How Dangerous Is a Drink a Day?

But the picture changes if you regularly down more than one. Two-plus drinks can damage your cardiovascular system. They increase your risk of heart attack and stroke by bumping up blood pressure and triglycerides, and also harm the heart’s tissues and electrical system, which could cause irregular heartbeats and heart failure.

Suppose, however, that you’re not typically a big drinker, but one evening you have three or four drinks over several hours? “If you keep hydrated, it’s probably not going to harm you,” says Mary-Anne Enoch, MD, of the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, in Rockville, Maryland. But the less often you splurge, the better. And when you indulge, it’s a good idea to follow it up with a few dry days. In general, experts say, one drink means one drink; you’re not doing yourself any favors by imbibing more.

If you are concerned because cancer is in your medical history, you might consider making alcohol an occasional choice, as Karen K. Collins, RD, of the American Institute for Cancer Research, suggests. Ask your doctor. Heart failure and high blood pressure are two more reasons to seek medical advice.

Is alcohol a health tonic? No. A poison? No. One of life’s little pleasures? We’ll go with that. 





What constitutes one drink a day?

a | 12 fluid ounces of regular Beer, about 5% alcohol (light beer, about 4.2%)

b | 5 fluid ounces of Wine, about 12% alcohol

c | 1.5 fluid ounce shot of 80 proof Spirits, about 40% alcohol