And remember—you can avoid the risk of an alcohol overdose by staying within the 2020–2025 Dietary Guidelines for Americans if you choose to drink, or by not drinking at all. The bottom line is that alcohol is potentially addictive, can cause intoxication, and contributes to health problems and preventable deaths. If you already drink at low levels and continue to drink, risks for these issues appear to be low. Pancreatitis can occur as a sudden attack, called acute pancreatitis. Acute pancreatitis can turn into chronic pancreatitis, which is a condition of constant inflammation of the pancreas.
These effects can also impact the safety and well-being of people around you. No matter how severe the problem may seem, evidence-based treatment can help people with AUD recover. For more information about alcohol and cancer, please visit the National Cancer Institute’s webpage “Alcohol and Cancer Risk” (last accessed June 6, 2024).
Nutrition and healthy eating
Current research points to health risks even at low amounts of alcohol consumption, regardless of beverage type. Keep reading for more information on how alcohol can affect your body. Even among the positive studies, potential health benefits are often quite small. In addition, alcohol may reduce the risk of one condition (such as cardiovascular disease) while increasing the risk of another (such as cancer). So it’s hard to predict who might actually benefit and who may be harmed more than helped by alcohol consumption.
Alcohol use and taking opioids or sedative hypnotics, such as sleep and anti-anxiety medications, can increase your risk of an overdose. Examples of these medications include sleep aids, such as zolpidem and eszopiclone, and benzodiazepines, such as diazepam and alprazolam. The evidence for moderate alcohol use in healthy adults is still being studied. But good evidence shows that drinking high amounts of alcohol are clearly linked to health problems. Heavy alcohol use can disturb the endocrine system, disrupting the hormones that help maintain the body’s stability and health.
Alcohol and your health: Risks, benefits, and controversies
A number of experts have recommended revision of the guidelines toward lower amounts, as more studies have linked even moderate alcohol consumption to health risks. Predictably, the alcoholic beverage industry opposes more restrictive guidelines. In many cases, even moderate drinking (defined below) appears to increase risk. Despite this, less than half of the US public is aware understanding the dangers of alcohol of any alcohol-cancer connection.
- Damaged DNA can cause a cell to grow out of control, which results in cancerous tumors.
- Just one or two alcoholic drinks can impair your balance, coordination, impulse control, memory, and decision-making.
- With no gag reflex, a person who drinks to the point of passing out is in danger of choking on their vomit and dying from a lack of oxygen (i.e., asphyxiation).
- This will leave you feeling badly dehydrated in the morning, which may cause a severe headache.
Knowing what counts as one standard drink can help you figure out how much alcohol you drink and whether it would be considered excessive. As of 2021, 29.5 million people aged 12 and older had an alcohol use disorder in the past year. If you are on any medications, talk to your health care provider about how alcohol may affect them. Drinking alcohol during pregnancy can lead to symptoms of fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD).
- Knowing what counts as one standard drink can help you figure out how much alcohol you drink and whether it would be considered excessive.
- Chronic, heavy drinking raises the risk for ischemic heart disease (heart problems caused by narrowed arteries) and myocardial infarction (heart attack).
- These disruptions can change mood and behavior and make it harder to think clearly and move with coordination.
- Dr. Sengupta shares some of the not-so-obvious effects that alcohol has on your body.
- “The good news is that earlier stages of steatotic liver disease are usually completely reversible in about four to six weeks if you abstain from drinking alcohol,” Dr. Sengupta assures.
What is alcohol use disorder?
Drinking too much alcohol can weaken the immune system, making the body a much easier target for disease. Drinking a lot on a single occasion slows the body’s ability to ward off infections–even up to 24 hours later. Assessing the risks and benefits of alcohol consumption remains an active area of research that may lead to major changes in official guidelines or warning labels. Drinking moderately if you’re otherwise healthy may be a risk you’re willing to take. But heavy drinking carries a much higher risk even for those without other health concerns. Be sure to ask your healthcare professional about what’s right for your health and safety.
Other NIAAA Sites
Heavy drinking can also lead to a host of health concerns, like brain damage, heart disease, cirrhosis of the liver and even certain kinds of cancer. As blood alcohol concentration (BAC) increases, so does the effect of alcohol—as well as the risk of harm. Even small increases in BAC can decrease motor coordination, make a person feel sick, and cloud judgment. This can increase an individual’s risk of being injured from falls or car crashes, experiencing acts of violence, and engaging in unprotected or unintended sex. When BAC reaches high levels, amnesia (blackouts), loss of consciousness (passing out), and death can occur. When BAC reaches high levels, blackouts (gaps in memory), loss of consciousness (passing out), and death can occur.
Mounting evidence links alcohol with cancer. Defining a “safe” amount of drinking is tricky — and controversial.
The alcohol also impairs the cells in your nervous system, making you feel lightheaded and adversely affecting your reaction time and co-ordination. Dependent drinkers with a higher tolerance to alcohol can often drink much more without experiencing any noticeable effects. By contrast, another 2023 study found similar rates of death between nondrinkers and light to moderate drinkers. Like a clog in a drain, those thickened fluids can jam up your ducts.
When your liver finishes that process, alcohol gets turned into water and carbon dioxide. Dr. Sengupta shares some of the not-so-obvious effects that alcohol has on your body. For more details about its operating status, please visit cc.nih.gov. More information about alcohol and cancer risk is available in the Surgeon General’s advisory.
These disruptions can change mood and behavior and make it harder to think clearly and move with coordination. More information about alcohol’s effects on the brain is available on NIAAA’s topic page on Alcohol and The Brain. Heavy drinking can also increase your blood pressure and blood cholesterol levels, both of which are major risk factors for heart attacks and strokes. The definitions for a drink in the US are the common serving sizes for beer (12 ounces), wine (5 ounces), or distilled spirits/hard liquor (1.5 ounces). And not so long ago there was general consensus that drinking in moderation also came with health advantages, including a reduced risk of cardiovascular disease and diabetes. Even drinking a little too much (binge drinking) on occasion can set off a chain reaction that affects your well-being.
It means on days when a person does drink, women do not have more than one drink and men do not have more than two drinks. Binge drinking is drinking enough alcohol to raise one’s BAC to 0.08% or above. Women typically reach this level after about four drinks and men after about five drinks in two hours. Binge drinking—and heavy drinking—is a type of alcohol misuse (a spectrum of risky alcohol-related behaviors). The pancreas is an organ that makes substances that support bodily functions including digestion and metabolism. Alcohol misuse over time can lead to pancreatitis, which can impair the production of digestive enzymes and can affect hormones that regulate blood sugar level.
You and your community can take steps to improve everyone’s health and quality of life. In the United States, people younger than age 21 are not legally able to drink alcohol. Heavy drinking also has been linked to intentional injuries, such as suicide, as well as accidental injury and death.