# Alcohol: Good for You or Bad for You? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 29, 2007, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alcohol-good-for-you-or-bad-for-you/402060 "2007-04-29T17:30:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Showing post:** 2
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2007, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alcohol-good-for-you-or-bad-for-you/402060/2 "2007-04-29T17:46:44Z")
Most claims that alcohol has significant beneficial effect are vastly overblown. Here’s a quote from an article from the Lancet in 2005: The Lancet, Volume 366, Issue 9501, Pages 1911-1912 R. Jackson, J. Broad, J. Connor, S. Wells > [@](#): > > Any coronary protection from light to moderate drinking will be very small and unlikely to outweigh the harms. While moderate to heavy drinking is probably coronary-protective, any benefit will be overwhelmed by the known harms. If so, the public health message is clear. Do not assume there is a window in which the health benefits of alcohol are greater than the harms—there is probably no free lunch. … Previous threads on this topic: > **[What Are The Long-Term Effects Of Consuming Three Alcoholic Beverages Per Day?](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=401392)** > > I recently calculated my rate of alcohol intake and confirmed that I average three drinks per day, mostly beer, and it has been quite consistent at this level both in the short term (day to day) and over the long term (year after year). I rarely... > **[The effects of alcohol](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=353855)** > > What are the long-term effects of drinking alcohol? The consensus here in Denmark is that it is unhealthy stuff. While I agree that alcoholism is definitely unhealthy, I cannot find anything about the effects of alcohol with more normal use. (Except... > **[Alcohol and damage to the body--the Qadgop vs. KarlGauss smackdown](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=345249)** > > Over here, KarlGauss states that “more than 50 units per week\* can lead to cirrhosis and other nasty complications” (less for women). \*A unit defined as 10gm alcohol In a different thread, that I can’t find right now, Qadgop says two drinks a day... The gist of it: Consumption of small amounts of alcohol is likely to be health-neutral _at best_ and quickly becomes a signficant detriment to health as intake increases. --- _[View the full topic](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alcohol-good-for-you-or-bad-for-you/402060)._