The more alcohol consumed, the greater the risk of cancer, but the risks start with any alcohol consumption. “That skews the data, making moderate drinkers look healthier by comparison.” Whether it’s a glass of red wine with dinner or a celebratory cocktail on the weekend, drinking in moderation has long been considered not only socially acceptable but also perhaps even healthy.

New blood test detects HPV-associated head and neck cancer 10 years early

It also showed that people who have more than one or two drinks per day face a higher risk of early death. The findings are sure to cause a stir, especially once a separate panel of experts releases its own alcohol report in coming weeks. These findings suggest a potential link between moderate alcohol consumption and improved sexual health in women. However, it’s important to note that these studies specifically refer to moderate intake, usually defined as one can you moderate your drinking drink or less per day for women.

Researchers

Alcohol’s impact on CVD depends on various factors, including the amount consumed, drinking frequency, and pattern of consumption. While moderate alcohol consumption has been linked to a reduced risk of cardiovascular disease, the World Health Organization (WHO) has stated that there is no safe amount of alcohol consumption when it comes to health. Alcohol is a toxic, psychoactive, and dependence-producing substance, classified as a Group 1 carcinogen.

• But when elevated blood pressure is accompanied by abnormal cholesterol and blood sugar levels, the damage to your arteries, kidneys, and heart accelerates exponentially.
• Said Rimm, “For longevity and all-cause chronic disease, those who drink 1-2 drinks a day relatively frequently do the best.
• It is concluded that the protective effects of moderate drinking may be spurious.
• Some past studies had suggested that moderate drinking might be good for your health.

About Moderate Alcohol Use

Instead, it’s because they are more likely to have unhealthy lifestyles and pre-existing health problems. “I’ve seen many patients who either consciously or unconsciously reduce their alcohol intake because they’re https://www.datmotion.com/2021/12/13/how-does-drug-addiction-affect-a-person-s-life-2/ just not feeling good. Then they go on to be diagnosed with a chronic disease,” he said. “Now these people are non-drinkers and they are also not healthy, but the not-currently-drinking status is not what caused their health problems; it is actually the other way around.”

Challenging Observational Studies

These studies compare people with a gene variant that makes it unpleasant to drink to people without the gene variant. One of these studies found people with the gene variant have a lower risk of heart disease — another blow to the idea that alcohol protects people from heart problems. Intimacy helps you deal with stress, and a little alcohol may move things along. In one study, women who had one or two glasses of red wine a day said they had more desire, arousal, and sexual satisfaction than those who didn’t. A drink also may help raise a man’s testosterone levels, which makes both men and women Sober living home friskier. But men who drink too much can lose the desire and the ability to have sex.

The new analysis found that moderate drinkers included in the previous studies tended to be wealthier, more likely to exercise and eat a healthy diet, and less likely to be overweight. The current guidelines recommend people limit alcoholic beverages and say that if they choose to drink, they should do so in moderation, defined as two drinks a day for men and one drink for women. Assessing the risks and benefits of alcohol consumption remains an active area of research that may lead to major changes in official guidelines or warning labels. The answer to this important question has varied over time, but current US guidelines recommend that men who drink should limit intake to two drinks/day or less and women who drink should have no more than one drink/day. The definitions for a drink in the US are the common serving sizes for beer (12 ounces), wine (5 ounces), or distilled spirits/hard liquor (1.5 ounces).

Why moderate drinking was linked to a healthy lifestyle

• More specifically, females face a higher risk of early death when drinking more than one drink per day, while males face a higher risk of early death when drinking more than two drinks per day.
• Others are in recovery from alcohol use disorder (alcohol addiction), a condition that often causes other chronic health issues, such as liver disease.
• A large report this year found that heavy drinking is linked to six cancers, including cancers of the head and neck, the esophagus, the liver and the stomach.
• “Even low-level drinking can worsen anxiety and depression, particularly in those who use alcohol to cope emotionally,” Humphreys said.

Several recent investigations have not found clear evidence that people who take a drink a day are less likely to develop heart disease than people who don’t drink. This new evidence doesn’t negate past studies; it simply must be weighed against past studies. Such a study would provide strong evidence as to whether people who had one drink each day were less likely to develop heart disease than those who never drank. Some randomized trials of nutritional practices have been conducted, but it’s not easy to find people willing to participate. Maybe moderate drinkers are different in some other way (which the studies did not measure) that protects them from developing heart disease. In the Nurses’ Health Study, the Health Professionals Follow-up Study, and other studies, gallstones 40, 41 and type 2 diabetes 32, 42, 43 were less likely to occur in moderate drinkers than in non-drinkers.

More recently, some researchers have questioned the health benefits of alcohol and linked any drinking with increased risks for premature death, heart disease, stroke, and cancer. Even among the positive studies, potential health benefits are often quite small. In addition, alcohol may reduce the risk of one condition (such as cardiovascular disease) while increasing the risk of another (such as cancer). So it’s hard to predict who might actually benefit and who may be harmed more than helped by alcohol consumption. And the balance of risk and benefit likely varies from person to person, based on individual factors such as genetics and lifestyle factors.

Evidence-based blogs

Past studies may have masked the health benefits of not drinking at all. Alcohol use disorder, which has strongly been linked to poor health, can also start from a moderate drinking habit, he added. The conflict has been on display in recent months, with the release of assessments that will be used to shape the U.S. Researchers from two federal organizations reviewed the science on moderate drinking—and reached some different conclusions about how it affects health. This helps explain why previous research incorrectly concluded that moderate drinking improves your health. To test the findings of these observational studies, a new meta-analysis published in JAMA Network Open examined 107 cohort studies involving over 4.8 million participants.