Amy Winehouse was 27 when she was found unresponsive at home. A postmortem exam revealed her cause of death was alcohol poisoning. She had a blood alcohol level that was more than five times the legal drink-drive limit.
That tragic incident was a stark reminder of something many folks forget: Alcohol is a drug, and the short and long-term results of consuming it can be downright deadly.
Unfortunately, people's risky drinking is increasing. The National Institutes of Health reports that the number of deaths linked to alcohol more than doubled between 1999 and 2017. Nearly 1 million people died from both acute conditions such as alcohol poisoning, and alcohol-related chronic health conditions, including liver disease, pancreatitis, heart disease and psychiatric disorders, plus car accidents.
Current guidelines describe moderate drinking as one drink per day for women and up to two drinks per day for men. However, there's mounting evidence that the safest amount of alcohol to drink may be none at all. A large-scale global study found that alcohol is linked to cancer far more than previously thought, and alcohol is the seventh-leading risk factor for death worldwide.
If you do drink, pay attention to serving size and don't exceed the recommended daily intake. A standard drink is generally one 12-ounce glass of beer, 8 ounces of malt liquor, 5 ounces of wine, or a single shot - that's 1.5 ounces of 80 proof (40% alcohol). And remember the recommendations are for daily intake, so don't think you can add the drink you skipped yesterday to today's dose!
Distributed by King Features Syndicate, Inc.
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