House Call: Alcohol consumption remains a problem

Trying to answer the question about whether alcohol has any health benefits and how much alcohol it’s OK to consume can make you feel like the goal posts are being moved constantly. That’s because they are. You probably want to lead a healthy lifestyle but wouldn’t mind having a drink once in a while.

The latest information published in the Lancet tells us the evidence of health benefits from moderate drinking is still not concrete. The health benefits that you might get from moderate drinking are small and not enough that you ought to start drinking if you don’t already or that you ought to drink more than you already do.

If you are looking to improve your health, there are other things you can do that will improve your health much more than moderate drinking might. Getting enough sleep, eating a healthy diet that is heavy on the fruit and vegetable content and exercising regularly are my top three.

What we know for sure is that heavy drinking and binge drinking are bad for you. I’d like to define heavy and binge drinking and then tell you about some of the negative health effects they can cause.

Heavy drinking is defined by the Centers for Disease Control as consuming more than 15 drinks per week for men and eight drinks or more per week for women. The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration defines heavy alcohol use as binge drinking on five or more days in the past month.

The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism defines binge drinking as a pattern of drinking that brings your blood alcohol concentration to 0.08 percent or more. For men, that is usually five or more drinks and for women, four or more drinks in about two hours. Even though most people who binge drink are not alcohol dependent, binge drinking is bad for you.

There is still a misperception that beer or wine are not as bad as “hard liquor.” The amount of alcohol is what matters. I had a patient recently who is drinking five or six 16-ounce light beers a night over the weekend. He was pretty confident that he is OK as long he is not consuming any hard booze. Those pints of light beer have the same amount of alcohol as a shot of whiskey. In general, a glass of wine, a beer and a shot all have the same amount of alcohol.

The serious health problems that heavy and binge drinking put you at increased risk include:

Cancer, including breast cancer and cancers of the mouth, throat, esophagus and liver

Pancreatitis

Sudden death from cardiovascular disease

Heart muscle damage that leads to heart failure

Stroke

High blood pressure

Liver disease

Suicide

Accidental injury or death

Brain damage and other problems in an unborn child

There are also many other health issues that are commonly associated with alcohol use that are more likely to impact your daily life and that you should pay close attention to – like insomnia, weight gain, forgetfulness, fatigue, depression or anxiety, head or body aches and more.

Finally, there are some groups of people who just should not drink. This includes anyone who has or has had: a diagnosis of alcohol use disorder or alcohol abuse; hemorrhagic stroke; liver or pancreas disease; heart failure; medications that interact with alcohol; and women who are pregnant or trying to become pregnant.

If you’re still confused or unsure about where you fit into this complicated and confusing topic, please talk to your health care provider. We’re here to help you.

Bob Riggs is a family medicine physician practicing at Kaiser Permanente’s Riverfront Medical Center. His column appears biweekly in The Spokesman-Review.