Is there a safe amount of alcohol?

Drinking less is one of the few lifestyle choices whose effect on cancer risk has been established as truly causal, not merely a statistical association. Alcohol increases the likelihood of several types of cancer, even at low intakes of one to two drinks per day. The cancer point is what surprises many people, because the discussion about alcohol and health long revolved around the heart, but genetic research involving hundreds of thousands of people shows that the supposed protective effect on the cardiovascular system was almost certainly a measurement artefact: people who drank little were compared in older studies with people who had stopped drinking because of illness, which skewed the picture.

The good news for taking action: there is no threshold value you need to stay safely below. Every step toward drinking less is a step in the right direction, and you do not have to choose between all or nothing. The greatest health gains come from reducing higher levels of consumption, but moderate drinkers also benefit from cutting back. Women have a lower risk profile than men (the risk threshold for women is around 25 grams per day, for men around 45 grams), so if you are a woman the margin is even smaller.

As a practical starting point, it helps to track for one week how many grams of alcohol you actually consume, because most people underestimate it. A 175 ml glass of wine at 13% alcohol already contains about 18 grams, and a large beer mug even more. From there you can make conscious choices about where to cut back, whether that means alcohol-free alternatives on certain evenings, smaller glasses, or simply drinking less frequently.