Is a Glass of Wine a Day Actually Good for You? Alcohol and Living Longer
For years we heard that a glass of red wine a day was good for your heart. The newer, better research tells a different story. Here's what it says, without the lecture.
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This isn't a guide telling you to quit. It's a guide to what the evidence actually says, so you can make your own call. Some people choose not to drink at all, some drink less, some don't change a thing. The Club respects all of those. We just think you deserve the real picture.
The "glass of red" story, and why it fell apart
Emerging
Older studies kept finding that light drinkers lived a little longer than non-drinkers. That's where the idea of healthy moderate drinking came from.
The problem was who ended up in the "non-drinker" group. It often included people who had quit drinking because they were already sick, and people who'd had problems with alcohol in the past. That made non-drinkers look less healthy than they really were, and made light drinking look protective.
In 2023, a large review pooled 107 studies covering more than 4.8 million people and corrected for these problems. Once they did, light drinking was no longer linked to a longer life compared with people who had never drunk. And the risk of dying climbed at higher intakes, starting at lower amounts for women than for men.
We label this Emerging rather than Established because researchers still debate the very lowest levels. But the direction is clear: there's no good evidence that you need to drink to be healthy.
What's well established
Established
- Cancer. Alcohol is classed as a Group 1 carcinogen by the World Health Organization's cancer agency, the same category as tobacco. It's linked to at least seven cancers, including breast, bowel, liver, mouth and throat. The risk starts at low levels and rises with the amount.
- Sleep. Alcohol can make you drowsy, but it breaks up the second half of the night and cuts into REM sleep. That's why you can sleep eight hours after a few drinks and still wake up tired.
- More is worse. Heavy and binge drinking are clearly harmful to the liver, heart, brain and mental health.
What "low risk" looks like now
Canada updated its guidance in 2023, and it's one of the clearest in the world. Per week:
- 0 drinks: no alcohol-related risk, and better sleep.
- 1 to 2 drinks: you'll likely avoid alcohol-related consequences for yourself and others.
- 3 to 6 drinks: increased risk of several cancers, including breast and colon.
- 7 or more: risk of heart disease and stroke climbs, and keeps rising with every extra drink.
One standard drink in Canada is a 341 ml (12 oz) bottle of 5% beer, a 142 ml (5 oz) glass of 12% wine, or a 43 ml (1.5 oz) shot of 40% spirits. A restaurant pour of wine is often closer to two.
The World Health Organization's European office goes further and says no level of drinking is safe for health.
Practical ways to drink less
- Count honestly for one week. Most people are surprised. Big pours and "just one more" add up.
- Pick alcohol-free days. Start with two or three a week and protect them.
- Keep the ritual, change the drink. Sparkling water with lime, a good alcohol-free beer, kombucha or a herbal tea in the same glass at the same time.
- Notice your sleep. Compare how you sleep and feel on drinking and non-drinking nights. That's your own data.
- Try a month off. A dry month is a low-stakes experiment. Many people find they don't miss it as much as they expected.
Sobriety as a lifestyle choice
Choosing not to drink doesn't have to be a label or a confession. For a growing number of people it's simply a lifestyle choice, like training or eating well: something they do because they feel better for it. If that's you, you're in good company here.
One thing this week
Pick two alcohol-free days, and notice how you sleep on those nights.
Sources
- Zhao J, et al. Association Between Daily Alcohol Intake and Risk of All-Cause Mortality: A Systematic Review and Meta-analyses. JAMA Network Open, 2023. Link
- Canadian Centre on Substance Use and Addiction. Canada's Guidance on Alcohol and Health, 2023. Link
- World Health Organization (Europe). No level of alcohol consumption is safe for our health, 2023. Link
- International Agency for Research on Cancer. Alcohol consumption and ethyl carbamate, IARC Monographs Volume 96. Link
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