Safe Level of Drinking

The question as to how much alcohol the human body can cope with is very complex. Each person’s capacity is different. What causes no problem for one person may be too much for another. Some persons experience adverse effects when they consume any alcohol at all.

Authorities differ as to what they classify as a “risk level” in regard to daily consumption. However, many of them agree that the body of a normal healthy adult can absorb and break down only one ouncea (one shot) of spirits or two ounces of fortified wine or four ounces of table wine or eight to ten ounces of beer in one hour. Other authorities say that two hours must be allowed. Of course, not everyone is healthy, and that can change the picture considerably.

If a person consumes more alcohol than his body can break down, his blood-alcohol level rises. At first he may feel relaxed, but an increase of alcohol in the bloodstream causes loss of good judgment and of emotional control. Then muscle coordination becomes impaired, and even more serious problems follow.

Most teen-agers would be affected adversely if they tried to imitate the drinking done by average adults. Because their body build is not that of an adult, they usually experience the sedative effects of alcohol more rapidly and to a greater extent. Likewise, because of the state of development of a young person’s emotions, these quickly give evidence of intoxication and he may very easily give in to sexual urges.

Can it be assumed, though, that no harm will result to an adult so long as he spreads his drinks out over a period of time, consuming no more per hour than his body can handle? That does not necessarily hold true. There is a limit to what a person’s body can safely handle in a day. What is that limit?

The World Health Organization (WHO) and medical literature give a wide variety of figures. For example, one report from the WHO labeled 120 grams of alcohol (12 average-sized drinks) as “excessive consumption.” Two years later a WHO report said that the danger level might be at less than half that figure. And a study in France has indicated that women who take even one normal-sized alcoholic drink (of 10 grams of alcohol) on a daily basis are more likely to suffer from cirrhosis of the liver than are nondrinkers, and that two drinks daily can have damaging effects on men.

Why the difference in figures? For one thing, the tests were run with different groups of people. Individuals differ. Not everyone can tolerate the same amount of alcohol. It would be foolish to drink a certain amount each day just because that is what people “are supposed to be able to drink.”