Alcohol: Balancing Risks and Benefits
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Moderate drinkers are far more likely to exercise than people who don’t drink. On the flip side, the more alcoholism you exercise, the more likely you are to drink now and then. Drinking also adds calories that can contribute to weight gain.
- Disadvantaged and vulnerable populations have higher rates of alcohol-related death and hospitalization, as harms from a given amount and pattern of drinking are higher for poorer drinkers and their families than for richer drinkers in any given society.
- Regular moderate drinkers are less likely to get kidney stones — 41% less likely for those who drink beer, 33% for wine drinkers.
- We have been researching the health effects of alcohol for a combined 60 years.
- Many people drink alcohol as a personal preference, during social activities, or as a part of cultural and religious practices.
- But heavy drinking carries a much higher risk even for those without other health concerns.
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We believe it’s worth trying, again, to set the record straight. We need more high-quality evidence to assess the health impacts of moderate alcohol consumption. And we need the media to treat the subject with the nuance it requires. Newer studies are not necessarily better than older research. Yet we continue to see reductive narratives, in the media and even in science journals, that alcohol in any amount is dangerous.
Know the Limits
Regular moderate drinkers are less likely to get kidney stones — 41% less likely for those who drink beer, 33% for wine drinkers. Part of the reason may be that alcohol, like caffeine in coffee and tea, makes you pee more often. Drink too much, though, and you can get dehydrated, and that increases your risk of kidney stones along with other health problems.
- This may be in part because small amounts of alcohol can raise your HDL (“good” cholesterol) levels.
- That usually means four or more drinks within two hours for women and five or more drinks within two hours for men.
Alcohol Use and Your Health
Everyday Health recently interviewed Martha Gulati, MD, director of Preventive Cardiology in the Smidt Heart Institute at Cedars-Sinai, about the effects of alcohol consumption on heart health. Excessive alcohol use is a term used is alcohol good for you to describe four ways that people drink alcohol that can negatively impact health. The active ingredient in alcoholic beverages, a simple molecule called ethanol, affects the body in many different ways.
Risks of moderate alcohol use
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