“One drink won’t hurt.” 

This classic phrase has made its way into countless dinners, functions, birthday parties, and events, but just how true is it? It’s generally accepted that drinking above the recommended amount is detrimental and dangerous for most people, but is drinking moderately worse for you than not drinking at all? Can it be potentially beneficial for overall health? 

1. Drinking Moderately - What Does it Mean? 

Before we begin to discuss and clarify much of the confusion around moderate drinking, it’s important to define what moderate drinking is. Moderate Drinking is defined by the CDC as consuming 2 alcoholic drinks for men, and 1 alcoholic drink for women. One drink is roughly defined as 12 ounces of beer, 5 ounces of wine, and 1.5 ounces of spirits. Going beyond these guidelines is considered to be unhealthy and is no longer considered to be moderate. According to the CDC, 2 out of 3 adult drinkers report drinking above the moderate amount once a month. 

2. Who Shouldn’t Drink at All?

To begin, there are many situations in which drinking alcohol in any amount is ill-advised. These include but are not limited to:

• Underage 

• Pregnancy 

• Liver or Pancreatic Disease

• History of Heart Failure 

• History of Stroke

• Taking Medication That Interacts With Alcohol

If you or your direct family have a history with any of these conditions, seek medical advice as to whether or not alcohol can be safely consumed. Outside of these cases, the potential pros and cons of drinking alcohol moderately are nowhere near as black or white. 

3. Is Drinking Moderately GOOD for you? 

Many studies have argued that drinking moderately can be beneficial to health by preventing a variety of health-related issues, such as cardiovascular disease and diabetes. Although the correlations in these studies are strong, they need to be taken with a grain of salt. 

There are many confounding variables that these studies do not account for. For example, socioeconomic status, alcoholism, health conditions, and diet can all factor into an individual’s decision to abstain from drinking. Many of these same conditions can then contribute to health conditions, such as cardiovascular health or diabetes. As a result, these studies aren’t necessarily an accurate indicator of whether or not drinking can be genuinely good for you. More studies need to control for these confounding variables and report accurate results that can be used to make individualistic decisions.

4. That Being Said, is Drinking BAD For You?

The million-dollar-question. Drinking moderately may not necessarily be good for you, but that doesn’t mean it’s bad, right? 

Many studies have surfaced in recent years, from areas such as cancer prevention all the way to brain health that show that the safest amount of drinking is none. However, the evidence for these studies is highly specific and does not apply to the population as a whole. The effect on these health issues (if kept within moderate drinking levels) is small, but increases as time goes on and more alcohol is consumed. As a result, when taking into consideration the total amount of alcohol consumed over the course of a lifetime, moderate drinking may add up to cause certain health conditions. 

Some studies such as this one, published in The Lancet in 2016, argue that moderate drinking should be eliminated entirely. The issue with these studies is that they view the issue from a populational point of view and not on an individualistic scale. They take into consideration all of the alcohol-related diseases and deaths and report them as a part of the study. These range from road injuries to complications from other diseases like tuberculosis. Many of the listed criteria aren’t applicable to the average citizen, and won’t really play a role in their decision to drink. As a result, these studies too must be taken with a grain of salt, and shouldn’t be used as definitive proof that drinking moderately is inherently harmful. 

5. The Bottom Line 

All things considered, drinking moderately in hopes of improving your health isn’t a good idea. If you are trying to be as safe as possible and don’t want to complicate your health in any way, then cutting alcohol out is a good idea. It is also important to acknowledge that drinking in any capacity opens the door to future consumption of beyond-moderate amounts. Alcoholism and your susceptibility to addiction can be determined by a variety of factors that may change over time. Drinking moderately now may turn into alcoholism in the future - as a result, eliminating alcohol consumption overall has the added benefit of eliminating this possibility.

On the other hand, if you understand the risks that may be involved and have talked to a medical professional, cutting drinking out entirely is by no means necessary. If necessary precautions are taken, and informed decisions are made, we can ensure the maximization of our safety and health.