Is moderate alcohol consumption healthy?

Sebastian Rushworth   19 February, 2021

I'm going to start this article by revealing my own biases. I'm not sure where the idea that alcohol might be healthy comes from. It's pretty well established that alcohol is poisonous to all living organisms. That's why we use it to disinfect surfaces, and why I lather my hands in it several times per hour when I'm working in the hospital. It interferes with the functioning of cell membranes, and at high enough doses it causes the cell membranes to fall apart completely, killing the immersed organisms. That's the reason it is such an effective disinfectant. It doesn't take a great leap to think that something that interferes with the functioning of our cell membranes might not be too good for us.

As an interesting aside, the alcohol disinfectant I use to rub my hands in at work is perfectly drinkable, if you're desperate enough. Which is why the nurses generally remove all the disinfectant containers from the patient's room if they know the patient has an alcohol addiction.

Alcohol is a very energy dense molecule. One gram of alcohol (a.k.a. ethanol) contains 7 calories. This can be compared to carbohydrates and protein, which both provide 4 calories per gram, and fat, which provides 9 calories. This is probably why we've evolved the ability to metabolize alcohol and turn it in to energy in the first place. Those of our ancestors who could eat any fermented fruit they happened to come across were less likely to starve. Which is the reason why it's possible to subsist (for a while at least) on a diet consisting entirely of alcohol. It's also the reason alcoholics generally develop severe vitamin deficiencies - they're getting most of their energy needs met from a source that is completely devoid of other nutrients. I don't recommend.

So where does the idea that moderate alcohol consumption is healthy come from? My guess would be that the companies that sell alcohol have something to do with it. I wouldn't be the least bit surprised to find that they'd seeded the scientific literature with articles supporting the healthiness of alcohol, just as the sugar industry has seeded the literature with articles supporting the healthiness of sugar. It could also have something to do with the fact that moderate alcohol consumption is part of the mediterranean diet, which we've been told for decades is one of the healthiest ways to eat.

Alcohol causes most overall harm of any drug, says study

The Age  June 22, 2019
In the grips of his alcohol addiction, David Reichmann was told by his doctor that he would be dead within a year.
"I'd suffered two minor strokes, but it didn't stop me from going to hotels every night and drinking until stumps. Then I’d take a bottle of bourbon home with me," the 53-year-old Victorian father of two said.

He would keep a bottle of whiskey next to his bed, but if he couldn't afford spirits that week, he'd mix methylated spirits with soft drink.

“I couldn't keep down a morning coffee," he said. "I’d have to have alcohol to settle me for the day."

Alcohol causes the most overall harm to the Australian community, surpassing crystal methamphetamine (ice) and heroin, a new national study suggests.
The Australia-first study, funded by St Vincent’s Hospital in Melbourne, examined 22 drugs and measured the risk to an individual and the damage to society as a whole.

As part of the study, 25 drug-harm experts – including frontline emergency service workers, police, addiction specialists, doctors and those working in the welfare and homeless sectors – ranked the drugs on a score of zero to 100, based on the damage they caused to users, including illness, injury and death.

They also examined the effects drugs have on users' families and the wider community, such as through  violence, crime, unemployment, economic costs and relationship breakdowns.
Alcohol was ranked by far the most damaging drug to the Australian community, scoring 77 out of 100, followed by crystal meth (66), heroin (58) and fentanyls (51).

As well as consuming about 23 standards drinks a day, Mr Reichmann would smoke cannabis and regularly use crystal meth and heroin. But alcohol was always the easiest drug to get.

No amount of alcohol is safe, health study warns

RT  25 Aug, 2018

Any and all alcohol consumption is bad for your health, according to a new global report from health experts, who are attempting to settle the drinking debate once and for all.

The report, published in The Lancet medical journal, claims to be the most comprehensive of its kind and goes against previous studies which have suggested a glass of red wine is equal to going to the gym, or that drinking alcohol makes you live longer.

Study shows that moderate consumption of alcohol affects your health

Anna Hunt, Staff February 3, 2017

There’s no denying it that alcohol over-consumption, binge drinking and alcoholism can have some devastating effects. Nonetheless, alcohol has become so normalized in our society that moderate drinking is considered normal. Now, a new comparison between binge and moderate drinking has raised the question. Is moderate drinking much worse for the body than many of us think?

Drinking Guidelines

The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism uses three tiers to identify the different drinking levels:

• Moderate consumption – up to 1 drink per day for women and up to 2 drinks per day for men.
• Binge drinking – 5 or more alcoholic drinks for males or 4 or more alcoholic drinks for females on the same occasion (i.e., at the same time or within a couple of hours of each other) on at least 1 day in the past month.
• Heavy alcohol use – binge drinking on 5 or more days in the past month.

It is important to consider that “1 drink” equals to no more than 0.6 ounces of pure alcohol, 12 ounces of beer, or 5 ounces of wine.

Binge drinking effects over 20% of the US population, according to a recent report published by the U.S. surgeon general. The 2015 National Survey on Drug Use and Health (USDUH) estimates this to be even higher at 27%. Alcohol misuse in the U.S. contributes to over 88,000 deaths each year. Globally, deaths in 2012 attributed to alcohol consumption stacked up to 3.3 million.

The statistics are even more staggering when you consider USDUH’s estimate that 86% of people 18 or over who live in the U.S. consume alcohol. 56% of survey respondents reportedly drank within the last month.

How Harmful Is Moderate Consumption?

Statistics about alcohol misuse may be quite scary. But if you’re not a heavy or binge drinker, do you have to worry? New evidence suggests that even moderate alcohol consumption can be quite harmful.

In the BBC television segment below, doctors explored the difference between binge drinking and moderate drinking. Identical twin brothers each consumed 21 alcohol units. One brother drank 21 units in one night. The other had three drinks per day over the course of one week. The experiment continued for four weeks.

Doctors compared medical tests before and after the experiment. They discovered that moderate drinking was actually quite harmful to the body. Liver stiffness increased by about 25% for both the binge drinker and the moderate-drinking brother. This type of inflammation can lead to an irreversible condition called liver cirrhosis.

In addition to liver stiffness, the tests measured five different inflammatory markers in all. Over time, chronic inflammation can cause DNA damage and lead to cancer. Both brothers had significant increases in all markers, although the binge drinking twin had a more dramatic rise.

Effects of Alcohol on the Body

Drinking alcohol is very common, regardless of the negative effects on the body. But let’s consider the potential dangers. Mercola reports that alcohol consumption:

• Depresses your central nervous system, including the limbic system that controls emotions, the prefrontal cortex that governs reasoning and judgment, and the cerebellum that plays a role in muscle activity and impacts balance.
• Increases liver stiffness, which increases your risk of liver cirrhosis.
• Diminishes the formation of memories due to ethanol buildup in the brain. Alcohol also causes your hippocampus to shrink, which affects memory and learning.
• Promotes systemic inflammation. In other words, your body reacts to alcohol in the same way as it reacts to injury or infection.
• Increases stress on your heart, raising your risk for cardiomyopathy, arrhythmias, high blood pressure and stroke.
• Significantly increases endotoxin levels. In other words, alcohol causes gut damage allowing bacteria to escape from your gut into your blood stream.
• In terms of chronic disease, studies have linked excessive alcohol consumption with an increased risk for poor immune function (which raises your risk for most diseases), pancreatitis and cancer.

A more detailed listing of how alcohol affects all of the body’s systems can be found on Healthline.

Mitigating Health Risks

The effect that alcohol will have on a person differs depending on various factors. These include body weight, amount of body fat and genetic makeup. Other important factors that can mitigate the effects of alcohol consumption are lifestyle choices such as diet and exercise.

“Exercise is a foundational aspect of good health, but may be even more important if you drink alcohol on a regular basis. According to recent research chronic drinkers who exercise five hours a week have the same rate of mortality as those who never drink alcohol, in large part by counteracting the inflammation caused by alcohol.” (source)

Furthermore, alcohol depletes the body of vital nutrients. It is important to ensure that if you drink alcohol, you eat foods rich in nutrients such as Vitamin C, Magnesium and B Vitamins, or take a supplement.

Milk thistle is another beneficial supplement. It contains antioxidants known to help protect the liver from toxins, including alcohol. Researchers found that the antioxidant silymarin found in milk thistle may help to regenerate liver cells.

Alcohol Misuse Impacts More Than the Body

In the U.S. alone, alcohol misuse and alcohol use disorders carry a significant social cost. An estimated $249 billion is spent on lost productivity, health care expenses, law enforcement, and other criminal justice costs.

In addition, there is the issue of codependency. What is codependency? It is a behavioral problem where people in the lives of those who are afflicted with alcohol or drug dependency engage in mutually destructive habits. It typically affects family members, friends or coworkers of heavy drinkers.

You Choose

Alcohol consumption is a personal choice, similar to the foods one eats and the amount of exercise one gets. It is important to understand, though, that alcohol has many negative health effects. Even though moderate alcohol use is widespread, it does not necessarily mean that it is safe for everyone. Limiting consumption or abstaining altogether is the best way to mitigate the harmful effects on the body.    Walking Times