Researchers at Harvard University carried out one such study. It found that women who drink four small glasses of wine a week increase their risk of breast cancer by 15 percent.
Many studies have examined the harmful effects of alcohol use on the body. Medical experts say the deciding issues are how much alcohol you drink, and how you drink it. For example, experts say having three drinks in one day is not the same as having one drink a day for three days.
Alicia Ann Kowalchuk serves as medical director for an alcohol and drug intervention program called InSight, at the Harris County Hospital District in Houston, Texas. She is also an assistant professor at the Baylor College of Medicine.
“We think of substance use issues along a continuum now, going all the way from abstinence, to healthy use, to misuse, to abuse and to dependency. Healthy use for adults -- that’s men under age sixty-five -- is no more than four drinks in a day and no more than fourteen drinks in a week. And for women of all ages, it’s no more than seven drinks in a week and no more than three drinks on a day.”
She says that to get the health benefits linked to alcohol, men and women should limit their drinking even more.
“Pretty much all the literature that I’ve seen really shows that when you go above about one drink on average per day for women and two drinks on average per day for men younger than sixty-five, you start negating all of those positive health benefits.”
Dr. Kowalchuk says staying within those limits is considered safe or non-hazardous drinking.
“For misuse you’re drinking above those limits, but you haven’t had a lot of consequences from your drinking. Once you get to abuse you start having consequences and despite the consequences you keep using. So that’s the hallmark of abuse, to continue using for at least a year despite having maybe a DUI (drinking under the influence), a health consequence, a work consequence or a family consequence.”
And, she says, alcohol dependency is further marked by a complete loss of control over alcohol use.
The Size of the Drink Matters
Kim Dennis is medical director at the Timberline Knolls Residential Treatment Center in Illinois. She notes another consideration when talking about alcohol limits.
“When we talk about an alcoholic beverage, we need to be very clear about what we’re talking about because many of my patients at Timberline Knolls would consider a thirty-two ounce glass of beer one alcoholic beverage. And when we talk about having one alcoholic beverage, we’re referring specifically to twelve ounces of beer, five ounces of wine or one and a half ounces of hard liquor.”
She says that whether drinking alcohol is a good choice for you will depend on several things.
“If a person has risk factors for developing alcoholism -- family members with alcoholism, difficult early life experiences, other addictive disorders - - the risk to benefit ratio of drinking alcohol for that person would be very, very high.”
Excessive alcohol use has been linked to chronic conditions like cirrhosis of the liver, pancreas disease and cardiovascular disease. It has also been linked to many forms of cancer, including cancer of the mouth, throat, larynx, esophagus, breast, colon and rectum.
The World Health Organization says the harmful use of alcohol results in 2,500,000 deaths each year. This number includes more than 300,000 people between the ages of 15 and 29. The WHO says alcohol use is the world’s third leading cause of disease, after childhood malnourishment and unsafe sex.
A recent survey suggests that more and more young people are getting the message when it comes to the dangers of alcohol use. The study found that three out of four American high school students say they do not drink alcohol.
Nearly 700 students were questioned. One reason teenagers said they chose not to drink is because underage drinking is illegal. They also noted the effect of alcohol on health and their performance in school as other reasons. In addition, more than half of the teens questioned said they would be less likely to be friends with, or go out with, someone who drinks underage.
The group Mothers Against Drunk Driving, known as MADD, reported the findings last month. MADD and the State Farm insurance company worked together to organize an event called Red Ribbon Week. The aim was to raise understanding about the dangers of drugs and alcohol among youth.
MADD says the survey shows that most students are making intelligent decisions when it comes to alcohol use. But it notes that about 4,700 Americans still die every year as a result of underage drinking.