Alcohol consumption is one of the most widespread habits among people all around the world. Even though experts consider minimal consumption of alcohol healthy for your body, alcohol abuse can negatively impact a person's health and financial status.
So, what is healthy drinking, and how many drinks can you have in a week? Dietary Guidelines for Americans insist that women should not have more than one drink in a day, and men no more than two. The dietary guidelines issued also indicate that this quantity of drink is only applicable to people above the legal drinking age.
As per the Dietary Guidelines, it is not recommended to begin the drinking habit if you have not started it before. Even though USDA food patterns does not consider alcohol as a component, the new guidelines state that alcoholic beverages are loaded with calories, and it should also be accounted for the per-day calorie intake of a human being.
According to various studies, it has been proved that women are more vulnerable to adverse consequences of alcohol use when compared to men. Women used to achieve higher concentrations of alcohol in their blood when they intake the same amount of alcohol as a man. As a result, females become more susceptible to alcohol-related organ damage.
How can you determine whether you are an excessive drinker?
According to the guidelines, any women who drink 4 or more drinks on any day or 8 or more drinks per week can be considered consuming alcohol excessively. On the other hand, men who drink 5 or more drinks on any day or 15 or more drinks per week are excessive alcohol drinkers. If a woman is consuming more than four drinks, then she is adopting the binge drinking pattern which is very dangerous for her health. For men, the binge drinking threshold is five drinks in two hours.
Binge drinking is one of the most serious problems faced by people in the United States, and it is associated with a wide range of social and health problems.
Who should not drink alcohol?
As per the guidelines, people who are aged below 21 are not supposed to drink alcohol. People who are unable to control their binge drinking habit are also not recommended to drink alcoholic beverages. The guidelines also ask people to stop drinking habit if they are taking certain over-the-counter medications.
A woman is not supposed to drink alcohol if she is pregnant. As per the guideline, alcohol consumption in the early days of pregnancy will result in negative behavioral or neurological consequences in the offspring.
