The 5 Healthiest Alcohols to Drink and Which You Should Avoid

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Helps Your Brain

And drinking raises the risk of problems in the digestive system. For example, it may be used to define the risk of illness or injury based on the number of drinks a person has in a week. Drinking in moderation may have some protective effects for the cardiovascular system. It may also increase insulin sensitivity in type 2 diabetes and reduce the risk of dementia.

Factors affecting alcohol consumption and alcohol-related harm

They all have the same impact because the liver has to process alcohol no matter what form it comes in, “so that’s a volume situation,” Hultin says. “If you’re going to drink, there are better choices than others,” adds Ginger Hultin, a Seattle-based registered dietitian nutritionist who once worked as a bartender. By Buddy TBuddy T is a writer and founding member of the is alcohol good for you Online Al-Anon Outreach Committee with decades of experience writing about alcoholism. Because he is a member of a support group that stresses the importance of anonymity at the public level, he does not use his photograph or his real name on this website. When you stop drinking, your skin gets more elastic and the redness and discoloration on your face will slowly fade.

Resources and support

The guidelines do not recommend that individuals who currently do not drink start drinking for any reason. They also mention that drinking less is better for a person’s health than drinking more. Red wine may be one of the healthiest alcoholic beverages, probably due to its high concentration of antioxidants.

If your body can’t manage and balance your blood sugar levels, you may experience greater complications and side effects related to diabetes. The pancreas helps regulate how your body uses insulin and responds to glucose. If your pancreas and liver don’t function properly due to pancreatitis or liver disease, you could experience low blood sugar, or hypoglycemia. However, this is a controversial topic, and many health experts believe that the risks of alcohol consumption outweigh these potential benefits. As with red wine, white wine also contains polyphenols that may provide health benefits.

If you’re trying to stay healthy, take these drinks out or rotation, Kober says. For example, any amount of drinking increases the risk of breast cancer and colorectal cancer. 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. Excess alcohol intake has an association with an increased risk of type 2 diabetes.

• Heavy drinking is a major cause of preventable death in most countries.
• Alcohol can also trigger the release of chemicals called endorphins and raise levels of the “feel good” hormone dopamine.
• With a 5-oz serving of white wine containing 121 calories, people can reduce their calorie and sugar intake while still enjoying a drink by diluting or mixing it with a calorie-free carbonated beverage.
• Alcohol blocks the absorption of folate and inactivates folate in the blood and tissues.

• Red wine is made from grapes, which leads it to containing antioxidants.
• A recent successful effort in the U.S. to launch an international study was funded by the National Institutes of Health.
• Some evidence4 also finds that tequila may not be as severe a depressant as other types of alcohol.
• “Quitting drinking can improve a person’s sleep, but there may still be a significant number of people who continue to have sleep problems even with continuous abstinence,” Volpicelli says.

What’s a standard drink?

Possible Health Benefits of Alcohol