The first report, released by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine in December, determined that moderate drinking is linked to fewer heart attack and stroke deaths. It also found a small but significant risk of breast cancer—but said there wasn’t enough evidence to connect moderate drinking with other cancers. When it comes to your health, drinking alcohol can be a balancing act. Expert opinions on safety what is considered drinking in moderation and levels of alcohol consumption have generally varied over the years, with some studies even citing the potential benefits of an occasional cocktail or glass of wine.

• Gathering with friends and family is a part of our culture as Christians and often accompanies shared meals and drinks.
• Research conducted using each perspective seeks slightly different information from study participants.
• Scientists are divided as to whether the assessment mode influences reported alcohol consumption.
• The U.S. Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2020–2025 defines moderate drinking as one drink or less per day for women and two drinks or less per day for men.
• Finally, distilled spirits exhibit a wide range in terms of alcohol concentration.
• To others, including many researchers, the term may encompass more than nondrinkers, including some people who drink a little bit.

Moderate drinking for women vs. men

There may be a more significant difference between people who drink moderately and those who don’t drink at all. In a study published in 2013, researchers compared the cancer risk of people who consume no more than one daily drink to those who drink nothing. They found that compared to people who abstained, daily drinkers had a 5%, 30%, and 17% higher risk of breast cancer, oral cavity and pharynx cancers, and esophageal cancer, respectively. The most frequently cited definition of moderate drinking comes from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which defines it as consuming one drink a day or fewer for biological women and two or fewer for men.

Alcohol linked to deaths from cancer, injuries, other causes

Alcohol abusers may also put themselves and others in harm’s way through drinking and driving or may be more prone to accidents such as falls or burns. Now that we know what a standard drink is and what is considered “moderate” drinking, let’s discuss alcohol misuse. Binge drinking is consumption of four or more drinks for a woman and five or more drinks for a man in a single occasion. Heavy drinking is four or more drinks on any day or eight or more drinks per week for women, and five or more drinks on any day or 15 or more drinks per week for men. Alcohol misuse can lead to damage in organs and cause serious and permanent health issues.

Moderate drinking

• Even people with identical body weights can achieve different BALs because of variations in the levels of water and fat in the body, which primarily depend on the drinker’s age and gender.
• It is also addictive, especially for people with a family history of alcoholism.
• Canadian researchers concluded that breast and colon cancer risks begin to increase with as few as three to six drinks per week.

Much of the research has focused on red wine, which contains antioxidants called polyphenols. Researchers have found an association between a polyphenol in red wine called resveratrol and a reduced risk of heart disease, primarily due to its anti-inflammatory effects. The risks of moderate drinking include worsened health outcomes, developing alcoholism symptoms a dependency on alcohol, and a higher risk of injury. That means even moderate amounts of alcohol could be harmful to your overall physical and mental health.

Women Should Drink Less Alcohol Than Men

One risk that was lower in people drinking once per day, compared with never drinking, was for ischemic stroke. But that apparent benefit virtually disappears at two drinks per day. Risks can also vary widely from person to person, the report cautions, meaning some harms can be very small for some even if they add up to substantial risks at the public health level. This modeling is likely underestimating the true health risks of alcohol, Naimi said, given limits in how researchers can study its health impacts. Naimi was careful to say that the report was “not endorsing any level of risk” caused by drinking, but pointed to other countries and health regulations that have used 1 in 100 and 1 in 1,000 death risks as thresholds to set rules. Consuming more than one drink a day results in a steep increase of the risk of premature death, a new federal review has concluded.

The relevance of accurate self-reports of alcohol consumption in general population studies, however, is a more complex issue. For other purposes, such as establishing threshold levels or risk levels for alcohol-related health consequences, however, such an approach may not be sufficient. To establish the precise nature of the relationship between alcohol-consumption levels and the risk for developing a certain disease, it is crucial that researchers know the actual alcohol amounts consumed (Midanik 1982).