Alcohol use: Weighing risks and benefits

Ethanol (alcohol) causes cancer through biological mechanisms as the compound breaks down in the body, which means that any beverage containing alcohol, regardless of its price and quality, poses a risk of developing cancer. A heavy drinking binge may even cause a life-threatening coma or death. Genetic, psychological, social and environmental factors can impact how drinking alcohol affects your body and behavior. If you’re concerned about someone who drinks too much, ask a professional experienced in alcohol treatment for advice on how to approach that person. If your pattern of drinking results in repeated significant distress and problems functioning in your daily life, you likely have alcohol use disorder.

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• Moderate alcohol use may not mean the same thing in research studies or among health agencies.
• Alcoholic beverages are classified as carcinogenic by the International Agency for Research on Cancer and increase the risk of several cancer types.
• Despite progress in reducing alcohol consumption and related harms, the Region continues to face significant challenges, including high rates of alcohol-related deaths, particularly from cancer.
• The risk of developing cancer increases substantially the more alcohol is consumed.

In the United States, moderate drinking for healthy adults is different for men and women. The evidence for moderate alcohol use in healthy adults is still being studied. Many people drink alcohol as a personal preference, during social activities, or as a part of cultural and religious practices.

Impact on your safety

The only thing that we can say for sure is that the more you drink, the more harmful it is – or, in other words, the less you drink, the safer it is,” explains Dr Carina Ferreira-Borges, acting Unit Lead for Noncommunicable Disease Management and Regional Advisor for Alcohol and Illicit Drugs in the WHO Regional Office for Europe. “We cannot talk about a so-called safe level of alcohol use. Early intervention can prevent alcohol-related problems in teens.

Alcohol use disorder

This disorder also involves having to drink more to get the same effect or having withdrawal symptoms when you rapidly decrease or stop drinking. Over 3 million annual deaths due to alcohol and drug use, majority among men Alcohol as an immunosuppressant increases the risk of communicable diseases, including tuberculosis and HIV. Alcoholic beverages are classified as carcinogenic by the International Agency for Research on Cancer and increase the risk of several cancer types.

Drinking alcohol is a health risk regardless of the amount. The harmful use of alcohol results in the death of 2.6 million people annually. Around 1 in every 3 deaths in men and 1 in every 5 deaths in women between 30 and 40 years of age were due to alcohol. The negative effects of alcohol consumption disproportionately affect younger and vulnerable populations, and contribute significantly to the burden of noncommunicable diseases in the Region. Every day, around 2191 people die from alcohol-related causes in the Region.

• In the EU, cancer is the leading cause of death – with a steadily increasing incidence rate – and the majority of all alcohol-attributable deaths are due to different types of cancers.
• WHO highlights glaring gaps in regulation of alcohol marketing across borders
• The Global status report on alcohol and health and treatment of substance use disorders presents a comprehensive overview of alcohol consumption, alcohol-related…
• For men, heavy drinking means more than four drinks on any day or more than 14 drinks a week.
• The most cost-effective interventions are at the focus of WHO-led SAFER initiative aimed at providing support for Member States in reducing the harmful use of alcohol.
• Because denial is common, you may feel like you don’t have a problem with drinking.

South-East Asia Regional workshop to address the challenges of illicit tobacco trade and unrecorded alcohol,…

In many of today’s societies, alcoholic beverages are a routine part of the social landscape for many in the population. Alcohol is a toxic and psychoactive substance with dependence producing properties. You’ll soon start receiving the latest Mayo Clinic health information you requested in your inbox. If you are a Mayo Clinic patient, we will only use your protected health information as outlined in our Notice of Privacy Practices. Sign up for free and stay up to date on research advancements, health tips, current health topics, and expertise on managing health.

Alcohol use: Weighing risks and benefits

The WHO European Region has the highest levels of alcohol consumption and the highest burden of alcohol-related harm in the world. This manual is written to help primary health care workers – physicians, nurses, community health workers, and others – to deal with persons whose alcohol… “So, when we talk about possible so-called safer levels of alcohol consumption or about its protective effects, we are ignoring the bigger picture of alcohol harm in our Region and the world. Alcohol causes at least seven types of cancer, including the most common cancer types, such as bowel cancer and female breast cancer.

Binge drinking causes significant health and safety risks. The 2010 WHO Global strategy to reduce the harmful use of alcohol and the 2022 WHO Global action plan are the most comprehensive international alcohol policy documents, endorsed by WHO Member States, that provides guidance on reducing the harmful use of alcohol at all levels. WHO works with Member States and partners to prevent and reduce the harmful use of alcohol as a public health priority. The risks increase largely in a dose-dependent manner with the volume of alcohol consumed and with frequency of drinking, and exponentially with the amount consumed on a single occasion. Both the volume of lifetime alcohol use and a combination of context, frequency of alcohol consumption and amount consumed per occasion increase the risk of the wide range of health and social harms.

Risk factors

It also includes binge drinking — a pattern of drinking where a male has five or more drinks within two hours or a female has at least four drinks within two hours. Unhealthy alcohol use includes any alcohol use that puts your health or safety at risk or causes other alcohol-related problems. Alcohol use disorder includes a level of drinking that’s sometimes called alcoholism. WHO has identified that the most cost-effective actions to reduce the harmful use of alcohol include increasing taxes on alcoholic beverages, enforcing restrictions on exposure to alcohol advertising, and restrictions on the physical availability of retailed alcohol.

This initiative includes policies that reduce the affordability, availability, and acceptability of alcohol, particularly in the heaviest-drinking countries, mitigating the effects of alcohol consumption on public health. The Global alcohol action plan 2022–2030, endorsed by WHO Member States, aims to reduce the harmful use of alcohol through effective, evidence-based strategies at national, regional and global levels. This emphasizes the importance of protecting policy-making processes from industry interference that aims to delay or weaken public health measures that would reduce alcohol consumption. The EU is the heaviest-drinking area globally, with 7 of the 10 countries with the highest per-capita alcohol consumption located Alcohol and Pain within the EU. Despite progress in reducing alcohol consumption and related harms, the Region continues to face significant challenges, including high rates of alcohol-related deaths, particularly from cancer.

Drinking moderately if you’re otherwise healthy may be a risk you’re willing to take. During pregnancy, drinking may cause the unborn baby to have brain damage and other problems. Heavy drinking also has been linked to intentional injuries, such as suicide, as well as accidental injury and death. That usually means four or more drinks within two hours for women and five or more drinks within two hours for men.

A relatively high proportion of alcohol harm occurs early in the life course. This comprehensive report details the full extent of the way that alcohol is being marketed across national borders – often by digital means –… WHO highlights glaring gaps in regulation of alcohol marketing across borders Strengthening alcohol control and road safety policies Despite this, the question of beneficial effects of alcohol has been a contentious issue in research for years.

Surrogate and illegally produced alcohols can bring an extra health risk from toxic contaminants. In this context, it is easy to overlook or discount the health and social damage caused or contributed to by drinking. When it comes to alcohol, if you don’t drink, don’t start for health reasons. In the United States, people younger than age 21 are not legally able to drink alcohol. Heavy drinking also may result in alcohol withdrawal symptoms. Binge drinking is behavior that raises blood alcohol levels to 0.08%.

In the EU, cancer is the leading cause of death – with a steadily increasing incidence rate – and the majority of all alcohol-attributable deaths are due to different types of cancers. However, latest available data indicate that half of all alcohol-attributable cancers in the WHO European Region are caused by “light” and “moderate” alcohol consumption – less than 1.5 litres of wine or less than 3.5 litres of beer or less than 450 millilitres of spirits per week. The risk of developing cancer increases substantially the more alcohol is consumed.

Alcohol consumption contributes to 2.6 million deaths each year globally as well as to the disabilities and poor health of millions of people. In some situations, the risk of drinking any amount of alcohol is high. For men, heavy drinking means more than four drinks on any day or more than 14 drinks a week. For women, more than three drinks on any day or more than seven drinks a week is heavy drinking.