Here’s the New Math on Alcohol and Your Health

A Drinkin’ Thing: Adding a health warning to happy hour is nobody’s idea of a good time, but new research is making a pretty compelling case for one. A study published this month in the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs found no protective health benefit from low-level alcohol consumption, and the risks start rising sooner than you might think.

The Study: The researchers looked through national health surveys, mortality records, and dozens of systematic reviews to model lifetime alcohol-related death risk for adults in the U.S. For men, that risk crossed 1 in 1,000 at around 6.5 drinks per week, and women hit the same threshold at about 7. Consuming 8.5 drinks per week pushes the risk to 1 in 100. For men having 14 drinks per week (previously the ceiling of the federal guideline), the estimated lifetime risk of dying from an alcohol-related cause was 1 in 25.

The Takeaway: There’s no completely risk-free amount of alcohol, and the risks escalate faster than older guidelines suggested. So researchers suggest no more than one drink per day for both men and women.

Keep in Mind: Your health history and how you drink affect your personal health risk, so the numbers won’t look exactly the same for everyone.