcohol poisoning or alcohol-related traffic crashes. Unfortunately, little consensus exists among scientists as to what constitutes hazardous drinking and how one can best measure drinking patterns in general and hazardous drinking patterns in particular.

Risks

Typically, many familiar forms of distilled spirits (e.g., vodka, whiskey, gin, or rum) have alcohol contents of 40 to 50 percent (often expressed as 80 to 100 proof). Considerable variation may occur even within these categories, with the alcohol content of some varieties being as low as 30 percent and others as high as 75 percent. Liqueurs and cordials, usually grouped with distilled spirits, often are less concentrated than standard liquors. Grain alcohol, which is virtually pure ethanol, is often bottled at a concentration of 94 percent alcohol by volume.

• In some QF surveys, respondents are asked how often and how much, on average, they consumed different types of alcoholic beverages over the past year.
• In more recent decades, wine — and particularly red wine — developed a reputation for having health benefits after news stories highlighted its high concentration of a protective antioxidant called resveratrol, which is also found in blueberries and cranberries.
• If you’re drinking “hard” liquor, moderate means 1.5 fluid ounces of an 80-proof distilled spirit a day for women and 3 ounces for men.
• The typical alcohol content of beer is roughly 4.5 percent (by volume), but the alcohol content of light beers may be less than 3 percent, and certain craft-brewed beers or malt liquors may have an alcohol content of up to 9 percent or higher.
• A new analysis, published by the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), has found that drinking low amounts of alcohol does not have health benefits.
• The active ingredient in alcoholic beverages, a simple molecule called ethanol, affects the body in many different ways.

The ranges of alcohol content for beer, wine, and distilled spirits vary somewhat from State to State. Significant variation also exists in the alcohol content of beverages within each of these categories. The typical alcohol content of beer is roughly 4.5 percent (by volume), but the alcohol content of light beers may be less than 3 percent, and certain craft-brewed beers or drink moderately malt liquors may have an alcohol content of up to 9 percent or higher. That number is equivalent to 2.2% of all female deaths and 6.8% of all male deaths that year, according to the study. The study also found “significantly increased risk of all-cause mortality” among females who consumed 25 or more grams of alcohol daily and males who consumed 45 or more grams per day.

Drugs & Supplements

The questions and answers below are a great way to build your knowledge about this important subject. If you have additional questions, we’d love to hear from you or see you in person, so give us a call. The best way to manage your alcohol intake is to follow your daily or weekly drinking limit. Keep track of how many standard drinks you have per week and make sure you know how much alcohol is in every drink you consume.