Social Drinking Alcoholic Beverages: Risks Outweigh Benefits

Social drinking of alcoholic beverages is common in the United States (and in many other countries). But is it wise? I think not. Please read on.

Some Reasons Not to Drink Alcoholic Beverages
One reason not to drink beer, wine, and other alcoholic beverages socially is that even one drink has health risks. Please click on the link to a Centers for Disease Control Fact Sheet that cites some risks of moderate drinking, including some from consuming one drink or less.

Does a blood alcohol content (BAC) of only 0.01 percent seem very small? "Some skills are impaired at 0.01 percent" blood alcohol content according to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism Alcohol Alert No. 52 April 2001. Consuming less than one typical alcoholic beverage would lead to a larger BAC than that.

Also, almost everyone I talk to who claims to only drink socially has been legally drunk at least once. That means their BAC was 0.08 percent or more. Many drinkers become binge drinkers and/or alcoholics.

Alcohol consumption is a significant factor in many automobile  accidents, diseases, and other negative health effects. It is a factor in a large number of deaths. A study published in 2009 in the British medical journal The Lancet indicated that approximately "one in 25 deaths worldwide are attributable to alcohol," as quoted from a webpage of The Lancet.

Is Consuming Alcoholic Beverages in Moderation Beneficial?
Some claim that drinking alcoholic beverages in moderation has benefits that outweigh the risks. But an American Heart Association webpage "cautions persons NOT to start drinking . . . if they do not already drink alcohol." The same webpage states "Pregnant women shouldn't drink alcohol in any form."

And many, including some scientists, question whether alcohol really is beneficial in moderation. One of the sources that discuss this in more detail is a June 16, 2009 New York Times piece on the NYT website, titled "Alcohol's Good for You? Some Scientists Doubt It."

This photo is of a poster I made that mentions some of alcohol's harmful effects.

Concluding Thoughts
Consuming alcoholic beverages has caused a lot of problems for a huge number of people. Given this, do you still want to consume them just for socializing? I hope you will agree with me that the risks of social drinking outweigh the benefits.

Note: This blog entry was last revised on May 29, 2019. It  is adapted from other articles I have written on the subject and from a chapter in my book True Christianity: It May Not Be What You Think (2014, second edition 2015, third edition 2017).