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But the results of studies that seek to prove the theory are mixed — which leads researchers to explore other possible reasons for the link between moderate drinking and better health. Scientific evidence about drinking alcohol goes back nearly 100 years—and includes plenty of variability in alcohol’s health effects. In the 1980s and 1990s, for instance, alcohol in moderation, and especially red wine, was touted as healthful. Now the pendulum has swung so far in the opposite direction that contemporary narratives suggest every ounce of alcohol is dangerous. Until gold-standard experiments are performed, we won’t truly know.

New research on whether that nightly cocktail or glass of wine is medicine or poison

— is way more than either of these doctors would consider one glass of wine. But roughly 5 to 6 percent of new cancers or cancer deaths worldwide are directly tied to alcohol use. For perspective, in the United States, about 19 percent of new cancer cases are linked to smoking and up to 9.5 percent to obesity. “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.

Drinks to avoid

When you drink too much alcohol, it can throw off the balance of good and bad bacteria in your gut. Your gut microbiome is a hotbed https://ecosoberhouse.com/ of bacteria that help keep your digestive system happy and healthy. The trillions of microbes in your colon and large and small intestines are critical to proper digestion. They also help fend off inflammation and support healthy metabolism. Cirrhosis, on the other hand, is irreversible and can lead to liver failure and liver cancer, even if you abstain from alcohol.

Body weight

• They also help fend off inflammation and support healthy metabolism.
• And, unfortunately, you can’t choose a weekly count over the daily.
• Looking at the drinking habits and cognitive skills of 550 older adults over a 30-year period, researchers found that the more you drank over that time, the more brain mass you lost.
• Regularly knocking ’em back comes with a whole laundry list of health risks like higher risk for heart disease, stroke, liver disease, alcohol use disorder, and, as that new study highlighted, cancer and premature death.
• According to the Office of Alcohol and Drug Education at the University of Notre Dame, IN, a woman’s body absorbs 30 percent more alcohol than a man’s after drinking the same amount.

Some people should avoid even that much and not drink at all if they have certain heart rhythm abnormalities or have heart failure. Exercise can also boost HDL cholesterol levels, and antioxidants can be found in other foods, such as fruits, vegetables and grape juice. If you tend to drink excessively or notice that alcohol causes problems in your life, you should avoid it as much as possible. As a rule of thumb, if alcohol is adversely affecting your quality of life, you may have a problem with alcohol dependence or alcoholism.

What is the clinical utility of the “heavy drinking day” metric?

Again, that’s different from the US guidelines, which suggest men can drink double that. The recommended upper limits of alcohol consumption in Italy, Portugal, and Spain are about 50 percent higher than the seven-drinks-per-week threshold the paper revealed. Lately, researchers have been trying to overcome that problem by comparing lighter drinkers with heavier drinkers.

• Dr. Sengupta shares some of the not-so-obvious effects that alcohol has on your body.
• The key with alcohol is drinking in moderation, and weighing any health benefits against the negative impacts of drinking.
• As a rule of thumb, if alcohol is adversely affecting your quality of life, you may have a problem with alcohol dependence or alcoholism.
• An Italian review of studies published in the European Journal of Epidemiology found that moderate wine and beer consumption reduced the risk of cardiovascular events, but spirits did not.
• Harvard Men’s Health Watch suggests that you speak to your doctor to determine how much alcohol is safe for you to consume.

And again, there was no difference between male and female study participants, which contradicts US government guidelines. That’s 12 ounces of beer, 5 ounces of wine or 1.5 ounces of distilled spirits. While these studies stress that no level of drinking is risk-free, newer research suggests that you can drink safely in very small amounts, but it’s much less than you is alcohol good for you might think. But the health benefits of drinking may not be so cut and dry, and the risks, on the other hand, are hard to ignore.