Drink less or no alcohol
After consuming 100 g of pure alcohol per week, the more one drinks, the earlier they tend to die. 100 g of pure alcohol is roughly equivalent to 2.5 L of beer. At age 40, people who drink 100–200 g per week lose about half a year of life expectancy; those drinking 200–350 g lose 1–2 years; and those drinking over 350 g lose 4–5 years. Overall, the healthiest amount to consume is none at all.
There is no cost at all — it saves money and time. The onl…
A combined analysis of 83 longitudinal studies involving 600,000 drinkers showed that the lowest mortality ris…
There is no cost at all — it saves money and time. The only difficulty is handling social pressure to drink.
A combined analysis of 83 longitudinal studies involving 600,000 drinkers showed that the lowest mortality risk occurs at consumption levels of no more than 100 g of pure alcohol per week — roughly 2.5 L of beer at 5% alcohol content, or 300 mL of 40% alcohol spirits. At age 40, drinking 100–200 g per week shortens life expectancy by about 6 months; 200–350 g shortens it by 1–2 years; and over 350 g shortens it by 4–5 years. The Global Burden of Disease Study 2016 also concluded that zero alcohol consumption per week carries the lowest overall health risk. One adjusted analysis found that daily consumption of 1.3–24 g of alcohol was linked to a 7% lower mortality risk (RR 0.93) compared to lifelong abstainers, though this difference was not statistically significant. Daily consumption of 45–64 g raised risk by 19% (RR 1.19), and 65 g or more raised it by 35% (RR 1.35).
Wood AM 等 (2018). Risk thresholds for alcohol consumption: combined analysis of individual-participant data for 599 912 current drinkers in 83 prospective studies. Lancet. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(18)30134-X；GBD 2016 Alcohol Collaborators (2018). Alcohol use and burden for 195 countries and territories, 1990–2016: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2016. Lancet. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(18)31310-2；Zhao J 等 (2023). Association Between Daily Alcohol Intake and Risk of All-Cause Mortality: A Systematic Review and Meta-analyses. JAMA Network Open. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2023.6185；Di Castelnuovo A 等 (2006). Alcohol dosing and total mortality in men and women: an updated meta-analysis of 34 prospective studies. Archives of Internal Medicine. https://doi.org/10.1001/archinte.166.22.2437（争议方）
Open source linkControversial. The side arguing that "drinking less is beneficial" is a pooled analysis of 34 long-term follow-up studies. It reports: people who drink small amounts have an all-cause mortality rate that is up to 17%–18% lower. The amount it provides is no more than 4 drinks per day for men and no more than 2 drinks per day for women. Within this amount, those who drink more actually have a lower mortality rate. The opposing side argues that the "non-drinking" group included people who quit drinking due to illness and those who were already in poor health. There is a summary that specifically subtracted these confounders, and after doing so, the protective effect disappeared. The Global Burden of Disease study also indicates that 0 is the safest. A prudent way to read this is: drinking less will not significantly shorten lifespan, but drinking more will. There is no basis for "starting to drink for the sake of health." If you want to know how to drink less, see item 21 of this section (count the number of drinks first, then see a doctor). People who drink every day should not try to quit cold turkey on their own; see item 20 of this section (do not try to quit cold turkey on your own).