The Last Word: Is Alcohol Use at Any Level Actually Healthy?

That helped spread the belief that wine was healthier than other types of alcohol. „A glass of red wine a day might have some benefits,“ University of Toronto psychology professor Taryn Grieder told The Guardian. „But not beer, not a shot of hard alcohol. I think people took this idea of alcohol possibly having health benefits and really ran with it.“ Moderate drinkers had the lowest cardiovascular disease risk in a study of more than 371,000 adults who participated in the U.K. Biobank, offering detailed genetic and medical information to scientists. Adults in this study were in their mid-50s and had an average of nine drinks weekly.

Loose use of the terms “moderate” and “a drink” has fueled some of the ongoing debate about alcohol’s impact on health. For more information about alcohol and cancer, please visit the National Cancer Institute’s webpage „Alcohol and Cancer Risk“ (last https://ecosoberhouse.com/article/how-to-taper-off-alcohol/ accessed October 21, 2021). What’s more, alcohol can contribute to obesity and the long list of health problems that can go along with it. Alcohol is a source of excess calories and a cause of weight gain that can be harmful in the long term.

Helps Your Heart

„Some people drink more out of habit than an actual desire for alcohol. Try substituting sparkling water or another beverage for your usual drink,“ like tea or sparkling water. Some people are using drinks-tracking apps while others have turned to counseling or loved ones for accountability. The report, which was published in JAMA Network Open last month, included analysis of 107 studies from 1980 to 2021 involving more than 4.8 million participants with a median age of about 56 years old. Whereas previous studies concluded that moderate drinkers (those who drank 25 grams of alcohol or less) were less likely to die of all causes, new research suggests that isn’t true. The new analysis found that people who drank more than 2 ounces of alcohol a day had the highest risk of death, about 35% higher than people who drank more moderately.

Science aside, Stockwell says deciding whether and how much to drink is a personal choice. Based on his research, Stockwell estimates that someone who drinks one alcoholic beverage per day shaves about five minutes off their lifespan with each drink, and the losses compound at higher levels of consumption. Whether that’s an acceptable tradeoff, Stockwell says, is up to the drinker. There is no consensus that moderate drinking leads to a healthier heart.

How does alcohol negatively impact long-term health?

Heavy drinking is typically defined as consuming eight drinks or more per week, according to the CDC. „When you talk about risk versus benefit, it’s one thing to say there is no benefit,“ said Dr. Jennifer Ashton, is alcohol good for you a board-certified OB-GYN and ABC News chief medical correspondent, who was not involved in the research. „It’s another thing, at certain levels, to find a risk, and that’s what this new research found.“

• But those who had two drinks per day had a risk 7% higher than non-drinkers.
• Getting extra folate may cancel out this alcohol-related increase.
• Once the study’s methodology and conclusions are outlined, it’s clear that the whole thing falls into the category of quite interesting, rather than this changes everything.
• „Some people drink more out of habit than an actual desire for alcohol. Try substituting sparkling water or another beverage for your usual drink,“ like tea or sparkling water.

Consuming alcohol can increase a person’s risk of developing other health conditions, such as cancer. According to a 2020 review, alcohol consumption at low and moderate levels may help protect against cardiovascular diseases. According to the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, moderate drinking consists of two drinks or less per day for men of legal drinking age and one drink or less per day for women of legal drinking age.

The Final Word on Alcohol and Your Health

The risk of death was also found to be greater for women, with a 61% increased risk for women who drink more than 2 ounces of alcohol per day. That number is equivalent to 2.2% of all female deaths and 6.8% of all male deaths that year, according to the study. And the meta-analysis published in JAMA Network Open that involved 107 studies with more than 4.8 million participants also found no longevity benefit for drinkers. This research showed that people who have one or two drinks a day have essentially the same risk of dying prematurely as people who’ve never had alcohol. The idea that a low dose of alcohol was heart healthy likely arose from the fact that people who drink small amounts tend to have other healthy habits, such as exercising, eating plenty of fruits and vegetables and not smoking.

• Even though these observational studies can’t establish causation, the J-shaped curve is biologically plausible.
• Going sober is right for you if you are a heavy drinker, a binge drinker, or if you suffer from any of the many diseases that alcohol has been linked to.
• These physical and social effects may also contribute to health and well-being.
• Heavy drinkers had the highest heart disease risk, followed by abstainers.

Moderate alcohol use for healthy adults generally means up to one drink a day for women and up to two drinks a day for men. On the other hand, if you’re a light to moderate drinker and you’re healthy, you can probably continue to drink alcohol as long as you do so responsibly. For women, a moderate alcohol intake per week is defined as seven servings of alcohol or less.

The Tip That Will Save You Money and Help Your Health, According to One Registered Dietitian

Of course it is possible that the healthy attributes seen in people who drink alcohol may come from other lifestyle factors, such as physical activity, diet, stress management, social connectivity or something else for which the study did not account. Scientists now think alcohol damages your DNA through the production of acetaldehyde, „a chemical that is toxic to cells,“ Smith writes in the Times. „Recent research has found that even low levels of drinking slightly increase the risk of high blood pressure and heart disease,“ and alcohol is known to be a direct cause of seven different cancers, including breast cancer and colorectal cancer. Another study that followed roughly 9,000 middle-aged adults over more than two decades found moderate drinking less harmful to the brain than abstaining or heavy alcohol consumption.

Drinking alcohol can also make it harder to get a good night’s sleep—an association that many don’t know about. Ultimately people end up using medications to go to sleep and stimulants, like caffeine, to help wake up in the morning. “In fact, curbing the alcohol may be a simple way to improve sleep for these people,” adds Dr. Ni. According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), a moderate alcohol intake per week is defined as seven servings of alcohol or fewer for women and 14 servings of alcohol or fewer for men. One serving of alcohol is defined as 5 oz for wine and just 1 1/2 oz for hard alcohol (which is far less than what is typically served in bars and restaurants). Dust off the bottle opener or corkscrew and get ready to crack one drink per day (for women), or maybe even two (for men) to get these sweet alcohol health benefits without the hangover.

Walter Willett, a professor of nutrition and epidemiology at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, questions the conclusion that the cons of drinking always outweigh the pros. Many studies on alcohol and health compared light or moderate drinkers to people who abstain from alcohol, without adequately accounting for the fact that many people quit drinking because they have health problems or previously drank heavily. Many studies also focused on older adults, in whom this trend may be particularly apparent. “People who are still healthy in their 70s and 80s can continue to drink,” Stockwell says.

• Like so many questions around alcohol’s health effects, the picture is mixed when it comes to longevity.
• But for breast and esophageal cancer, the risk increases, albeit slightly, with any alcohol consumption.
• Researchers at the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, including Bryazka, participated in the analysis of the 2020 Global Burden of Disease Study.
• Many different subtypes of alcohol dependence exist, characterized by alcohol cravings, inability to abstain or loss of self-control when drinking (71).
• To further complicate things, getting bad sleep tanks your energy levels during the day.
• For instance, two genetic variants, both of which are more common in people of Asian descent, affect how alcohol and acetaldehyde are metabolized.
• Moderate drinking isn’t likely to extend your life, according to a new meta-analysis that adds to the mounting scientific consensus that alcohol consumption offers few health benefits and comes with serious risks.