Is one drink a day good or bad for your health?

Our relationship with alcohol is complicated.

People use it as a social lubricant, a stress reliever, a relaxation agent. We give it to each other as gifts, pour it into fancy glasses and plan entire gatherings around tasting it. We generally know drinking too much is bad, from both health and safety perspectives, but laugh off overdoing it.

But we rarely consider the health impact. Is one or two alcoholic drinks a day OK to consume? How much alcohol is considered one drink? Is one glass of red wine every day good for you?

Alcohol is so widely and commonly consumed that it tends to diminish the perceived risk. Everyone’s doing it, and they seem healthy, so what’s the harm?

The bottom line is simple: There is no amount of alcohol that is healthy to consume. Drinking any amount of any type of alcohol — beer, wine or liquor — can increase your risk for disease.

That said, the effect on health does vary depending on how much alcohol is regularly consumed.

Studies have found that light alcohol consumption could increase HDL, or good cholesterol. But any health benefit we could see from drinking alcohol is outweighed by the fact that regularly drinking alcohol has a negative impact on health.

In other words, it’s not worth it.

Regularly drinking any amount of alcohol can restrict blood vessels and put you at higher risk of high blood pressure and stroke. It can also contribute to other risk factors for cardiovascular disease, such as high triglycerides and obesity. Excessive intake of alcohol also increases the risk of cancers of the breast, liver and esophagus, as well as dementia and other neurological problems.

Light or moderate alcohol consumption does not carry the level of risk that heavy alcohol consumption does. The U.S. Dietary Guidelines recommend adult women consume one drink or less per day and adult men two drinks or less.

The serving size for one drink is likely smaller than you think. A moderate amount of alcohol is:

• For men: two 12 oz. beers (up to 5 percent alcohol content) or two 4 oz. glasses of wine or two 1 oz. shots of 100 proof spirits, or two 1.5 oz. shots of 80 proof hard liquor.
• For women: one 12 oz. beer, or one 4 oz. glass of wine, or one 1 oz. shot of 100 proof spirits, or one 1.5 oz. shot of 80 proof spirits.

Is one drink per day good or bad? It depends on the level of risk you’re willing to take. No amount of alcohol is “healthy,” but one drink per day may not cause a troubling rise in your risk for serious disease over time.

People who have a history of heart failure or hemorrhagic stroke should avoid alcohol. If you have any other heart condition or diabetes, talk with your doctor about what’s right for you.