The contents of this website are for educational purposes and are not intended to offer personal medical advice. You should seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking it because of something you have read on this website. Exercise can also boost HDL cholesterol levels, and antioxidants can be found in other foods, such as fruits, vegetables and grape juice. Red wine appears to be particularly beneficial because it is very high in healthy antioxidants.
Possible benefits of alcohol
- Moderate drinking is defined as no more than one standard drink per day for women and no more than two for men.
- The main psychoactive ingredient in alcoholic beverages is ethanol.
- Though low to moderate amounts of alcohol may offer some benefits, you can achieve the same positive effects by enjoying a varied nutrient-rich diet of whole foods like fruits and vegetables.
- Moderate drinkers who have two copies of the gene for the slow-acting enzyme are at much lower risk for cardiovascular disease than moderate drinkers who have two genes for the fast-acting enzyme.
If you’re in good shape, moderate drinking makes you 25% to 40% less likely to have a heart attack, stroke, or hardened arteries. This may be in part because small amounts of alcohol can raise your HDL (“good” cholesterol) levels. Heavy drinking, on the other hand, boosts your risk of heart disease.
Can drinking raise my blood pressure?
Those numbers might seem small, but they increase the total calories and sugar you’re consuming, especially if you have more than one drink. A drink before a meal can improve digestion or offer a soothing respite at the end of a stressful day; the occasional drink with friends can be a social tonic. These physical and social effects may also contribute to health and well-being.
- Drinking in moderation may have some protective effects for the cardiovascular system.
- “Clear liquors like vodka, tequila, and gin are lowest in sugar and calories and are easiest for our bodies to metabolize,” Kober says.
- In 2018, the National Institutes of Health ended our trial to study the health effects of alcohol.
- It’s hard to know what to think about the recommendations for alcohol consumption when the narrative around it changes like the wind.
- Many enjoy a glass of wine or beer during dinner, believing that this little alcohol couldn’t possibly affect them.
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And we need the media to treat the subject with the nuance it requires. In fact, red wine may be linked to more health benefits than any other alcoholic beverage (75, 76, 77, 78, 79). Excess alcohol intake has an association with an increased risk of type 2 diabetes. Alcohol may offer protective effects for certain body systems and may reduce the risk of developing some health conditions, including the following. While drinking alcohol moderately comes with both risks and possible benefits, a person should exercise caution.
Long-term alcohol drinking may also lead to alcohol use disorder, which involves difficulty stopping or regulating alcohol consumption despite negative social and health consequences. According to a 2020 review, alcohol consumption at low and moderate levels may help protect against cardiovascular diseases. But there have been studies that found small amounts of red wine and other forms of alcohol may be beneficial for your health, leaving the general public understandably confused.
Ways to reduce risks
“Clear liquors like vodka, tequila, and gin are lowest in sugar and calories and are easiest for our bodies to metabolize,” Kober says. Heart disease is the leading cause of death in the United States (3). “Relatively few people die in their 20s, so a 20 percent increase in mortality is small but still significant,” she adds. All physicians featured on this website are on the medical faculty of Rush University Medical Center, Rush Copley Medical Center or Rush Oak Park Hospital. Some of the physicians featured are in private practice and, as independent practitioners, are not agents or employees of Rush University Medical Center, Rush Copley Medical Center or Rush Oak Park Hospital. So if you have diabetes, you obviously should not consume a lot of these carbohydrates.
For older adults, cancers related to alcohol use were the top causes of death.
Here in the U.S. that means a maximum of one drink per day for women, and two per day for men. Numerous studies have come out in support of moderate alcohol consumption because of its potential health benefits only to be countered by similar studies arguing that it’s actually more harmful than beneficial. It’s possible that the fast-acting enzyme breaks down alcohol before it can have a beneficial effect on HDL and clotting factors. Interestingly, these differences in the ADH1C gene do not influence the risk of heart disease among people who don’t drink alcohol. This adds strong indirect evidence that alcohol itself reduces heart disease risk. The active ingredient in alcoholic beverages, a simple molecule called ethanol, affects the body in many different ways.
For those with Type 2 diabetes, blood sugar levels increase, which can also be dangerous. For example, beer has a high amount of carbohydrates, and some types of beer are high in calories as well. But most beers have a lower alcohol percentage compared to wine or hard drinks, which usually leads to drinking more of it. And that can affect the body in many negative ways, such as making you gain weight. Although there haven’t been many studies on the effects of varying amounts of alcohol use by seniors, heavy drinking can be potentially harmful. The recommendations and guidelines set forth by the government and health agencies for alcohol consumption are generally based on low to moderate intake.
People around the world have been drinking beer for thousands of years. Dr. Cho also warns that if you have liver dysfunction or take other medicines that are processed through the liver, your risks might be different. Talk to your healthcare provider about how alcohol might interact with your prescription medicines. But it may be worthwhile learning about what counts as binge drinking and whether or not you may be drinking too much and https://ecosoberhouse.com/ don’t even know it. Those who try to correct this simplistic view are disparaged as pawns of the industry, even when no financial conflicts of interest exist. Meanwhile, some authors of studies suggesting alcohol is unhealthy have received money from anti-alcohol organizations.
Risk of death
Learn more about the results of some large prospective cohort studies of alcohol consumption and cardiovascular disease. Throughout the 10,000 or so years that humans have been drinking is alcohol good for you fermented beverages, they’ve also been arguing about their merits and demerits. The debate still simmers today, with a lively back-and-forth over whether alcohol is good for you or bad for you. What’s more, alcohol can contribute to obesity and the long list of health problems that can go along with it. Alcohol is a source of excess calories and a cause of weight gain that can be harmful in the long term. One major challenge in this field is the lack of large, long-term, high-quality studies.
