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Is alcohol good or bad for you? Yes.

It’s hard to escape the message these days that every sip of wine, every swig of beer is bad for your health. The truth, however, is far more nuanced. We have been researching the health effects of alcohol for a combined 60 years. Our work, and that of others, has shown that even modest alcohol consumption likely raises the risk for certain diseases, such as breast and esophageal cancer. And heavy drinking is unequivocally harmful to health. But after countless studies, the data do not justify sweeping statements about the effects of moderate alcohol consumption on human health. Yet we continue to see reductive narratives, in the media and even in science journals, that alcohol in any amount…

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  What’s the truth about alcohol’s benefits and risks? with Tim Stockwell

We have long heard the claims that a glass of red wine is good for your heart, but it turns out that the research that fueled this wisdom was actually skewed. Some studies made it appear like moderate drinkers were healthier than people who didn't drink at all, leading the public to believe that alcohol was healthier than it is. While drinking alcohol occasionally might not have catastrophic effects on your health, the data shows that even moderate drinking will reduce your life expectancy.

 How to Navigate the Latest Reports on Alcohol and Health

Two reports on the complex relationship between alcohol and our health have recently appeared. Both come from highly credible sources. While their purpose, methods, and data sources differ, their conclusions are remarkably consistent. Yet one has been sensationalised while the other has been ignored or disparaged.

 Is drinking alcohol ever good for you? Here’s what the science says.

If you're confused, you're not alone.

 Santé! ΣΤΗΝ ΥΓΕΙΑ ΣΟΥ Salute! to your health! !بسلامتی na zdrowie!

Virtue or vice? Alcohol has resisted easy categorization since time immemorial, Christopher Waters writes. But the real key to its enjoyment has always been found in moderation.

 The truth about booze: how alcohol really affects your body, from first flush of happiness to hangover hell

Is red wine good for you? Is it healthier to drink a little than not at all? Is there such a thing as hangxiety? It’s time to sort fact from fiction

 Why Is Alcohol Research So Conflicting? People Will Drink Anyway?

Everyone knows alcohol is poison. That’s part of why it’s fun. Since the dawn of civilization—or even earlier, if we consider that our primate ancestors developed the ability to metabolize alcohol between 7 and 21 million years ago—people have been drinking with this balancing act in mind. They’ve been drinking in moderation and drinking in excess. They’ve been drinking alone and drinking in the company of friends, family, and strangers. We’ve done this while broadly knowing the consequences—be they bad behavior, hangovers, or the long-term ramifications of alcoholism.

 Why scientific support for alcohol’s health benefits is fading

Research exposes flaws of older, often industry-funded studies and finds lowest mortality risk in lifelong abstainers.

 Why, Exactly, Is Alcohol So Bad for You?

The tide has largely turned against alcohol. Drinking, at least in moderation, was once seen as a harmless—or even healthy—indulgence that could strengthen your heart and even lengthen your lifespan. But in many scientific circles, consuming virtually any amount of alcohol is now seen as toxic.

Articles of Interest

Surgeon General’s advisory sparks a conversation about alcohol, cancer and health

I write about wine for a living and for several years I have attempted to keep up with the massive number of studies done on alcohol and health. As a professional, I do a lot of spitting. As a civilian, I do my best to heed the federal government’s guidelines for moderate consumption. The Surgeon General’s advisory made me take an even deeper dive into the literature.

It’s time to rethink how much booze may be too much

A couple of drinks a day aren’t bad for you and may even be good for you. Right? That’s been the message — from researchers, governments, and beverage companies — for decades. And as a result, many of us don’t think twice about tossing back a glass of wine or a few beers after work. But maybe we should. Because it turns out the story about the health effects of moderate drinking is shifting pretty dramatically. New research on alcohol and mortality, and a growing awareness about the rise in alcohol-related deaths in the US, is causing a reckoning among researchers about even moderate levels of alcohol consumption.

Rethinking Drinking: The Health Benefits of Drinking Alcohol May Be From Skunked Science

After a long day of meetings that could have been emails, you open a bottle of merlot, knowing it’s a fine decision: Not only will that glass of wine take the edge off any stress, but it’s good for your heart too, just like leafy greens and whole grains, right? Alas, no. It sounded too good to be true, and now it looks as if it was: After decades of hearing that drinking in moderation wasn’t harmful—and that it might in fact even offer a health boost—scientists are discovering that this thinking relied on a potent cocktail of questionable research, headline-happy media coverage, and wishful thinking.

A Little Alcohol Won’t Kill You or Make You Stronger

First, the good news: A nip of alcohol here and there probably won’t kill you. But it won’t help you live longer either. For a study published Friday in the journal JAMA Network Open, researchers set out to make sense of years of conflicting evidence on alcohol’s effect on health. Some research suggested that drinking alcohol improves life expectancy. Other studies had demonstrated poorer health outcomes at any level of drinking.

Alcohol & Health: Remember This Next Time You're Drinking

Alright, so a glass of wine (or a beer or my fave, a dirty martini!) now and then is no biggie. But we know from health experts that too much booze has been linked with all kinds of health consequences. In fact, drinking more than two glasses of any alcoholic drink daily can up your risk for breast cancer. And now researchers are warning about a new potential risk to be aware of: Binge drinking may permanently damage your brain.

Alcohol And Its Detrimental Effects On Your Health

In short, alcohol has become normalized in American culture and life. Yet, alcohol is the most widely used drug in both the United States and the world. Yes, you read that correctly- alcohol is a drug and will always be a drug! Most people would never consider alcohol in the same category as tobacco, opioids, or cocaine- yet it is a substance that can cause deleterious effects to your health and can certainly result in addiction and dependence.

Alcohol and Your Health- Cheers! or Not?

Depending with whom you speak, alcohol can be a villain or it can be a hero. We have long known that alcohol can help reduce the stress of everyday life, and even relaxes our most tightly wound friends and associates. Recent data also suggests that fairly regular alcohol ingestion is actually good for your heart.

Alcohol is killing more women than ever before

As the gender gap in drinking narrows, alcohol-related complications in women are rising. From immune system disorders to breast cancer, here’s how alcohol harms the female body.

Alcohol's Effects on Health

Drinking too much – on a single occasion or over time – can take a serious toll on your health. Here’s how alcohol can affect your body...

Bad news, red wine drinkers: alcohol is only ever bad for your health

We needn’t be puritanical about having a drink, but we can no longer deny that it harms us, even in small quantities

Even a Little Alcohol Can Harm Your Health

Recent research makes it clear that any amount of drinking can be detrimental. Here’s why you may want to cut down on your consumption beyond Dry January.

Harms linked to drinking may be greater for people in worse health, study finds

Research finds even moderate alcohol consumption more damaging to health of the economically deprived.

How Giving Up Happy Hour Saved My Sanity and My Health

And sure, in retrospect, I knew all along that alcohol consumption, especially lots of it, is bad. There seems to be a study out every week about the harmful effects of throwing back a cold one. For one, there is the inevitable weight gain, which Dana James, M.S., C.D.N., C.N.S., a triple-certified celebrity nutritionist, compared to eating too much cheesecake.

How Much Alcohol Can You Drink Before It Starts to Mess with Your Fitness?

Turns out, regular exercisers drink more than couch potatoes, so we asked what wine, whiskey, and other alcoholic drinks do to your workout goals.

Is one drink a day OK? Here's what to consider

When it comes to the harms of alcohol, the science is clear that there's a dose response. The more you drink, the higher the risk of bad outcomes. But given all the lifestyle factors that contribute to disease, everything from diet and exercise to sleep and stress, it's complex to figure out an exact amount of alcohol that's OK, whether it's one, two or zero drinks a day.

Is Red Wine Actually Good For You? Experts Weigh In

“Alcohol, and therefore alcoholic drinks including red wine, is not good for us,” says Dr Federica Amati, public health nutritionist, medical scientist, and author of Recipes for a Better Menopause. “As with everything we eat and drink, there is nuance–drinking red wine is part of a much bigger picture of the things we do, eat and drink throughout our lives.”

Is That Drink Worth It to You?

Alcohol is riskier than previously thought, but weighing the trade-offs of health risks can be deeply personal.

It Was Only When I Quit Drinking That I Realized How Bad It Was For Me

One would think that governments, which both regulate and derive considerable tax revenue from the alcohol industry, would properly inform the public of health risks. As it turns out, they’ve largely abdicated the role, leaving alcohol producers to set the terms.

Moderate Drinking Raises Health Risks While Offering Few Benefits

A federal analysis that will shape the influential U.S. Dietary Guidelines questions alcohol’s overall benefits.

The Dueling Science Behind How Alcohol Affects Your Health

The verdict on heavier drinking has been clear for years: It raises the risk for many conditions including heart and liver disease and over half a dozen types of cancer, resulting in some 178,000 deaths in the U.S. each year. The more a person drinks, the greater the risk. The problem? The scientists don’t agree on moderate drinking. Conventional wisdom used to say that a little bit of alcohol had some health benefits. Now, more researchers and governments are saying that less alcohol is best for your health.

The truth about drinking alcohol. Is it healthy?

The newest research shows alcohol use is not good for your health. Even red wine has lost its halo, and the toll of heavy alcohol use is on the rise.

Why Is Alcohol Becoming More Deadly for Women?

“This really is a women’s health issue,” cautions Aaron White, a biological psychologist who served as the study’s lead researcher and is the senior scientific advisor to the director of the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. Getting down to the root of the issue begins with the simple fact that women absorb and metabolize alcohol differently than men. According to the NIAAA, when men and women drink at the same rate, women are at a higher risk than men for certain serious medical consequences of alcohol use, such as liver damage, heart disease, and brain damage.

Resources

8 things we’ve learned about how alcohol harms the body

The U.S. Surgeon General has called for adding cancer warnings to alcohol labels—as scientific evidence mounts that even moderate drinking may be more harmful than we thought.