Alcohol is the Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde of the medical world: Drinking too much causes serious problems, while drinking a little may help many people’s health.
How many drinks provide just the benefits and not the harm? It depends on whether a person is most at risk of heart disease, diabetes or breast cancer. But there is one bottom line: Five or six drinks only on Saturday night will provide no benefits, while a drink or two a night might.
So concludes an exhaustive new analysis by the National Institutes of Health that sorts out a plethora of sometimes conflicting research on alcohol’s effects.
Dr. John Grohol is the CEO and founder of Psych Central. He is an author, researcher and expert in mental health online, and has been writing about online behavior, mental health and psychology issues -- as well as the intersection of technology and human behavior -- since 1992. Dr. Grohol sits on the editorial board of the journal Cyberpsychology, Behavior and Social Networking and is a founding board member and treasurer of the Society for Participatory Medicine.Like this author?
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Last reviewed: By John M. Grohol, Psy.D. on 27 Jul 2004
Published on PsychCentral.com. All rights reserved.
Grohol, J. (2004). Study Aims to Sort Out Alcohol Usage. Psych Central. Retrieved on February 14, 2012, from http://psychcentral.com/blog/archives/2004/07/27/study-aims-to-sort-out-alcohol-usage/
