# Is a bottle of wine per night gonna destroy my liver? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 21, 2009, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-bottle-of-wine-per-night-gonna-destroy-my-liver/493881 "2009-04-21T19:32:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2009, 8:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-bottle-of-wine-per-night-gonna-destroy-my-liver/493881/41 "2009-04-23T08:18:30Z")
> [@Angry Lurker](#): > > Some beliefs you could have in Russia would get you locked up indefinitely in USA. Some beliefs you could have in USA would get you indefinitely locked up in Russian. > > Who is right? Is this true? How could you be locked up for your beliefs alone, in the USA? Not just locked up but locked up _indefinitely?_ I mean, unless the “beliefs” are telepathic powers that are causing people’s balls to fall off or something. ---
**Author:** ![Labrador\_Deceiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7c8e57/32.png) [@Labrador\_Deceiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labrador_Deceiver)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2009, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-bottle-of-wine-per-night-gonna-destroy-my-liver/493881/42 "2009-04-23T12:58:04Z")
> [@HorseloverFat](#): > > Science is right. [Your local culture doesnt mean squat if youre killing your liver:](http://www.gastro.net.au/banners/alcohol.html) For the forth time, nobody is disputing that. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Moto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9de0a6/32.png) [@Mr.Moto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Moto)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2009, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-bottle-of-wine-per-night-gonna-destroy-my-liver/493881/43 "2009-04-23T13:16:28Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Of course, whenever you see studies that 1-2 drinks per day is optimal, you’ve got to remember that that’s just an average. Some people can’t even drink that much, and some can drink a lot more. My great-grandfather would go through a fifth of bourbon a week, and would smoke the finest cigars made in Wheeling, West Virginia. He lived to be 96. My grandmother never smoked and can be talked into about two drinks a year and she’s still living in her own home at 91. So mileage does vary. Personally I’ll take my chances with bourbon, though I don’t go through it quite so fast as Pap. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2009, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-bottle-of-wine-per-night-gonna-destroy-my-liver/493881/44 "2009-04-23T13:54:35Z")
In Russia, beliefs lock up YOU! ---
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2009, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-bottle-of-wine-per-night-gonna-destroy-my-liver/493881/45 "2009-04-23T14:13:56Z")
> [@HorseloverFat](#): > > \>Balls, in certain countries this is perfectly normal and not remotely indicative of mental health issues (it may be in the US, perhaps). > > Life expectancy in Russia for men: 58 years old. You better believe that has to do with socially acceptable alcoholism. The idea that alcoholism has no tie in with mental health issues is laughable. Doing something, even potentially harmful (drinking alcohol, scarring your face, jumping from a wood tower with your feet tied by a liana, whatever…) when it’s socially accepted and culturally a norm isn’t indicative of a mental health issue. ---
**Author:** ![Labrador\_Deceiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7c8e57/32.png) [@Labrador\_Deceiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labrador_Deceiver)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2009, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-bottle-of-wine-per-night-gonna-destroy-my-liver/493881/46 "2009-04-23T14:16:46Z")
> [@Mr.Moto](#): > > My great-grandfather would go through a fifth of bourbon a week, and would smoke the finest cigars made in Wheeling, West Virginia. He lived to be 96. > > My grandmother never smoked and can be talked into about two drinks a year and she’s still living in her own home at 91. > > So mileage does vary. Personally I’ll take my chances with bourbon, though I don’t go through it quite so fast as Pap. Keep in mind that cigars aren’t typically inhaled. They can still cause throat or mouth cancer (maybe others), but a lot of people don’t realize they’re usually just puffed on. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Moto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9de0a6/32.png) [@Mr.Moto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Moto)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2009, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-bottle-of-wine-per-night-gonna-destroy-my-liver/493881/47 "2009-04-23T14:27:35Z")
> [@Labrador\_Deceiver](#): > > Keep in mind that cigars aren’t typically inhaled. They can still cause throat or mouth cancer (maybe others), but a lot of people don’t realize they’re usually just puffed on. Yeah, but he had given up cigarettes for the cigars, and he would inhale them. Plus the bourbon was just for his drinking at home - he still liked to go out. Doesn’t matter much - he obviously isn’t a role model, at least not for matters of health. ---
**Author:** ![lazybratsche](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ba8739/32.png) [@lazybratsche](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lazybratsche)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2009, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-bottle-of-wine-per-night-gonna-destroy-my-liver/493881/48 "2009-04-23T14:34:52Z")
> [@clairobscur](#): > > Doing something, even potentially harmful (drinking alcohol, scarring your face, jumping from a wood tower with your feet tied by a liana, whatever…) when it’s socially accepted and culturally a norm isn’t indicative of a mental health issue. I think the causality points the other way. Lots of alcohol damages brain function over time, leading to mental health problems. You’re not crazy to be drinking as much as everyone else, but the drinking can still make you crazy. Analogous to heavy lead consumption by the Romans. It wasn’t a sign of mental health that they used lead in plumbing and as a sweetener, but it definitely caused a lot of mental problems. ---
**Author:** ![phreesh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/9fc29f/32.png) [@phreesh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phreesh)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2009, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-bottle-of-wine-per-night-gonna-destroy-my-liver/493881/49 "2009-04-23T17:43:31Z")
Taking just the wine consumption into consideration and assuming your consumption of alcohol isn’t addictive or symptomatic of some underlying mental health issues, it’s probably a bit too much. Cutting back to half a bottle a night would be better. That said, by your height/weight and statement that you work out, etc, you’re probably actually above average health-wise. So, yeah, I’d cut down a bit, but if you keep watching what you eat and get plenty of excerise you can probably ride out a bottle a night for several decades. ---
**Author:** ![MeanOldLady](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/meanoldlady/32/10737_2.png) [@MeanOldLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MeanOldLady)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2009, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-bottle-of-wine-per-night-gonna-destroy-my-liver/493881/50 "2009-04-23T17:58:45Z")
If a bottle of red a day is going to kill you, then there ain’t much sand left in my hourglass, and my poppa should have been dead a long time ago. ---
**Author:** ![sailor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a587f6/32.png) [@sailor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sailor)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2009, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-bottle-of-wine-per-night-gonna-destroy-my-liver/493881/51 "2009-04-23T19:56:10Z")
In every thread like this we get the anecdotes of “my uncle who smoked and drank like crazy and lived to be 95”. I do not know why people obligated to post meaningless anecdotes unless it is to validate their own weakness. The fact is that smoking and drinking in excess greatly increase your chances of health problems but many people like to ignore that in favor of anecdotes. People who think nothing of smoking or binging are scared of terrorists or of flying or of cell phone radiation when those things are statistically insignificant risks when compared to smoking. Some people are just totally irrational when it comes to correctly assessing and managing risk. Another point to take into account is that average alcohol consumption per person per year is not really all the information we need. It is not the same if 75% of the population do not drink and those who do have an average 4 times higher. It is not the same if those who drink do so moderately over the week or binge on weekends. Many variables. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Seventh\_Deadly\_Finn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/6bbea6/32.png) [@The\_Seventh\_Deadly\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Seventh_Deadly_Finn)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2009, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-bottle-of-wine-per-night-gonna-destroy-my-liver/493881/52 "2009-04-23T22:28:54Z")
> [@MeanOldLady](#): > > If a bottle of red a day is going to kill you, then there ain’t much sand left in my hourglass, and my poppa should have been dead a long time ago. No kidding. If I could have kept it to a bottle of red a day, I’d still be drinking. You’re certainly not an alcoholic by my lights, and I should know-- not only am I one myself, I’ve spent a lot (a LOT) of time listening to other people talk about their experiences being alcoholics. If you’re the sort who likes to drive 55 in the passing lane of life, cut down. Otherwise, I wouldn’t worry about it. (If it’s really only one bottle, of course.) ---
**Author:** ![The\_Seventh\_Deadly\_Finn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/6bbea6/32.png) [@The\_Seventh\_Deadly\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Seventh_Deadly_Finn)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2009, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-bottle-of-wine-per-night-gonna-destroy-my-liver/493881/53 "2009-04-23T22:40:34Z")
> [@sailor](#): > > Some people are just totally irrational when it comes to correctly assessing and managing risk. ALL people are totally irrational when it comes to correctly assessing and managing risk. I’ve never met anyone who didn’t inflate risks that reinforced their own prejudices and minimize those that didn’t. This thread didn’t get fat because everyone here is passsionate about liver science. Drinking (and smoking) are emotional issues-- you decide where you stand first, based on temperament, and try to support your position later using whatever arguments you think will help while ignoring the rest. That’s why we’re not going to get to the bottom of this, and frankly the whole thing should probably be in Great Debates at this point. ---
**Author:** ![sailor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a587f6/32.png) [@sailor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sailor)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2009, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-bottle-of-wine-per-night-gonna-destroy-my-liver/493881/54 "2009-04-23T22:43:09Z")
> [@thetruewheel](#): > > frankly the whole thing should probably be in Great Debates at this point. I’ll drink to that! 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Waterman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b2d939/32.png) [@Waterman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Waterman)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2009, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-bottle-of-wine-per-night-gonna-destroy-my-liver/493881/55 "2009-04-23T23:52:06Z")
> [@KarlGauss](#): > > In my opinion, there may be some misinformation posted in this thread. Specifically, and among other things, I believe that a bottle of wine consumed daily puts you at more than a “negligible” risk for liver disease. > > First of all, though, I want to clarify that it doesn’t matter whether alcohol is ingested as wine, spirits, or beer. Alcohol is alcohol. Second, there are other risk factors at play which may increase or decrease the likelihood of developing liver disease from alcohol. For example, people with the so-called “metabolic syndrome” (typically manifesting with mild obesity, high blood pressure, high blood fats, and “mild” diabetes) are at increased risk of liver disease even in the absence of alcohol. Add alcohol to the metabolic syndrome risk and the chance of liver disease goes up multiplicatively. Other factors which augment the toxic effect of alcohol on the liver include: occult (or overt) viral hepatitis, e.g. hep B or hep C, occult iron excess (the most common single gene disease in whites), . . . the list goes on. > > Third, we must define 1 “unit” of alcohol (in order to compare apples with apples). On average, wine is about 10% alcohol (yes, some has more, some less - I’m just talking about averages). On average, beer is about 5% alcohol (in Canada), and on average, spirits are approximately 40% alcohol. > > (it’s easier to use grams for what follows. Remember that 1 ounce is about 28 grams). > > So, 5 ounces of wine equals 140 grams of wine. If wine is 10% alcohol, then 140 grams of wine equals 14 grams of alcohol. > > Ten ounces of beer equals 280 grams of beer. If beer is 5% alcohol, then 280 grams of beer equals 14 grams of alcohol. > > One and a quarter ounces of spirits (a “shot”) equals about 35 grams of spirits. If spirits average about 40% alcohol, then 35 grams of spirits equals 14 grams of alcohol. > > In other words, a glass of wine, a bottle of beer, and a shot of spirits all contain about the same amount of alcohol. (It’s very important to keep in mind that people who make and/or pour their own drinks will almost always have more than the above figures. A ‘glass’ of wine at home might be 8 ounces, not 5, and a ‘shot’ of rye poured in your own living room might be closer to 2 ounces than 1¼.) > > In any case, empirically it is known that chronic\* consumption of more than 60 to 70 grams of alcohol per day for a woman, and 70 to 80 grams per day for a man can be expected to lead to liver disease. (likelihood of about 50% for 20 or more years of drinking). > > \*chronic = at least 10 to 20 years > > We also should keep in mind that alcohol does a lot of other ‘bad’ things besides rotting your liver. A few lesser known ones are: > > breast cancer (in women) - for every 10 grams of alcohol ingested (about ¾ of a drink), a woman’s chance of developing breast cancer goes up by 9%. So, five drinks a day, increases a woman’s chance by almost 50%. Note that in Italy where alcohol consumption is fairly high, 11% of breast cancers are due to alcohol > > cancer of the mouth, throat (pharynx), and swallowing tube (esophagus) - unlike the case for cardiovascular disease, where modest consumption of alcohol seems to confer some protection, even occasional and one-drink-per-day ingestion of alcohol are associated with a 12 and 37% increase respectively in the risk of cancer of the esophagus. > > inflammation of the pancreas (pancreatitis) - this is a very nasty illness which you _don’t_ want to get. It is considered to be one of the most painful conditions that someone can have (up there with kidney stones and labour). Pancreatitis has the potential for many complications, none of which are good news or very pleasant for the patient. It can also kill you. About 10% of chronic alcoholics will develop pancreatitis at some stage. In fact, anyone who goes out boozing places themselves at increased risk for pancreatitis, albeit just for a day or so. But consider someone who drinks _every_ day. Their risk of pancreatitis will stay elevated. > > I hope all this has been of interest to somebody. > – KG Not to nitpick here (and I can’t believe someone else hasn’t already mentioned it) but wine, like most alcoholic beverages are measured as **ABV (Alcohol By Volume)**. Therefore, a 750-ml bottle of wine with 13% alcohol contains 77.3 grams of alcohol. 13% ABV equates to roughly 10.5% ABW (alcohol by weight). ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Moto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9de0a6/32.png) [@Mr.Moto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Moto)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2009, 10:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-bottle-of-wine-per-night-gonna-destroy-my-liver/493881/56 "2009-04-24T10:54:06Z")
> [@sailor](#): > > In every thread like this we get the anecdotes of “my uncle who smoked and drank like crazy and lived to be 95”. I do not know why people obligated to post meaningless anecdotes unless it is to validate their own weakness. In my case, I wasn’t doing so - I was just using these examples to illustrate that mileage does indeed vary. My grandma is practically a teetotaler and she’s pretty healthy in her nineties. ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2009, 11:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-bottle-of-wine-per-night-gonna-destroy-my-liver/493881/57 "2009-04-24T11:39:16Z")
I’ve seen people die from alcoholism at the age of 22, 42, and 80. A lot depends on the person’s physiology. ---
**Author:** ![Dangerosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2009, 12:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-bottle-of-wine-per-night-gonna-destroy-my-liver/493881/58 "2009-04-24T12:21:40Z")
> [@thetruewheel](#): > > No kidding. If I could have kept it to a bottle of red a day, I’d still be drinking. You’re certainly not an alcoholic by my lights, and I should know-- not only am I one myself, I’ve spent a lot (a LOT) of time listening to other people talk about their experiences being alcoholics. > > If you’re the sort who likes to drive 55 in the passing lane of life, cut down. Otherwise, I wouldn’t worry about it. (If it’s really only one bottle, of course.) Oh, please don’t…please, please, please don’t. We almost lost my sister. Two stints through rehab. Liver damage. Jaundice. Depression. Nerve damage. And she wouldn’t believe she was an alcoholic because all the other alcoholics said “you don’t drink that much” - she was a bottle of wine a day drinker too. Or that was all she would admit to when she was a drunk. Alcoholism is not a contest about who drank more than you - and if they didn’t drink as much as you then they didn’t have a problem. ---
**Author:** ![HorseloverFat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8e8cbc/32.png) [@HorseloverFat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HorseloverFat)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2009, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-bottle-of-wine-per-night-gonna-destroy-my-liver/493881/59 "2009-04-24T16:10:17Z")
> [@](#): > > In every thread like this we get the anecdotes of “my uncle who smoked and drank like crazy and lived to be 95”. I do not know why people obligated to post meaningless anecdotes unless it is to validate their own weakness. The fact is that smoking and drinking in excess greatly increase your chances of health problems but many people like to ignore that in favor of anecdotes. People who think nothing of smoking or binging are scared of terrorists or of flying or of cell phone radiation when those things are statistically insignificant risks when compared to smoking. Some people are just totally irrational when it comes to correctly assessing and managing risk. That was very well put. Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![Quintas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/48db29/32.png) [@Quintas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quintas)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2009, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-bottle-of-wine-per-night-gonna-destroy-my-liver/493881/60 "2009-04-24T16:53:01Z")
> [@thetruewheel](#): > > If you’re the sort who likes to drive 55 in the passing lane of life, cut down. Otherwise, I wouldn’t worry about it. (If it’s really only one bottle, of course.) It is one bottle. Sometimes slightly less. However, since reading this thread I decided to give it up, at least for a few weeks. I notice it’s much easier to wake in the mornings the past few days and I’m much more alert. I was never hungover in the classic sense from one bottle but it apparently makes you a bit groggy even hours later. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-bottle-of-wine-per-night-gonna-destroy-my-liver/493881.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-bottle-of-wine-per-night-gonna-destroy-my-liver/493881.md?page=4)