{"id":12764,"date":"2025-08-21T00:58:12","date_gmt":"2025-08-21T00:58:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/12764\/"},"modified":"2025-08-21T00:58:12","modified_gmt":"2025-08-21T00:58:12","slug":"alcohol-consumption-and-your-health-what-the-science-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/12764\/","title":{"rendered":"Alcohol consumption and your health: What the science says"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cA lot of people who don\u2019t currently drink are people who used to drink heavily, or who have health problems that led them to quit,\u201d said\u00a0Keith Humphreys<\/a>, PhD, a professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences and the Esther Ting Memorial Professor. \u201cThat skews the data, making moderate drinkers look healthier by comparison.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stafford said he noticed this trend. People with poor health tend to drink less.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve seen many patients who either consciously or unconsciously reduce their alcohol intake because they\u2019re just not feeling good. Then they go on to be diagnosed with a chronic disease,\u201d he said. \u201cNow 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

When newer, larger studies account for these and other variables, the protective effect of alcohol tends to disappear.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have bought into a storyline about alcohol that, when you really look at the facts, is not there,\u201d Stafford said. \u201cThere is a mythology about alcohol having positive benefits as well as \u00a0alcohol being neutral for human health.\u201d<\/p>\n

What alcohol really does to you<\/b><\/p>\n

Even at low levels, alcohol can have significant effects on the body. A\u00a02024 study<\/a>\u00a0in the\u00a0Journal of the American Medical Association\u00a0followed more than 135,000 drinkers age 60 and over and found that even moderate alcohol intake was associated with a higher death rate \u2014 with much of that increase seen in cancer and cardiovascular disease.<\/p>\n

A\u00a02024 report from the American Association for Cancer Research<\/a>\u00a0concluded that more than 5% of all cancers in the U.S. are attributable to alcohol use. The more alcohol consumed, the greater the risk of cancer, but the risks start with any alcohol consumption.<\/p>\n

\u201cAny amount of alcohol increases your risk of certain cancers, especially those along the digestive tract \u2014 mouth, throat, esophagus, colon,\u201d Humphreys said. \u201cAnd for women, alcohol increases the risk of breast cancer.\u201d<\/p>\n

A\u00a02025 U.S. Surgeon General\u2019s Advisory<\/a>\u00a0reported that among 100 women who have less than one drink per week, about 17 will develop an alcohol-related cancer. Among 100 women who have one drink a day, 19 will, and among 100 women who have two drinks a day, about 22 will.<\/p>\n

The health risks of alcohol develop because ethanol, the type of alcohol found in beverages, metabolizes into a compound called acetaldehyde, which damages DNA and other cellular components. When acetaldehyde builds up in the body, it can damage cells throughout the digestive system and beyond.<\/p>\n

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  1. Addiction<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    The initial contact points \u2014 mouth, throat, esophagus and stomach \u2014 are most vulnerable, which is why these areas show some of the strongest links to alcohol-related cancers. But acetaldehyde and alcohol\u2019s other metabolic effects also impact the liver, where it contributes to inflammation and fatty liver disease, and the brain, where it disrupts signaling related to mood, memory and decision making.<\/p>\n

    Newer studies are also uncovering how alcohol may interfere with the immune system and accelerate molecular signs of aging.<\/p>\n

    Links between alcohol and mental health have also become clearer in recent years. Even in people who are not struggling with alcohol use disorder, drinking alcohol can affect other psychiatric conditions.<\/p>\n

    \u201cEven low-level drinking can worsen anxiety and depression, particularly in those who use alcohol to cope emotionally,\u201d Humphreys said. \u201cWhat helps in the short term can harm in the long run.\u201d<\/p>\n

    \"A<\/p>\n

    \n (Adobe Stock\/Jantira)\n <\/p>\n

    What does \u2018moderate drinking\u2019 mean?<\/b><\/p>\n

    Moderate drinking is typically defined by public health agencies as up to one alcoholic drink per day for women and up to two for men. A standard drink is 12 ounces of beer, 5 ounces of wine or 1.5 ounces of distilled spirits. But experts caution that even within these guidelines, individual risk varies. Factors including age, genetics, body size and existing health conditions all influence how alcohol affects a person.<\/p>\n

    \u201cThe same amount of alcohol can have very different effects depending on who you are,\u201d said\u00a0Che-Hong Chen<\/a>, PhD, a Stanford molecular biologist who studies how humans process alcohol. \u201cThat\u2019s why a one-size-fits-all definition of moderation is so tricky.\u201d<\/p>\n

    Chen\u2019s research<\/a> has shown how alcohol affects people of East Asian descent who have a genetic variation, ALDH2, which interferes with their ability to metabolize acetaldehyde. These people \u2014 about 8% of the world\u2019s population \u2014 often experience facial flushing and a rapid heartbeat after just one drink. But their outward symptoms are just part of the story.<\/p>\n

    \n A lot of people with this genetic variant are aware of some of the visible symptoms, but they don’t know that it means alcohol really puts them at more risk than other people.”<\/p>\n

    \u2014 Che-Hong Chen\n <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

    \u201cA lot of people with this genetic variant are aware of some of the visible symptoms, but they don\u2019t know that it means alcohol really puts them at more risk than other people,\u201d Chen said.<\/p>\n

    Because acetaldehyde accumulates more quickly in people with the ALDH2 variant, they are at an increased risk of alcohol-related diseases, including cancer and heart disease, even at lower levels of alcohol consumption.<\/p>\n

    \u201cIf you have this mutation, one drink can be the equivalent of four or five for someone else in terms of how much acetaldehyde accumulates,\u201d he said. \u201cFor those individuals, the safest choice is to avoid alcohol entirely.\u201d<\/p>\n

    While ALDH2 is the most common inherited variation to affect how well someone can handle alcohol \u2014 and its\u2019 long-term risks \u2014 it is not the only factor. Some people are already at higher risk of chronic diseases like diabetes and heart disease because of their genetics or other risky behaviors like tobacco use. \u00a0<\/p>\n

    Recent research has also shown that adults over the age of 50 or 60 show signs of impairment at lower blood alcohol concentrations than younger people. They are also more likely to already be living with chronic diseases, and to be taking prescription medications that might interact poorly with alcohol. Because women metabolize alcohol differently than men, and tend to have smaller bodies, the same amount of alcohol can have a stronger effect for them.<\/p>\n

    Is there a \u2018safe\u2019 amount of alcohol?<\/b><\/p>\n

    With so much data and so many variables, public health recommendations concerning alcohol differ around the world.<\/p>\n

    As of August 2025, the current U.S. Dietary Guidelines for Americans continued to recommend that men consume no more than two drinks per day and women no more than one. However, those guidelines also emphasize that people who don\u2019t currently drink shouldn\u2019t start.<\/p>\n

    Meanwhile, countries including Canada have moved to more cautious recommendations, advising no more than two drinks per week for all adults.<\/p>\n

    \u201cWe\u2019re seeing a shift in policy as the evidence becomes clearer,\u201d Stafford said. \u201cOrganizations like the World Health Organization are now saying that no amount of alcohol is truly safe.\u201d<\/p>\n

    Some legislators have even proposed adding warning labels on alcohol products \u2014 similar to those on nicotine products. Chen likes the idea, given that\u00a0fewer than half of all American<\/a>\u00a0are aware of the link between alcohol and cancer.<\/p>\n

    \n We need to treat alcohol more like tobacco. This is causing cancer, even more so for East Asian people who are more vulnerable.”<\/p>\n

    \u2014 Che-Hong Chen\n <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

    \u201cI am 100% behind that,\u201d he said. \u201cWe need to treat alcohol more like tobacco. This is causing cancer, even more so for East Asian people who are more vulnerable.\u201d<\/p>\n

    Ultimately, clinicians like Stafford and Humphreys said they hope people who decide to drink alcohol do it consciously, armed with knowledge about its risks.<\/p>\n

    \u201cWe don\u2019t have strong evidence of any health benefit from moderate drinking, but we do have strong evidence of harm,\u201d Stafford said. \u201cEvery time we get in a car, we are taking a risk, but the risk is offset by the benefits of being able to get somewhere. With alcohol, it\u2019s also a calculation about how much risk you want to take.\u201d<\/p>\n

    \u201cThe only perfectly safe amount of alcohol is none, but understanding your own risk factors can help you decide how much, if any, alcohol is acceptable for you,\u201d agreed Humphreys. \u201cIf you stay within a drink a day and take some days off, that might be a reasonable level of risk for most people.\u201d<\/p>\n

    While the idea of abstaining completely may feel daunting, there\u2019s a growing cultural shift toward mindful drinking, or not drinking. Younger generations are drinking less and non-alcoholic beverages are becoming more popular.<\/p>\n

    \u201cThe alcohol industry spent decades convincing people that drinking was glamorous and healthy,\u201d Humphreys said. \u201cNow, more people are starting to see through that.\u201d<\/p>\n

    Stanford Medicine research<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cA lot of people who don\u2019t currently drink are people who used to drink heavily, or who have…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":12765,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[275],"tags":[140,4139,110,2908,12021,11620,18,135,475,5455,474,19,17,12022,5461,4481,1280,12020,508,12023,12024,12026,1944,12025,2555],"class_list":{"0":"post-12764","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-healthcare","8":"tag-addiction","9":"tag-breast-cancer","10":"tag-cancer","11":"tag-cardiology","12":"tag-cellular-molecular-biology","13":"tag-colorectal-cancer","14":"tag-eire","15":"tag-health","16":"tag-health-care","17":"tag-health-policy","18":"tag-healthcare","19":"tag-ie","20":"tag-ireland","21":"tag-liver-cancer","22":"tag-medical-education","23":"tag-medical-research","24":"tag-neurobiology","25":"tag-neurology-neurosurgery","26":"tag-nutrition","27":"tag-pancreatic-cancer","28":"tag-patient-care","29":"tag-preventive-medicine","30":"tag-primary-care","31":"tag-stanford-medicine","32":"tag-wellness"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12764","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12764"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12764\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12765"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12764"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12764"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12764"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}