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Expert Q&A

	By Allison Gamble Nutritionist/Diet Technician Highland Park Hospital, Illinois

How much is too much alcohol per day for an adult male? A friend of mine drinks two to three beers a day. What types of illnesses/diseases can drinking too much cause?

There is no hard and fast rule for the amount of alcohol that is harmful for individuals, as we all metabolize differently, and some are more likely to become addicted than others. The relationship of alcohol to overall mortality is best represented by a "J" shaped curve; this means that men who have two to four alcoholic beverages per day and women who have one to two have the lowest mortality, lower even than those who abstain from alcohol.

As individuals increase their alcohol intake (past four per day for men and two to three per day for women) their risk of death increases. Interestingly, increased alcohol intake seems to protect against heart disease. While the amount needed to cause problems varies between individuals, one thing is consistent: women need less to harm them than men do. The U.S. Department of Agriculture, in its Dietary Guidelines for Americans (3rd edition), has recommended limiting consumption to a maximum of two drinks a day for men and one drink a day for women. The National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, in The Physicians' Guide to Helping Patients with Alcohol Problems, recommends those over 65 years of age consume a maximum of one drink per day.

There are many different afflictions caused by drinking too much; an incomplete list would include:

Liver disease (cirrhosis, liver failure, liver cancer)
Pancreatitis (and, occasionally, diabetes)
Hypertension (high blood pressure)
Stroke
Gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD)
Osteoporosis
Cancer (head and neck, esophageal)
Dementia
Injury and Violent death (this is related more to the total drinks consumed, not the amount consumed per day)

In summary, it would seem that one to three drinks per day for men, and one to two drinks per day for women, would be most healthy.

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