Here’s a little quiz for you. Answer ‘true’ or ‘false’ to the following three statements:

• It doesn’t matter if I drink more than my allotted allowance of alcohol per week because I exercise daily and eat healthily.

• I don’t need to worry about my alcohol intake because I only drink red wine.

• It’s better to just have a blow-out once in a while than to drink regularly.

Well, the answer to all three statements is ‘false’ — yet these and other myths regularly abound when it comes to alcohol intake. First we hear that alcohol is good for the heart, then that it increases the risks of breast cancer. Then we read that only men benefit from the health-giving effects — oh, but then women over 50 do, too. No wonder we’re confused!

Recommendations vs reality

First off, let’s look at the issue of the recommended quantities of alcohol per week. Alcohol is measured in standard measures, and what many people fail to recognize is that a standard drink and a glass of alcohol are not one and the same. In fact, many bars serve measures that are over the alcohol content of a standard drink, so it is important to know how many standard measures you are consuming.

Women are advised to drink only one standard drink per day of alcohol, while men are recommended to drink a maximum of two per day, yet many Americans regularly exceed the recommended drinking limits. Does it matter? The statistics — as we will see — suggest it does.

The negative effects of alcohol

Despite the fact that alcohol consumption rates are declining in the US, research still indicates that alcohol use is affecting the health of many Amerians. According to a national survey by the U.S. Department of Justice, approximately 75% of the alcohol that is consumed in the US is consumed in the form of binge drinking.

A study in the American Journal of Nutrition in 2001 also revealed that higher alcohol consumption is associated with less healthy eating habits — in particular a lower intake of vegetables, calcium and carbohydrates, and a higher intake of cholesterol and fatty acids and animal products. Excess alcohol consumption is also linked to hypertension; stroke; heart disease; cancers of the stomach, esophagus, liver, breast, and colon; other stomach problems; and poor bone health.

In addition to this, the risk of contracting breast cancer — the most common cancer affecting women — by the age of 80 rises from 88 per 1000 women in non-drinkers to 133 per 1000 in women consuming the equivalent of a bottle of wine per day. Fertility can be reduced, and drinking while pregnant is linked to a higher rate of miscarriage, lower-birth-weight babies and, in extreme cases, defects of the central nervous system.

If you are watching your waistline, bear in mind that alcohol contains seven calories per gram (one standard drink of alcohol is 14g). So, if you drink your full maximum allowance of alcohol, you could be taking in approximately 1300 liquid calories per week! Sugary drinks used as mixers — such as tonic or coke — also add roughly 50 calories per shot. So it’s easy to see how booze can contribute to excess body fat.

What about the much-publicized health benefits of alcohol? Well, it’s true that alcohol has some cardiovascular benefits. And yes, it’s particularly true of red wine. For example, a review article of the latest studies looking at red wine and cardiovascular health last year showed that, according to the Journal of American College of Surgeons, drinking two to three glasses of red wine daily is good for the heart. It’s believed that the antioxidant compounds in red wine contribute to its beneficial effects — in other words, it’s not just the alcohol content. But bear in mind that these effects still occur only within the daily and weekly recommended limits. Just because some is good, it doesn’t mean more is better!

In another recent study in Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research, researchers found that, like aspirin, alcohol helps to thin the blood — thereby possibly reducing the risk of heart disease. This is good news for the heart — but the change in coagulation increases the risk of bleeding strokes. Also, bear in mind that — once again — the benefits occurred via ‘moderate’ alcohol intake.

The effects of binge drinking

As far as saving up you’re alcohol allowance for a big drinking session is concerned, research suggests that binge drinking is more harmful to the liver than regular alcohol intake. Heavy drinking destroys B vitamins and vitamin C, and may affect zinc absorption levels (which can be found in meat, shellfish, dairy products and wholegrains). It also increases the need for folate and magnesium.

Aside from the damage to the body, binge drinking also makes you vulnerable to being involved in accidents caused by loss of coordination and road traffic accidents due to drink driving — in addition to making you act in a dangerous manner, such as getting into unlicensed cabs, going home with strangers, and having unsafe sex. People who binge drink are more likely to be absent from work, more likely to suffer from mental health problems, and three times more likely to die in an accident.

And for all you fit folk out there, going back to that first statement in this article: no, exercise doesn’t give you carte blanche to drink away to your heart’s content. In fact, muscles cannot use the calories from alcohol as a fuel, so it has to be metabolized directly from the bloodstream — and so until it has been used up, alcohol will prevent the body from using stored fat calories or carbohydrate as an energy source. Research also suggests that energy from alcohol is predominantly stored around the abdominal region — the proverbial beer gut!

So all in all, drinking alcohol within the recommended limits poses no significant risks to your health. But drinking above those limits — whether regularly or in ‘binge’ sessions — outweighs those beneficial effects… even if the alcohol you’re drinking is the world’s finest Pinot Noir!

Keep a diary

If — after reading what we’ve said so far — you think you may be crossing the health border with your alcohol intake, then it might be a good idea to do a ‘Bridget Jones’ and keep an alcohol diary for a period, in which you can write down how much alcohol you consume as well as when and why you drank. You may be surprised at just how much it all adds up — and you might also find that there is a pattern in your drinking, which will help you to identify your own personal ‘triggers’.

In order to avoid the health risks of drinking too much, the next time you go out for a drink — and any subsequent times after that — try following realbuzz.com's tips below, which will help you to enjoy your drinking without risking your health!

• Stick within the recommended daily and weekly allowances.

• Have two or more alcohol-free days per week.

• Don’t ‘save up’ your week's alcohol allowance and then binge drink.

• If you do drink over the daily limits, it is recommended that you avoid alcohol for at least 48 hours to allow your body to recover.

• Alternate your alcoholic drinks with soft drinks or water.

• Don’t drink on an empty stomach — either drink with food or eat before you go out. It takes approximately two hours to metabolize a standard drink of alcohol, and this process takes longer if your stomach is empty at the outset.

• Don’t force yourself to ‘work it off’ with exercise after a heavy night out. Your body is already working hard to process the alcohol and deal with dehydration (and, possibly, lack of sleep!). Instead, drink lots of non-alcoholic fluid, eat something light, and allow yourself to recover.