St. Patrick’s Day is a day filled with food, festivities, and fun. Homes, restaurants, and bars will be packed with friends and patrons dressed in green and sipping on tasty toddies. While there’s nothing wrong with a drink or two on St. Patty’s day, we don’t want to push our luck by overindulging. HHER wants to help foster a community that keeps each other safe. That can start by knowing how much alcohol is safe to drink.
How Much Alcohol is Safe to Drink: 3 Facts You Should Know
#1 Beer or wine is not safer than liquor.
Alcohol is alcohol. It’s the amount of alcohol you drink (rather than the type) that you should monitor. In order to do that, it’s important to know how much alcohol is in one drink. The CDC recommends no more than 1 drink per day for women and 2 drinks per day for men. One standard drink in the US contains 14 grams or .6 ounces of alcohol. The following is a guide of what generally constitutes one drink:
- 12 ounces of beer
- 8 ounces of malt liquor
- 5 ounces of wine
- 1.5 ounces of hard liquor (80 percent proof)
#2 .08% is the maximum blood alcohol limit for driving. How many drinks is this?
The legal limit for drinking and driving is determined by your blood alcohol level at the time you’re pulled over. In the US, .08% is the maximum blood alcohol limit to drive. Anything above this blood alcohol level generally indicates you’ve had 4 or more drinks if female, or 5 or more drinks if male, within the past two hours. Anything above the .08% blood alcohol limit is considered binge drinking, which means it is unsafe to drive.
#3. Overconsumption of alcohol can lead to many different problems.
Drinking and driving can lead to devastating accidents. But there are many other health consequences to overconsumption. Alcohol poisoning, chronic liver disease, pancreatitis, fetal alcohol syndrome, and cancer of the liver, mouth, throat, and larynx are just some of the negative effects of alcohol abuse.
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