Alcohol: Is It Risky To Use It?

Christiane Fux studied journalism and psychology in Hamburg. The experienced medical editor has been writing magazine articles, news and factual texts on all conceivable health topics since 2001. In addition to her work for, Christiane Fux is also active in prose. Her first crime novel was published in 2012, and she also writes, designs and publishes her own crime plays.

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How do you consume alcohol with as little risk as possible? Why do some people tolerate more than others? When does alcohol consumption really become dangerous for the body and mind? And when is the line of addiction crossed? Read here what to look out for if you drink alcohol.

Brief overview

• Maximum daily dose: women a maximum of 12 grams of pure alcohol per day (e.g. 125 ml wine), men a maximum of 24 grams (e.g. 250 ml wine), at least two non-alcoholic days per week
• How much alcohol can I tolerate? Tolerance is influenced by height, weight, gender, age, state of health, medication intake, genetic factors, habituation
• Driving ability: Officially up to 0.5 per mille, however, concentration and reactivity may be impaired even below this. Better just with zero alcohol at the wheel!
• Alcoholics - from when? The risk of alcoholism increases with higher consumption, but does not depend on any specific amount. Addiction criteria are strong desire, loss of control, habituation effect, withdrawal symptoms, neglect of tasks, relationships and interests, continued drinking despite negative consequences

How Much Alcohol is OK?

Most adults in Germany drink alcohol. But how much alcohol is still acceptable in order not to overload the body and psyche?

Experts have defined the so-called low-risk consumption (low-risk threshold dose) for alcohol.The World Health Organization recommends for alcohol consumption:

• Women should drink a maximum of 12 grams of pure alcohol per day.
• For men, the recommended daily limit is 24 grams of pure alcohol.
• You should avoid alcohol altogether for at least two days a week.

However, low-risk does not mean safe: there is no such thing as completely risk-free consumption. The vascular protective effect of small amounts, e.g. red wine, is outweighed by the harmful effect. The healthiest strategy is not to drink at all.

Eight rules for low-risk consumption

The German Office for Addiction Issues has compiled the following eight rules on consumption:

• Avoid alcohol consumption if possible, but at least limit it to the recommended maximum amount
• Avoid binge drinking - this is where the risk of damage to health is particularly high
• Consider additional risk factors! Other risk factors such as lack of exercise, obesity and smoking put a strain on the body in addition to alcohol
• No alcohol when taking certain medications! E.g. paracetamol, isoniacid and methotrexate as well as other critical drugs
• No alcohol for children and young people! Alcohol damages their brain development and is particularly risky for them in many ways.
• No alcohol during pregnancy and breastfeeding! Even the smallest amounts could harm the child!
• No alcohol in the workplace, while driving and in the condition of machines

Calculate the amount of alcohol

In order to be able to adjust your alcohol consumption accordingly, you have to know how many grams of pure alcohol are in the various alcoholic beverages.

You can calculate this value relatively easily. All you need to do is know the amount you drink in milliliters (ml) and the alcohol content in percent by volume (% by volume). Added to this is the specific gravity of alcohol, which is 0.8 grams per cubic centimeter (g / cm3).

The formula for calculating the pure alcohol content is:

Amount in ml x (vol.% / 100) x 0.8 = grams of pure alcohol

An example: You drink a bottle of beer (330 ml) with 4.8% alcohol by volume. This means: You are consuming 330 x (4.8 / 100) x 0.8 = 12.7 grams of pure alcohol.

How much alcohol is in my drink?

A schnapps = a beer = a cocktail? The literature often speaks of a standard glass or a drink. In Germany this means alcoholic beverages that contain 10 to 12 grams of pure alcohol.

Here is an overview of the alcohol content of various drinks:

• Wine (approx. 10%, 1 glass of 125 ml): 10 g
• Beer (approx. 4.8%, 1 bottle of 330 ml): 12.7 g
• Alcohol-free beer (max. 0.5%, 1 glass of 200 ml): max. 0.8 g
• Mixed beer drink (2.5%, 1 bottle of 330 ml): 6.6 g
• Sparkling wine (approx. 11%), 1 glass of 125 ml): 11 g
• Fruit liqueur (approx. 30%, 1 glass of 20 ml): 4.8 g
• Schnapps (approx. 40%, 1 glass of 40 ml): 12.8 g

How much alcohol can I tolerate?

How much alcohol is harmful? That is a question that cannot be answered across the board. How much alcohol a person can tolerate depends on various factors.

Height and weight: the taller and heavier a person is, the more blood flows through their body. Accordingly, the alcohol consumed is distributed over a larger amount. The alcohol content is then lower.

Body fat: Adipose tissue has less blood supply than the organs, for example. Correspondingly less blood circulates proportionally in a body rich in fat, to which the alcohol can spread. The alcohol level is correspondingly higher and more harmful. With the same weight and higher fat content, alcohol is therefore less well tolerated.

Gender: Women tolerate less alcohol than men - even if they are the same weight and height. The reason is the higher natural body fat percentage of women. Men also have large amounts of alcohol-degrading enzymes in their liver.

Genetic predisposition: The main decisive factor for alcohol tolerance is how quickly the body breaks down the alcohol again. And that's genetic.

Age: The amount of fluid in the body decreases with increasing age. So the same amount of alcohol increases the alcohol concentration in the blood of older people more. In addition, their livers no longer work as fast as they did when they were young. The alcohol is broken down more slowly.

Stomach contents: What you ate before drinking alcohol also plays a role. Rich and especially fatty foods delay the absorption of alcohol into the blood. The blood alcohol level rises more slowly - the alcohol is then better tolerated. That's why a drink goes to your head particularly quickly on an empty stomach.

State of health: Illnesses, such as liver disease, but also the use of certain medications can impair the metabolism of alcohol - for example because the liver works more slowly or is burdened with the breakdown of active pharmaceutical ingredients.

Habituation: The body gets used to the poisonous alcohol over a longer period of time when it is consumed more heavily. Those who drink will then experience fewer symptoms. In the case of heavy drinkers, a system also becomes active that breaks down alcohol independently of the liver: the microsomal ethanol-oxidizing system (MEOS).

Those who can take a lot are particularly at risk!

So contracting and contracting are two different things. Just because someone is used to alcohol and has fewer symptoms of intoxication and hangover does not mean that their body is coping well with the cytotoxin. On the contrary: people who apparently can take a lot often drink significantly more. The risk is then even higher that their organs will be permanently damaged. And they're also more at risk of becoming addicted to alcohol.

What can I drink if I still have to drive?

In Germany, a blood alcohol concentration of 0.5 per mille is the limit for fitness to drive. This can be calculated with the so-called Widmark formula: It takes into account that in men the body fluid makes up around 68 percent of the weight, that of women around 55 percent.

Drunk alcohol in grams divided by body weight times 0.55 (women) or 0.68 (men).

A man weighing 80 kg has a blood alcohol level of 0.44 after 0.5 liters of beer. For a woman weighing 60 kg, it is already 0.72 per mille. The body then breaks down between 0.1 and a maximum of 0.2 per thousand per hour.

However, the formula is only an approximate value! For example, people with a higher body fat percentage have higher blood alcohol levels. Older age, illnesses or medication can also affect blood alcohol.

In addition, the alcohol limit can be set too low, especially for inexperienced drinkers: alcohol has a stronger effect on them and their ability to react decreases faster!

The best thing to do is to get behind the wheel with only zero alcohol levels!

When do you become an alcoholic?

Alcohol addiction cannot be linked to a certain amount of consumption. Some regularly drink a lot without being addicted: Others consume significantly less, but are already deeply addicted.

Signs of addiction

There are six criteria for a dependency:

1. strong desire or some kind of compulsion to consume alcohol
2. decreased ability to control the beginning, end and amount of alcohol consumption
3. physical withdrawal symptoms when abstaining from alcohol
4. Tolerance development - you have to drink more and more to get the same effect
5. progressive neglect of tasks and interests in order to drink and recover from high
6. Alcohol continues to be consumed even though there are already harmful physical, emotional, or social consequences.

Each of these signs is a clear warning sign. If someone fulfills three of them, they are considered to be alcoholic.

One thing is certain: the more and the more regularly you drink, the more likely it is that you become dependent. And: Even if there are people who regularly consume a lot of alcohol and are still not dependent - it is hugely damaging to their health.

Risky consumption even without addiction

Because long before the addiction begins the risky and later also the harmful consumption. Alcohol becomes a cane: You don't drink for pleasure, but to relieve stress, frustration and fears. And you drink to a degree that harms your body and soul and leads to conflicts with the environment.

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