When you or your friends make plans to go out to have “a drink,” it sounds simple enough. Socially, it could be a glass of wine, a bottle of beer or a shot of hard liquor. But technically, with the various types of alcohol available, not all drinks are created equal.
From cocktails, craft beers to hard seltzers and everything in between, the type of alcoholic beverage you fill your glass with can significantly influence how much you’re actually consuming — and how it affects your health.
“Some people get pleasure and enjoyment from alcohol. In low-risk ways, that’s okay as part of your life, but it’s important to understand how much you’re consuming and what the risks of overconsuming are,” says Dr. Sarah Wakeman, medical director for substance use disorder at Mass General Brigham. “The more alcohol you drink, the higher your risk of things like cancer, liver problems and cardiovascular problems.”
Understanding the nuances between the various types of alcohol can help you determine how much alcohol you’re actually consuming and be more mindful about how much you drink. Here’s a deeper dive into various types of alcohol and how to tell how much you’re really drinking.
[READ How to Socialize Without Drinking]
What Is a Standard Drink?
The Dietary Guidelines for Americans states that adults should limit their alcohol consumption to:
— Men. 2 drinks or fewer per day
— Women. 1 drink or less per day
It defines one standard drink as containing 0.6 fluid ounces of pure alcohol, known as ethanol. This typically equals:
— 12 ounces of beer (5% alcohol by volume, or ABV)
— 5 ounces of wine (12% ABV)
— 1.5 ounces of distilled spirits (40% ABV)
While these guidelines may seem straightforward, a big misconception is that a certain type of alcohol is better than another type. However, it’s not the type of alcohol that affects a person most, but rather the total amount of alcohol consumed.
“Whether it is in distilled spirits, wine or beer, the effects of ethanol on the body are the same,” explains Amanda Berger, vice president of the Science & Health Distilled Spirits Council of the United States. “Alcohol is alcohol, and treating beverage types differently sends the dangerous message that some forms of alcohol are ‘safer’ than others.”
Within these categories of alcoholic beverages, there are different types of beers, wines and distilled spirits with varying levels of alcohol by volume (ABV) that affect your alcohol intake.
“It’s important to understand when people are saying ‘a drink’ what it is they actually mean,” Wakeman says. “When you think about wine alone, that 5 oz is generally based on estimating a 12% ABV for wine, but some wines might be 16%. For beer, a double IPA might be twice as much ABV.”
In the case of fortified wines, like port or sherry, the ABV can reach upward of 22%, while whiskey can range from 40% to 62%, depending on barrel aging.
To calculate how many standard drinks you’re actually consuming, use this simple formula:
(Number of ounces x ABV) ÷ 0.6 = Total number of standard drinks
For example, if you drink one 12-ounce double IPA beer with 10% ABV, that’s the equivalent of two standard drinks.
“That’s when a drink is not just a drink,” says Dr. Benedict Ifedi, primary care physician with Memorial Hermann Medical Group. “You can get into dangerous territory … with intoxication, potentially bad decisions and safety issues that can come with that.”
[READ How to Support Someone With a Drug Addiction]
Don’t Drink Alcohol for Health Benefits
Because alcohol doesn’t have any true inherent benefits, no amount of alcohol is actually good for you.
While some previous evidence suggests a potential health benefit associated with red wine, many experts aren’t sold on the lack of robust evidence to support this claim.
“No one should be drinking for health purposes,” Wakeman says. “Not that long ago, people might have had it in their mind that if you … have a glass of wine, it’ll improve your cardiac health. It’s not that alcohol can’t be a part of a healthy lifestyle, but it’s really not a health-promoting (beverage).”
In fact, drinking within the Dietary Guidelines limits of one alcoholic beverage per day is linked detrimental effects on nearly every aspect of your health, according to research.
These negative health effects of alcohol include:
— Heart. Drinking can damage the heart and cause cardiovascular issues, such as cardiomyopathy, arrhythmias, stroke and high blood pressure.
— Brain. Alcohol consumption hinders cognitive function, balance, memory and speech in the short term, but it damages brain cells, excessive consumption increases the risk of ischemic stroke, hemorrhagic stroke and dementia. It can also lead to mental health issues, such as anxiety and depression.
— Liver. Excessive alcohol use can lead to fatty liver disease, alcoholic hepatitis, fibrosis and cirrhosis.
— Gastrointestinal. Alcohol can disrupt the gut microbiome, increase intestinal permeability (known as “leaky gut” syndrome), trigger acid reflux and cause inflammation in the stomach lining.
— Immune system. Alcohol inhibits the formation and function of lymphocytes, a type of white blood cell that plays a critical role in your body’s natural defenses. As a result, the lower levels of lymphocytes weakens the immune system and leaves the body susceptible to various infections and diseases.
— Cancer. Drinking any type of alcohol has been shown to increase the risk of cancer. In fact, the U.S. Surgeon General issued a warning earlier this year to sound the alarm on the link between alcohol and at least seven types of cancers — including liver, breast, throat and colon cancers — prompting him to recommend that warning labels be added to alcoholic drinks.
“Even if you’re not feeling symptoms or it doesn’t seem to affect your day to day, there can be some long-term consequences with higher volume regular drinking, especially if it’s more than one to two drinks a day,” Ifedi says.
Bottom Line
Whether you’re enjoying a glass of wine at a restaurant, throwing back an IPA at a tailgate party or mixing cocktails at home, it’s important to know what’s in your glass and how much alcohol it contains. After all, a “drink” is not a unit of measurement. It can vary widely based on alcohol content and serving size.
If you choose to drink, it should be done responsibly and in moderation.
“When it comes to alcohol, there is no beverage of moderation, only the practice of moderation,” Berger says.
However, health experts agree: The less you drink, the better it’s going to be for your health.
“Everything in moderation can be good, but even with alcohol, if we’re able to minimize … it can only have positive benefits, especially when you think about improving long-term health and preventing disease,” Ifedi says.
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Is a Drink Really Just a Drink? originally appeared on usnews.com
