Because these frequency measures do not assess the alcohol amount consumed on each drinking occasion, they do not allow researchers to calculate a person’s average or total volume of alcohol consumption. 18 An earlier study suggested that getting 600 micrograms a day of folate could counteract the effect of moderate alcohol consumption on breast cancer risk. 17 There was no association with folate and increased breast cancer risk among women who drank low or no alcohol daily. Short-term recall methods ask respondents for information about their actual alcohol consumption over a short period of time (e.g., the past week).
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. Standard-drink definitions vary widely across countries, from 8 grams of alcohol in Iceland and the United Kingdom to 20 grams in Austria.
As a result, “abstainers” looked relatively unhealthy, and “moderate” drinkers, many of whom exercise and eat well, looked pretty good. Furthermore, although alcohol research in general is becoming increasingly sophisticated, the measurement of alcohol consumption remains imprecise. In alcohol epidemiology, differences abound in definitions, scientific assumptions (e.g., regarding the alcohol content of a drink), and methods for calculating drinking levels. Although no one method or assumption is inherently better or worse than another, substantial differences in their use and in the resulting findings exist. These differences may result in ambiguous or even conflicting results and must be taken into account in order to draw valid conclusions or develop appropriate guidelines. In addition to the circumstances under which drinking occurs, alcohol’s effects on the drinker (e.g., on the ability to drive a car) depend to a large extent on the blood alcohol levels (BALs) achieved after alcohol consumption.
- Data on the prevalence of binge drinking by age and gender in the UK can be found here, and trends in heavy and binge drinking in the USA can be found here.
- In addition, certain individuals, particularly older adults, who are planning to drive a vehicle or operate machinery—or who are participating in activities that require skill, coordination, and alertness—should avoid alcohol completely.
- For women, more than three drinks on any day or more than seven drinks a week is heavy drinking.
- To account for the differences in alcohol content of different alcoholic drinks (e.g., beer, wine, spirits), this is reported in liters of pure alcohol per year.
Science around Moderate Alcohol Consumption
For example, treatment providers base various treatment decisions on the drinking-behavior information provided by patients. Consequently, inaccurate information could result in suboptimal treatment. The relevance of accurate self-reports of alcohol consumption in general population studies, however, is a more complex issue. For other purposes, such as establishing threshold levels or risk levels for alcohol-related health consequences, however, such an approach may not be sufficient. To establish the precise nature of the relationship between alcohol-consumption levels and the risk for developing a certain disease, it is crucial that researchers know the actual alcohol amounts consumed (Midanik 1982).
Certain people should avoid alcohol completely, including those who:
Typically, many familiar forms of distilled spirits (e.g., vodka, whiskey, gin, or rum) have alcohol contents of 40 to 50 percent (often expressed as 80 to 100 proof). Considerable variation may occur even within these categories, with the alcohol content of some varieties being as low as 30 percent and others as high as 75 percent. Liqueurs and cordials, usually grouped with distilled spirits, often are less concentrated than standard liquors. Grain alcohol, which is virtually pure ethanol, is often bottled at a concentration of 94 percent alcohol by volume. Drinking too much alcohol too frequently is unhealthy and can lead to liver disease, weight gain, and alcohol use disorder (AUD). Alcohol consumption may also play a role in certain mental health conditions, like depression and dementia, including Alzheimer’s disease.
Some past studies had suggested that moderate drinking might be good for your health. More studies now show that there aren’t health benefits of moderate drinking compared to not drinking. Alcohol misuse refers drinking in a manner, situation, amount, or frequency that could cause harm to the person who drinks or to those around them. Measuring the health impact by mortality alone fails to capture the impact that alcohol use disorders have on an individual’s well-being.
Alcohol & Public Health
To others, including many researchers, the term may encompass more than nondrinkers, including some people who drink a little bit. In contrast, in the National Longitudinal Alcohol Epidemiologic Survey, in order to be considered a current drinker, a person had to report consuming 12 or more drinks during the year preceding the survey interview. People consuming fewer than 12 drinks were classified as abstainers. Abstainers were further divided into former drinkers and lifetime abstainers. Former drinkers were persons who had consumed at least 12 drinks in a 12-month period sometime in their lives, but not during the 12 months immediately preceding the interview. Lifetime abstainers were those who had never consumed at least 12 drinks in a 1-year period (Dawson et al. 1995).
In the scientific literature, the wide range of assumptions about what a standard drink is can produce highly divergent estimates of total alcohol consumption among respondents who report consuming the same number of drinks. Turner based the comparison on fictional respondents who reported drinking one standard drink (as defined in each study) each of beer, wine, and spirits for a total alcohol consumption of three drinks per day. Using the different methodologies and assumptions regarding alcohol contents employed in four highly respected studies, Turner found that the total alcohol amounts corresponding to three drinks per day ranged from 24 g to 48 g. Consequently, when reading an article that relates a certain number of drinks per day to a specific health benefit or risk, one must pay careful attention to how a drink is defined in that study.
For men, heavy drinking means more than four drinks on any day or more than 14 drinks a week. Alcohol use disorder (AUD) is a medical condition characterized by an impaired ability to stop or control alcohol use despite adverse social, occupational, or health consequences. It encompasses the conditions that some people refer to as alcohol abuse, alcohol dependence, alcohol addiction, and the colloquial term, alcoholism. Lasting changes in the brain caused by alcohol misuse perpetuate AUD and make individuals vulnerable to relapse. Long-run data on alcohol consumption from the United States gives us one perspective of drinking since 1850.
Global trends on alcohol abstinence show a commission paid meaning mirror image of drinking prevalence data. This is shown in the charts as the share of adults who had not drunk in the prior year and those who have never drunk alcohol. This pattern of drinking is often termed ‘binging,’ where individuals consume large amounts of alcohol within a single session versus small quantities more frequently.
At first glance, this requirement appears to be a simple mathematical problem of comparing the alcohol contents of several beverages. In fact, however, such comparisons are rather complicated, because even within one beverage category (e.g., beer, wine, or distilled spirits), the alcohol contents may differ considerably. QF measures query the respondent on both drinking frequency and average quantity consumed per occasion, thereby providing a measure of the total alcohol amount consumed. QF measures currently may be the most widely used instruments with which to measure drinking in most countries, including the United States. Generally, the quantity question asks for the typical number of drinks consumed per occasion, providing the respondent with some definition of a drink (e.g., one 12 oz can or bottle of beer) on which to base his or her answer.