Beer: Which Is the More Addicting and Damaging Type of Alcohol? Alcohol is generally made up of the same compounds, so beer and hard liquor both pose similar risks to a person's health. The only catch is that hard liquor comes with a higher threat because it contains a higher alcohol content than beer.
Alcohol isn't a healthy choice in general, but some alcohol is better for you than others. Red wine, whiskey, tequila, and hard kombucha are healthier options than beer and sugary drinks. The CDC recommends you limit alcohol to 2 drinks a day if you're male and 1 if you're female.
According to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, drinking is considered to be in the moderate or low-risk range for women at no more than three drinks in any one day and no more than seven drinks per week. For men, it is no more than four drinks a day and no more than 14 drinks per week.
Fundamentally, alcohol is the same, whether it's found in hard liquor or beer. Alcoholic beverages all contain the recreational drug ethanol. The problem with hard liquor is that it's much stronger than beer. A bottle of liquor can have nearly 40% more alcohol by volume than a can of beer.
Red wine is widely recognized as one of the healthiest alcoholic drinks out there. Poon notes that it's "relatively low in calories and also offers some health benefits."9 She adds that red wine is rich in antioxidants such as resveratrol and proanthocyanidins and can promote cardiovascular health.
In summary: There is no type of alcohol that is easier on your liver. The concentration of alcohol and volume consumed is the key differentiating factor. If you drink enough of any type of alcohol (even weak ones), it will be damaging to the liver.
Myth 3: Drinking hard liquor is worse than drinking beer or wine. Contrary to popular belief, the type of alcohol you drink doesn't make a difference – what matters is how much you drink. "The safe limit is fixed at 14 units a week," explains Dr Lui. "Below this limit, alcoholic fatty liver is less likely to occur.
Some alcoholics prefer to drink vodka because it is clear and looks like water, and it doesn't have the strong odors that other alcoholic beverages have. Just because someone prefers vodka doesn't mean they're an alcoholic.
Anybody who creates a habit of drinking to excess, regardless of what type of alcohol they consume (heavy liquor, beer, wine, etc.) is at risk of developing a substance use disorder. According to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAA):
This means that 12 oz (354ml) of 5% beer contains 0.6 oz (17.7ml) pure alcohol. The vodka shot at 1.5 oz (44ml) has 0.6 oz (17.4ml) of alcohol. When you compare alcohol content, this fairly simple math shows that one regular beer is equal to one shot.
How Much is Too Much Beer? To put into perspective, the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) defines two potentially problematic drinking patterns around the excessive use of alcohol: Heavy drinking means drinking four or more drinks per day for men or three or more drinks per day for women.
Generally, people drink to either increase positive emotions or decrease negative ones. This results in all drinking motives falling into one of four categories: enhancement (because it's exciting), coping (to forget about my worries), social (to celebrate), and conformity (to fit in).
What do you mean by heavy drinking? For men, heavy drinking is typically defined as consuming 15 drinks or more per week. For women, heavy drinking is typically defined as consuming 8 drinks or more per week.
Based on the most recent scientific evidence, if you stick to one standard alcohol drink each day (one 1.5-oz shot, one 12-oz. glass of beer or one 5-oz. glass of wine), you do not increase your risk of developing kidney disease.
Some nutrition experts consider craft beer a more functional beverage since beer imparts medical benefits to the drinker. The healthiest are stouts and porters, and higher hoppy beers, such as DIPAs and Imperial IPAs, Trappist beers, and spontaneous fermented beers, such as Lambics and Gose.
Having 2 to 3 alcoholic drinks every day or binge drinking can harm your liver. Binge drinking is when you drink more than 4 or 5 drinks in a row. If you already have a liver disease, you should stop drinking alcohol. There is no safe amount of alcohol for people with any type of alcoholic liver disease.
Symptoms of alcohol overdose include mental confusion, difficulty remaining conscious, vomiting, seizures, trouble breathing, slow heart rate, clammy skin, dulled responses (such as no gag reflex, which prevents choking), and extremely low body temperature. Alcohol overdose can lead to permanent brain damage or death.
But the truth is that for many people, daily drinking can be harmful. Here are some reasons to consider not drinking every night: While light drinking may offer some potential benefits, it can also increase your risk of other health issues. Experimenting with sobriety can be eye-opening.
Moderate drinkers and nondrinkers report similar rates of sadness, but both groups are slightly less likely than heavy drinkers to experience sadness. Still, while heavy drinkers and nondrinkers report similar levels of positive emotions, heavy drinkers report experiencing more negative emotions than nondrinkers.
When we start drinking alcohol, our bodies produce extra dopamine, which travels to the parts of the brain known as 'reward centres' – the bits that make us feel good and make us want to do more of whatever we're doing [1]. So, our first couple of drinks are likely to make us feel good.
“People higher in general intelligence tend to drink more because they're not bothered by the strangeness of the alcohol experience,” said the evolutionary psychologist and professor at the University of Victoria.
"Alcohol is the worst drink for your liver as it makes it harder on the liver to break down and remove toxins from the body," says Minerva Valencia, RD.
So what happens when you stop drinking? The good news is that the liver is the only organ that can restore and regenerate itself. Because the liver is in a constant state of regeneration, in many cases the healing process can begin within just weeks after foregoing alcohol.
Limit the amount of alcohol you drink. Eat a well-balanced diet every day. That's five to nine servings of fruits and vegetables, along with fiber from vegetables, nuts, seeds, and whole grains. Be sure to include protein for the enzymes that help your body detox naturally.