For years I’ve had the idea in the back of my mind that two drinks per day is healthy for normal adult males (one per day for women). Not just that two wasn’t too bad for you, but that it was positively good for you. I’ve been trying to lose some weight recently and so I started reconsidering my habits again, and it struck me that I’ve been doing the math wrong. Perhaps dangerously wrong.
A recent meta-analysis published in The Lancet, a leading medical journal, examines how life expectancy is affected by various rates of daily alcohol consumption. Taking account of other behaviors and health conditions, the analysis included 83 independent studies and almost 600,000 current drinkers in total. It shows that even a slight increase over the two standard drinks per day leads to a noticeable decrease in life expectancy. A 40 year-old who has two drinks per day will thereby shorten their life by half a year; but if they drink four drinks per day, their life expectancy will be decreased by almost five years.
BUT—and this is a huge but—“two drinks per day” refers to two 12 ounce beers containing 5% alcohol by volume. A lot of the beer I buy to consume at home comes in a 16 ounce can or a 25 ounce bomber. And almost none of it is 5%. In fact, I have purchased some so-called “session” beers lately that were 5.5%. Much of what is in my fridge is in the 7 to 8% range, and it isn’t unusual for me to have a 10 or 12% beer, especially when it is an imperial stout or something barrel-aged.
For a beer, 8% is on the high side if you consider that the average percentage is around 4.5%.
BrewDog famously got into a rivalry with German brewer Schorschbräu to produce the strongest traditionally made beer, and came up with “Strength in Numbers” (57.8% ABV). Check out Tactical Nuclear Penguin and Sink the Bismarck for more epic high ABV beers!
Stout has an average strength of around 4% ABV. However, there’s always variation within the style, such as Imperial Stouts. These beers can exceed16% ABV, but often float around the 11% – 13% mark. In fact, the term ‘Imperial’, when placed before any beer style, will always mean it’s a stronger version of that style.
The double of the name actually refers to the amount of hops and malt used in the brewing process, which is typically around twice that of an IPA. Double (or Imperial) IPAs therefore also promise a higher ABV of around 8% – 9.5% (due to more sugars being eaten through fermentation).
IPAs vary in strength and can differ in ABV depending on where in the world they are brewed. Typically, an IPA brewed in the US can reach up to 7% ABV while in the UK you’re more likely to see them lodged between 5% and 6.5% ABV. But in reality, there are no rules. So you can find IPA ranging from alcohol free to upwards of 11%.
Commercially available beer ranges in strength from alcohol-free to around 7% ABV. Generally, lagers, bitters and stouts are between 4% and 5%, with IPA between 5% and 7%. “Alcohol-free” beers can legally contain up to 0.5% alcohol in most countries.
Lessons from the study
The meta-analysis I mentioned above considers a large number of factors but this, I think, is the key take-away: People who consume more than 350 grams of alcohol per week shave almost five years off their lives compared to people who drink less than 100 grams of alcohol per week. Those who consume between 100 and 200 grams per week (close to the US recommended limit) have a decreased life expectancy of about half a year compared to those who drink less than 100 grams per week. (The life expectancy lost decreases as the subject increases in age simply because we don’t have as much life left to lose at those higher ages.)
Interestingly, there seems to be less of a gender effect than I had previously believed.
Note that the baseline of comparison is 100 grams of alcohol per week, not zero. That’s because people who consume less than 100 grams per week actually have worse health outcomes. The effect seems to be mostly due to a decrease in cardiac events associated with consuming a small amount of alcohol regularly.
By the way, the study also shows that “spreading it out” is healthier. Drinking the same amount of alcohol divided over several days of a week is better for you than concentrating that amount into one or two days. Going dry all week and then blowing out on the weekend is not a good idea.
Trying the World’s Strongest Beer
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