Do You Drink Too Much Alcohol?
October 30, 2009 by Marijke Durning, RN
Filed under Addiction, Health
It seems like a simple question. Do you drink too much alcohol? But one person’s social drinking may be someone else’s too much. So how can you tell if you’re drinking too much and what exactly is drinking too much?
First, we need to decide on what is a drink – what drinks are equivalent to each other. Generally, in North America, a standard drink is one that has about 0.6 fluid ounces of pure alcohol. But how much that is in your drink depends on what it is you are drinking. Generally, standard drinks are:
• 
12 oz beer
• 5 oz wine
• 3-4 oz of fortified wine (such as port)
• 2-3 oz liqueur or aperatif
• 1.5 oz brandy or hard liquor
Does any of that surprise you?
If you drink mixed drinks and would like to figure out how much alcohol is in them, the National Institutes of Health site has these alcohol calculators that allow you to check out:
• Drink sizes
• Cocktail content
• Alcohol calories
• Alcohol spending
• Blood alcohol concentration (BAC)
After reading how much alcohol is in your drink, do you think your drinking pattern may be risky? If you’re wondering, the NIH site has a quiz for you: What’s Your Pattern?
How do you rank? Do you think you need to make some changes?
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Image: PhotoXpress.com
