likemybooze

Interesting, perhaps some of the guidelines have been revised down in recent years. I distinctly remember both France and Italy having higher recommended daily limits and the only explanations I could find were that wine was part of the culture and thus the governments were reluctant to recommend substantially less than what people were actually drinking in practice.

Have you read the studies or the ones that disagree?

It’s been a few years now but I have. Time and time again the conclusion seems to be that the studies that say drinking is beneficial are screwing something up, eg the result is based on including very sick people who don’t drink because of their poor health, and these people die younger (and thus skew the results toward making it look like drinking increases longevity).

The studies that correct for this and other issues generally either conclude zero alcohol is best, or in one case I recall a study that concluded 5g (in other words a third of a shot, a third of a beer, or third of a glass of wine) had a minimal positive impact and by the time you got to 10g it was neutral and anything beyond 10g started reducing lifespan.

Sorry I don’t have any references. I looked into this in detail a while back and didn’t save any of what I found.

I am now realizing when doing the math I misremembered and the US CDC unit of alcohol is 14g, so I am consuming 3 units/day whereas their guidelines are no more than 2 units/day.

The UK in contrast says a unit is 8g, and suggests no more than 2 units a day (so slightly more than half the US guideline).

Some countries call a unit 10g. If I recall correctly France suggests no more than 40g/day, so around 2/3rds of a bottle of wine (so 50% more than the US guideline).

So the suggested “healthy” limits for reasonable drinking vary considerably between countries and I am definitely exceeding the US guidelines, and even slightly exceeding the French guideline.

It seems very difficult to get reliable information about what constitutes problem drinking.

I think the best answer might be “if it’s interfering with your life in ways that bother you, you have a problem.”

I am what my doctor would term a “heavy drinker” since I probably average 20 units (10g by weight) per week.

That’s two cocktails, or half a bottle of wine, or three beers, every night.

I would say maybe once every two months I will have an additional drink, so I am very consistent at that level. The last time I recall being drunk is probably 18 years ago. I’ve never enjoyed having an excess of alcohol in my system.

Some doctors respond to this level of drinking with shock and horror. Others act as if it’s slightly too much and suggest maybe two nights a week without drinking would solve the problem. Others seem to think that problem drinking is when you get most of your calories from alcohol. I literally had a doctor tell me that this is the definition of alcoholism, and that it always goes hand-in-hand with malnutrition.

The only thing I am certain about from what I have read is that the healthiest quantity of alcohol you can drink is zero. That’s right. The studies that say one glass a wine a day improves your health and longevity - well, they all seem to be flawed in one way or another.

Here’s the thing - I really don’t like feeling very tipsy - that’s why it’s so rare I have more than two cocktails. What I do like is the taste. Of beer, wine, cocktails, straight whisky. I only drink when I eat, and I find it hard to eat dinner without a drink because I like the bitter or sweet taste of the alcohol with the food.

If I need to stop for some reason, eg because of oral surgery, etc, I don’t find it difficult.

But I still wonder whether I am slowly pickling my liver and just need to cut back.

Can anyone relate?