Martini, Margarita, Manhattan, Merlot, Mai Tai, don’t forget the Moscow Mule. Drinks are fancy, social, tasty, and today so trendy. Most people 21 and over agree having an alcoholic beverage is quite enjoyable. With all these beverage options on the table, lets talk about how your health is affected when you have a drink.
Moderate drinking according to US dietary guidelines is having one alcoholic beverage a day if you are a female, and two a day if you are male. It’s important to know recommended sizes of beverages as well. I’m not talking about fulling the wine glass to the tippy top with Merlot, as seen in shows like “Cougar Town.”
The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics states one serving is:
- 12-ounces of regular beer or wine cooler
- 8-ounces of malt liquor
- 5-ounces of wine
- 1.5-ounces of 80-proof distilled spirits or liquor (e.g., gin, rum, vodka, whiskey)
- Development of certain types of cancer (mouth, breast, liver, esophagus, pharynx, larynx)
- Cirrhosis of the liver/Pancreatitis
- Heart muscle damage or sudden death in people who have heart disease
- Stroke
- High blood pressure
- Psychiatric problems (depression, anxiety, alcohol dependence, violence, and suicide)
Alcohol Info from the CDC you should know:
- Binge drinking: 4 drinks for women, 5 for men consumed within a couple of hours. Anything that bring your blood alcohol concentration to 0.08% or more.
- Alcohol poisoning: is a real thing that causes over 80,000 deaths in the U.S a year.
- Alcoholism: is a pattern of drinking that results in harm to one’s health, interpersonal relationships, or ability to work.
- Alcohol addiction: dependency on alcohol, a chronic disease, cravings for it, drinking despite problems in personal life, inability to limit drinking.
- There is not one type of alcohol that’s better or worse. It’s all about the amount of alcohol consumed.
If you choose to drink be responsible, keep it moderate. Never drink and drive! If you think you might have a problem with alcohol talk to your doctor about resources in your community to help you quit.
National Drug and Alcohol Treatment Referral Routing Service available at:
1-800-662-HELP
