Categories: Health

Among the tips for reducing your alcohol consumption, is one drink a day acceptable? : Blueprints

There is no clear answer as to how much alcohol can be consumed without increasing health risks.

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On the heels of the surgeon general’s warning about alcohol-related cancer risks, there is a growing consensus that less is more.

But that doesn’t mean people who choose to drink should give it up completely. Although there is no clear answer as to how much alcohol can be consumed without increasing health risks, many experts say an acceptable amount ranges from about one drink per week to seven drinks. maximum per week.

This is significantly lower than what is currently recommended. An ongoing review could lead to changes to U.S. guidelines this year. And many experts agree that current advice, which calls for up to 14 drinks a week for men and seven for women, is outdated and may be too high.

“I think a change is needed,” says Dr. Aashish Didwania, a primary care physician and professor of medicine at Northwestern University.

A growing body of research points to a link between alcohol consumption and an increased risk of seven types of cancer, stroke and premature death. But what remains debatable is the exact threshold at which risks increase. This likely varies from person to person based on their genetic risks and other lifestyle habits.

“My guidelines would be that drinking fewer than seven drinks a week would be a healthier way to consume alcohol,” Didwania says, based on her interpretation of the evidence.

Didwania says, personally, he feels comfortable drinking alcohol, but limits his consumption. “I have one to two cocktails a few days a week,” he says.

Research suggests that drinking daily is riskier. For example, one study found that people who drink alcohol three days a week have less risk than those who drink it every day.

When it comes to alcohol harm, the science clearly shows that there is a dose-response relationship. The more you drink, the higher the risk of bad consequences.

But given all the lifestyle factors that contribute to the disease, from diet and exercise to sleep and stress, determining the exact amount of alcohol that’s acceptable is complex. be one, two or zero drinks per day.

“I don’t know if we’ll ever be able to achieve this level of precision,” says Timothy Rebbeck, professor of cancer prevention at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.

Epidemiological studies tend to take the big picture, asking participants how many glasses of alcohol they consume per week and then tracking their health over many years. But the data is far from perfect, given inconsistencies over time or the fact that people often underestimate how much they actually consume.

“So there will probably always be a question of whether a certain number of alcoholic drinks per day will be the right answer,” says Rebbeck.

This helps explain why doctors land on different numbers. While Dr. Didwania is comfortable with fewer than seven drinks per week, Dr. Anna Lembke says more than two drinks per week increases health risks.

“If you really want to stay in the safe drinking zone, you won’t drink more than one to two standard drinks per week,” says Lembke. She is a professor of psychiatry and addiction medicine at Stanford University School of Medicine.

A standard drink is 12 ounces of regular beer (5% alcohol by volume), 5 ounces of wine (12% alc/vol), or 1.5 ounces of 80 proof alcohol.

The evidence does not support the idea that we should all abstain. A recent National Academies study found that people who drank moderate amounts had a lower risk of heart attack and death from heart disease than people who never drank alcohol.

One possible explanation for this is that people who consume light or moderate amounts of alcohol may have other habits that may explain their good health, such as a good healthy diet and regular physical activity.

Researchers at the National Institutes of Health say older studies may have overestimated the benefits of moderate alcohol consumption. And for all the talk that red wine is good for you, Lembke says the science has moved on.

She also highlights gender differences when it comes to alcohol. “Women are more susceptible to the harm of alcohol than men,” explains Lembke.

This could be due to hormones or differences in how women metabolize alcohol. For example, when a woman and a man of the same weight consume the same amount of alcohol, the woman’s blood alcohol level will tend to increase, according to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism .

Regarding breast cancer, the surgeon general’s report refers to an analysis that found a 10 percent increase in breast cancer among women who consumed up to about one drink per day, compared to those who didn’t drink it.

When Canada updated its alcohol guidelines in 2023, the country’s public health scientists warned that all alcohol consumption carries risks. Canadian researchers concluded that the risks of breast and colon cancer begin to increase with just three to six drinks of alcohol per week. The country now recommends that people consume no more than two drinks per week, to avoid alcohol-related harm.

There are several mechanisms by which alcohol increases cancer risk. For example, when we drink alcohol, our body breaks it down into acetaldehyde, which is carcinogenic. “Acetaldehyde is a chemical that can damage DNA. It can cause other changes in cells that push them toward a tumor,” says Rebbeck.

The advice to abstain during pregnancy is well established and it is illegal to drive or operate heavy machinery if blood alcohol levels exceed a certain level. Doctors also warn cancer patients that alcohol can increase the risk of recurrence.

“I would encourage individuals to be conscious of the amount of alcohol they consume,” says Dr. Sarah Leitz, an addiction medicine physician at Kaiser Permanente in Portland, Oregon.

She warns that many people struggle to control their consumption. Alcohol use disorders, which span a spectrum and can be mild, moderate, or severe, can be treated with medication and therapy. Leitz says many people who struggle with alcohol find abstention to be the most effective method.

For people who want to assess their own drinking habits, there is a simple tool that can help. This is a self-assessment quiz known as the CAGE questionnaire which asks four questions:

Have you ever thought that you should cut down on your alcohol consumption? Have people annoyed you by criticizing your drinking? Have you ever felt bad or guilty about your drinking? Have you ever had an early morning drink to get rid of a hangover?

If you answer yes to any of these questions, it’s a sign that you may want to deepen your relationship with alcohol.

This story was edited by Jane Greenhalgh

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