Men can tolerate more than women, two beers a day is okay? Wrong, completely wrong!

People under 40 should drink significantly less alcohol than previously thought, according to a new study. Watson summarizes the key points.

How much alcohol per day is healthy is probably one of the most researched questions. The extent to which alcohol has a health-promoting effect is also frequently analyzed.

The famous Mayo Clinic in the US states: “Moderate alcohol consumption for healthy adults generally means up to one drink per day for women and up to two drinks per day for men.” A drink is therefore considered to be 355 milliliters of beer or 148 milliliters of wine – so two 0.33 liter bottles of beer per day would be perfectly acceptable for men.

The British healthcare NHS recommends a maximum of 14 units of alcohol per week – the equivalent of 6 pints of beer or 10 small glasses of wine.

And that German Robert Koch Institute writes: “The limits for risky amounts of alcohol to drink are more than 10 grams per day for women and 20 grams for men.” 10 grams of pure alcohol is equivalent to a small glass of beer, a glass of champagne or a double shot.

The basic rule is that people under the age of 40 should drink considerably less alcohol than previously assumed. Even drinking more than a small glass of beer per day can endanger your health.

The Lancet study not only contradicts the amounts mentioned above, but also the assumption that men can tolerate more alcohol than women without harm.

The researchers’ new recommendations:

The situation is different for people over forty, the scientists write. In this age group, a drink or two can even help prevent heart disease, heart attacks and diabetes.

The review found that the amount of alcohol that can be consumed without increasing health risks increases over a lifetime.

The researchers examined the risk of alcohol consumption for 22 different health consequences, including cardiovascular disease and cancer, but also injuries, for example in traffic or during arguments.

The basis was the big project Global burden of disease (translated: Global Burden of Disease), which systematically collects health data worldwide. Their conclusion: Even a conservative approach to the lowest level of safe consumption is still too high a recommendation for younger populations, says co-author Dana Bryazka, also of the University of Washington.

“Our message is simple: young people should not drink, but older people could benefit from small amounts,” said co-author Emmanuela Gakidou of the University of Washington.

The research team is calling for stricter guidelines to warn younger adults about the health risks of alcohol consumption, as well as tailored advice depending on age and where you live.

Nonprofits are now demanding a change in thinking. Science has clearly shown in hundreds of studies in recent years that alcohol causes a lot of damage to the human body, says Richard Piper, head of Alcohol Change UK. “We were not aware of it before, and too many of us continue to drink as if, as far as we know, this revolution had not happened.”

(dsc/sda/dpa)