Many studies question the idea of “healthy alcohol”: to date none have found a benefit.
New research from the United States, Canada, United Kingdom and Denmark suggests that the health risks associated with alcohol consumption begin to increase even with just two or three drinks per week: all, but even all alcohol is bad for your health and “no study has ever demonstrated a protective or beneficial effect of alcohol”, reinforces Patricia Molina, a physiology researcher at Louisiana State University, whose work focuses on the impact of alcohol on the body, cited by .
The question that arises is: is there really a “safe” level of consumption? Although any alcohol intake carries risks, experts indicate that there are relatively less harmful levels and that even small reductions can have significant positive effects.
The first step is… drinking less alcohol, of course.
How alcohol affects the body
When alcohol enters the bloodstream, the liver immediately begins to metabolize it, producing acetaldehyde, a highly reactive and carcinogenic compound that causes much of the damage associated with alcohol consumption. “When we drink alcohol, every cell in our body is exposed,” explains Molina, highlighting that organs that are not normally thought to be affected end up suffering consequences.
Alcohol consumption is linked to more than 200 health conditions, including heart disease, dementia, muscle loss, osteoporosis and several types of cancersuch as breast cancer. “In addition to contributing to various health problems, can accelerate aging“, warns Molina. “It’s as if it were an extra burden that the body has to bear, leading many systems to show signs of premature aging.”
Some people have genetic mutations which make it difficult to metabolize acetaldehyde, significantly increasing the risk of alcohol-related health problems. This variant is more common in people of East Asian descent and causes visible reactions such as facial flushing, increased heart rate and feeling unwell. In these cases, the risk of developing cancer or other alcohol-related diseases is even higher.
The risks of moderate consumption
For decades, studies on alcohol suggested a “J-curve”: People who drank moderately appeared to live longer than those who abstained completely and those who consumed large quantities. This gave the impression that small doses of alcohol could be beneficial.
However, the researchers warn of confounding factors that could distort the results. Alcohol consumption is often associated with other behaviors and health conditionssuch as socioeconomic status, diet and access to medical care, which can mask the negative effects of alcohol. Additionally, people with health problems may stop drinking, creating a false impression that abstinence is associated with worse health.
The heterogeneity of consumption patterns also makes the interpretation of studies difficult. “The group considered to have moderate consumption is probably the most varied, as it can alternate between periods of high and low consumption,” explains Carolina Kilian, an epidemiologist at the University of Southern Denmark.
By controlling for these factors, researchers identified a clear pattern: the risk of developing health problems increases as alcohol consumption increases.
Even small amounts increase the risk
Alcohol-related risk does not increase gradually – it accelerates with consumption. Recent studies indicate that the turning point occurs much earlier than previously thought: One drink a day increases the risk of death from alcohol-related causes from 1 in 1,000 to 1 in 100.
Government reports, such as the Alcohol and Health Canada Guidance Report, published in 2023, estimate that the increase in risk begins when going from two drinks per week to three to six per week. In the United States, similar data indicate that the risk increases significantly when going from seven to nine drinks a week. “The risk increases very quickly,” warns David Streem, psychiatrist and clinical director at the Center for Alcohol and Drug Recovery at the Cleveland Clinic.
