What Is A Moderate Amount Of Alcohol? (With Benefits)

From ‘No!’ to ‘Only one’, drinking is an addictiveness that can become a health problem. These problems may interfere with your personal and professional life. To reduce the impact of excessive drinking in life, one should opt for moderate drinking. In order to make you understand ‘what is a moderate amount of alcohol’, we have curated this post, in which we bring essential aspects together, such as the risks and benefits related to alcohol. Let’s start with understanding the meaning of moderate drinking. 

What is moderate drinking?

Consuming too much alcohol can be dangerous to health. This is why it is important to know the line from where you can fall. A defined and specific drinking level that does not cause harm to health is called moderate drinking.  

Simply put, the amount of drinking that does not affect your health, including personal and professional life, in any way is called moderate drinking. However, it can vary from person to person and male to female bodies as well. 

The next section will talk about what is a moderate amount of alcohol. 

Different levels of drinking: Men and women  

Moderation is a key to healthy living, and excessiveness or addiction to anything is bad. Similarly, excess alcohol consumption can be life-threatening. The level of drinking can be determined by different factors such as weight, age, gender, health conditions, etc. According to the National Institute On Alcohol Abuse & Alcoholism (NIAAA), four drinks for men and three for women in a single day is the safe level of alcohol consumption. In other words, 14 drinks for men and seven for women per week. 

Studies have shown that women should consume less alcohol than men. There are several reasons why women’s alcohol consumption level differs from men’s. Here are four major reasons why a woman should know what is a moderate amount of alcohol. 

• Females have less water in their bodies, and alcohol spreads widely in body water. 
• Women generally weigh less than men, and a safe level of alcohol consumption is directly related to body weight. 
• Women usually have a lower alcohol dehydrogenase (AHD) level than men. AHD is a chemical that breaks down the alcohol in the liver. The lower level of AHD does not allow alcohol to break; consequently, alcohol remains in women’s systems for a long. 
• Females’ hormones are different from males. Studies have shown that excessive alcohol consumption can affect a woman on different levels. Blood alcohol concentrations are at their highest just before mensuration and lowest on the first day after mensuration. 

Besides knowing ‘what is a moderate amount of alcohol for men and women, it is essential to know the right level of alcohol in your drink.

Level of alcohol in a drink  

Moderate drinking is not all about the number of glasses. When trying to follow moderate drinking, one should also consider the level of alcohol in each drink. 

The NIAAA defines one drink as: 

• 12 fluid ounces of regular beer at around 5 per cent alcohol
• 8-9 fluid ounces of malt liquor at around 7 per cent alcohol
• 5 fluid ounces of table wine at around 12 per cent alcohol 
• 1.5 fluid ounces of distilled spirits, such as gin, rum, whiskey, tequila, or vodka

Now you know what is a moderate amount of alcohol, let’s know the benefits of moderate drinking. 

Potential benefits of regular and moderate alcohol consumption

Surprisingly, there are several benefits of alcohol consumption in moderation, such as: 

• Light-to-moderate alcohol may lower the risk of stroke in women.
• Regular and moderate wine drinking at night reduces the risk of developing depression, and extreme drinking increases the risks.  
• Studies have shown that regular and average alcohol consumption benefits cardiovascular health. 

It concludes that moderate alcohol is good for health. If you know ‘what is a moderate amount of alcohol’, you can reap the benefits above. But alcohol consumption is still linked with risks when drinking excessively. 

Risks involved with excessive drinking

While moderate alcohol consumption tends to have benefits, too much alcohol is devastating for overall health, mental to physical. 

Consuming too much alcohol may lead to:

• Depression
• Liver damage
• Mental issues
• Dementia
• Anemia
• Gout
• Nerve damage
• Stroke
• Cancer 
• Seizures
• High blood pressure

Knowing ‘what is a moderate amount of alcohol’ and ‘how much alcohol is safe for the liver’ can eliminate these risks. If you think your alcohol consumption is not moderate, you can talk to your doctor about it.