In the United States, both the Federal tax code and the tax codes of individual States specify which beverages are classified as “ beer,” “ wine,” or “distilled spirits” and their alcohol content. According to those definitions, “ beer” includes strong beer (i.e., beer with an alcohol content greater than 3.2 percent), beer with an alcohol content of up to 3.2 percent, ale, malt liquor, and similar types of beverages. Similarly, “ wine” encompasses wine, vermouth, champagne, sparkling wine, cider, and related beverages. The broadest category is that of “distilled spirits,” which includes numerous beverages, such as gin, rum, vodka, whiskey, scotch, bourbon, and premixed cocktails. We dug into the research and spoke with an expert to bring you answers.
- Recent studies have found no significant differences between in-person and telephone interviews on most measures of drinking behavior (Greenfield et al. 1997; Rehm 1998).
- For example, it may be used to define the risk of illness or injury based on the number of drinks a person has in a week.
- Women tend to have proportionately less body water and more body fat than do men and therefore may achieve higher BALs than do men with the same body weight after drinking the same alcohol amount.
- Consequently, inaccurate information could result in suboptimal treatment.
Observational study limitations
Decide how many days a week you’ll drink and how much you’ll drink on those days. It’s also a good idea to have some days when you don’t drink at all. If drinking causes problems in your life, you may have alcohol use disorder (also called alcoholism). These calories add up — and getting more calories than you need can make it harder to stay at a healthy weight.
Possible Health Benefits of Alcohol
- Given the complexity of alcohol’s effects on the body and the complexity of the people who drink it, blanket recommendations about alcohol are out of the question.
- If you already drink at low levels and continue to drink, risks for these issues appear to be low.
- More detailed and specific questions also elicit higher estimates of alcohol consumption.
It then describes several approaches to determining people’s drinking levels and patterns. Finally, based on that information, the article presents definitions of moderate drinking that are currently used in the United States and in other countries. According to Harvard’s Professor how to drink moderately of Medicine Dr. Eric Rimm, ScD, studies purporting to prove any alcohol consumption increases risks for dementia and other diseases are problematic. Said Rimm, “For longevity and all-cause chronic disease, those who drink 1-2 drinks a day relatively frequently do the best.
Warning for younger women: Be vigilant on breast cancer risk
The most commonly used measures in this category ask each participant to cite the number of drinks that he or she consumed on each of the 7 days preceding the survey, beginning with the most recent day (Rehm 1998). One drawback to this type of survey is that many infrequent or occasional drinkers may report no alcohol consumption during the time studied. Consequently, short-term recall measures may overestimate the proportion of abstainers compared with other survey methods. In recent years, the alcoholic beverage market has become even more diversified. For example, beverages such as “ light” beer, “ light” wines, and wine or spirit coolers, which have slightly lower alcohol contents than the corresponding regular beverages, have been introduced.
General Health
When trying to moderate alcohol intake over the course of an evening or a week, it helps to know how much alcohol is in each drink you consume. The threshold for safe alcohol consumption is closely linked to body weight. Studies have shown that females begin having alcohol-related problems at lower levels of alcohol consumption than males.
