Alcohols health effects: What you need to know

For people who drink several times a week and do not have alcohol dependency, even slightly reducing intake can have significant health benefits, Keyes added. While the authors suggested that these risks outweigh any potential health benefits from moderate drinking, Walter Willett, professor of epidemiology and nutrition at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, said he’s not convinced. Binge drinking is drinking enough alcohol to raise one’s BAC to 0.08% or above. Women typically reach this level after about four drinks and men after about five drinks in two hours.

In fact, red wine may be linked to more health benefits than any other alcoholic beverage (75, 76, 77, 78, 79). If you are a heavy drinker, following a healthy diet and exercise routine will still be beneficial for your health, but not as much as getting your alcohol consumption under control, or abstaining completely. Moderate alcohol consumption may increase life expectancy, while alcohol abuse is a strong risk factor for premature death. Simultaneously, alcohol abuse is the third main cause of preventable death in the US, as it’s a large factor in chronic diseases, accidents, traffic crashes and social problems (68). In fact, because heavy drinking is a major cause of depression in some individuals, treating the underlying alcohol abuse may lead to big improvements (25, 26, 27). It doesn’t matter how much you drink – the risk to the drinker’s health starts from the first drop of any alcoholic beverage.

Medical Professionals

That usually means four or more drinks within two hours for women and five or more drinks within two hours for men. From this, the study’s authors concluded that while light drinking might have a modest protective effect for certain conditions among certain people, “Our results show that the safest level of drinking is none.” That said, consuming high amounts does not provide greater health benefits. Heavy drinking causes health problems — regardless of the type of beverage.

The liver does the heavy lifting in metabolizing the ethyl alcohol that makes us tipsy, and it bears the brunt of alcohol-related disease. Of the more than 98,000 U.S. liver-disease deaths among those 12 and older in 2022, 46% involved alcohol. About half of cirrhosis deaths are alcohol related, and the percentages are much higher (75-80%) among those younger than age 45. There’s been no shortage of alcohol-related research over the years, and the science has evolved.

Factors affecting alcohol consumption and alcohol-related harm

For example, the definition of “one drink” in the US is 14 grams of alcohol, as found in a 12-ounce bottle of beer, 5-ounce glass of wine, or 1.5-ounce shot glass of distilled spirits. In other countries, and in many research studies, a different definition is used. More than four drinks daily appear to cause a fivefold increase in your risk of mouth and throat cancer, as well as an increase in your risk of breast, colon and liver cancer (58, 59, 61, 62). Because your brain is very sensitive to damage, chronic alcohol abuse may increase your risk of dementia and cause brain shrinkage in middle-aged and older adults (12, 13, 14, 15).

Her group’s studies along with other research shows that burn patients with alcohol use disorder fare worse. Having a glass of wine with dinner or a beer at a party here and there isn’t going to destroy your gut. But even low amounts of daily drinking and prolonged and heavy use of alcohol can lead to significant problems for your digestive system.

Follow us on social media

1. Your liver detoxifies and removes alcohol from your blood through a process known as oxidation.
2. The morning after a night of over-imbibing can cause some temporary effects on your brain.
3. More studies now show that there aren’t health benefits of moderate drinking compared to not drinking.
4. There’s been no shortage of alcohol-related research over the years, and the science has evolved.

Moderate drinking is defined as at most one standard drink per day for women and at most two for men, while heavy drinking is defined as more than three drinks per day for women and four for men (80). While alcohol intoxication is only temporary, chronic alcohol abuse can impair brain function permanently. However, moderate drinking may have benefits for brain health — especially among older adults.

Risks start from the first drop

Some people drink small amounts at a time, while others tend to binge drink. If you are on any medications, talk to your health care provider about how alcohol may affect them. Harmful use of alcohol is accountable for 6,9 % and 2.0% of the global burden of disease for males and females respectively.

“Excessive alcohol consumption can cause nerve damage and irreversible forms of dementia,” Dr. Sengupta warns. Long-term alcohol use can change your brain’s wiring in much more significant ways. When you drink too much alcohol, it can throw off the balance of good and bad bacteria in your gut. But when you ingest too much alcohol for your liver to process in a timely manner, a buildup of toxic substances begins to take a toll on your liver. Heavy drinking also has been linked to intentional injuries, such as suicide, as well as accidental injury and death. Binge drinking early in pregnancy is particularly risky for the developing baby (65).

It’s tempting to assume that because heavy alcohol consumption is very bad, lesser amounts must be at least a little bad. But the science isn’t there, in part because critics of the alcohol industry have deliberately engineered a state of ignorance. It’s tempting to assume that because heavy alcohol consumption is very bad, lesser amounts must be at least a little bad. But the science isn’t there, in part because critics of the alcohol industry have deliberately engineered a state of ignorance. Similarly, in randomized trials, alcohol consumption lowers living amends scholarship average blood sugar levels. In observational trials, it also appears to lower the risk of diabetes.