Low Risk Drinking Guidelines

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You may have heard that alcohol is good for your heart. What you may not have heard is that:

• The health benefits of alcohol apply mainly to people over the age of 45. A little goes a long way. In most cases, one drink of beer, wine or liquor every other day is enough.
• For most people, more than two drinks a day does more harm than good.
• Women who have more than nine drinks a week have higher rates of cancer and other problems than women who drink less.
• Men who have more than fourteen drinks a week also have higher rates of alcohol-related problems.
• Young people have very low rates of heart disease but very high rates of alcohol-related injuries and death.

Low-Risk Drinking Guidelines 0 Zero drinks = lowest risk of an alcohol-related problem 2 No more than 2 standard drinks on any one day 9 Women: up to 9 standard drinks a week 14 Men: up to 14 standard drinks a week
1 standard drink= 5 oz/142 ml of wine (12% alcohol) 1.5 oz/43 ml of spirits (40% alcohol) 12 oz/341 ml of regular strength beer (5% alcohol)

Tips for following these Guidelines:

• Know what a standard drink is.
• Keep track of how much you drink - daily and weekly.
• Never drink and drive.
• Don't start drinking for health reasons. To keep your heart healthy, eat better, exercise more and don't smoke.
• Be a responsible host - encourage your guests to follow these guidelines.
• Talk to your kids about alcohol.
• Find out about programs and policies that support low-risk drinking.
• Develop an alcohol policy for your home, workplace, school or community organization.

The Low-Risk Drinking Guidelines are for people of legal drinking age.

Drink less or not at all if you:

• have health problems such as liver disease or mental illness
• are taking medications such as sedatives, painkillers or sleeping pills
• have a personal or family history of drinking problems
• are pregnant, trying to get pregnant or breastfeeding
• will be operating vehicles such as cars, trucks, motorcycles, boats, snowmobiles, all-terrain vehicles or bicycles
• need to be alert. For example… if you will be operating machinery or working with farm implements or dangerous equipment
• will be doing sports or other physical activities where you need to be in control
• are responsible for the safety of others at work or at home
• are told not to drink for legal, medical or other reasons

If you belong to any of these groups, check with your doctor.

The Low-Risk Drinking Guidelines were developed by a team of medical and social researchers from the University of Toronto and the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health.