Brief overview
- Maximum daily dose: women maximum 12 grams of pure alcohol per day (e.g. 125 ml of wine), men maximum 24 grams (e.g. 250 ml of wine), at least two alcohol-free days per week
- How much alcohol can I tolerate? Tolerance is influenced by height, weight, gender, age, state of health, medication, genetic factors, habituation
- Ability to drive: Officially up to 0.5 per mille, but concentration and reaction times can be impaired even below this level. Better only to drive with a blood alcohol level of zero!
- Alcoholics – at what point? The risk of alcoholism increases with higher consumption, but does not depend on any specific quantity. Addiction criteria are strong craving, loss of control, habituation effect, withdrawal symptoms, neglect of tasks, relationships and interests, continued drinking despite negative consequences
How much alcohol is OK?
Most adults in Germany drink alcohol. But how much alcohol is still acceptable so as not to overload the body and psyche?
Experts have defined the so-called low-risk consumption (low-risk threshold dose) for alcohol. The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends the following for alcohol consumption
- For men, the recommended daily limit is 24 grams of pure alcohol.
- Alcohol should be avoided completely on at least two days a week.
However, low-risk does not mean harmless: there is no such thing as completely risk-free consumption. Even the vasoprotective effect of small amounts, e.g. red wine, is outweighed by the harmful effect. The healthiest strategy is not to drink at all.
Eight rules for low-risk consumption
The German Center for Addiction Issues has compiled the following eight rules for consumption:
- Avoid alcohol consumption as far as possible, or at least limit it to the recommended maximum amount
- Avoid binge drinking – the risk of damage to health is particularly high here
- Consider additional risk factors! Other risk factors such as lack of exercise, obesity and smoking put additional strain on the body in addition to alcohol
- No alcohol if you are taking certain medications! E.g. paracetamol, isoniacid and methotrexate as well as other critical medications
- No alcohol for children and adolescents! Alcohol damages their brain development and is particularly risky for them in many respects.
- No alcohol in the workplace, when driving and when operating machinery
Calculating the amount of alcohol
However, in order to adjust your alcohol consumption accordingly, you need to know how many grams of pure alcohol are contained in the various alcoholic drinks.
You can calculate this value relatively easily. All you need to know is the amount you drink in milliliters (ml) and the alcohol content in percent by volume (vol. %). Then there is the specific weight of alcohol, which is 0.8 grams per cubic centimeter (g/cm3).
The formula for calculating the content of pure alcohol is
Amount in ml x (vol. % / 100) x 0.8 = grams of pure alcohol
An example: You drink a bottle of beer (330 ml) with 4.8% alcohol by volume. This means: You consume 330 x (4.8 / 100) x 0.8 = 12.7 grams of pure alcohol.
How much alcohol is in my drink?
One schnapps = one beer = one cocktail? The literature often refers to a standard glass or a drink. In Germany, this refers to alcoholic drinks that contain 10 to 12 grams of pure alcohol.
Here you can find an overview of the alcohol content of various drinks:
- Wine (approx. 10 %, 1 glass of 125 ml): 10 g
- Non-alcoholic beer (max. 0.5%, 1 glass of 200 ml): max. 0.8 g
- Mixed beer drink (2.5%, 1 330 ml bottle): 6.6 g
- Sparkling wine (approx. 11 %), 1 glass of 125 ml): 11 g
- Fruit liqueur (approx. 30 %, 1 glass of 20 ml): 4.8 g
- Schnapps (approx. 40 %, 1 glass of 40 ml): 12.8 g
How much alcohol can I tolerate?
How much alcohol is harmful? This is a question that cannot be answered in general terms. How much alcohol a person can tolerate depends on various factors.
Height and weight: The taller and heavier a person is, the more blood flows through their body. Accordingly, the alcohol consumed is distributed over a larger amount. The alcohol content is then lower.
Body fat: Fatty tissue is less supplied with blood than the organs, for example. Accordingly, less blood circulates in a fat-rich body, over which the alcohol can be distributed. The alcohol level is correspondingly higher and more harmful. Alcohol is therefore less well tolerated with the same weight and higher fat content.
Genetic predisposition: The main factor determining alcohol tolerance is how quickly the body breaks down alcohol. And this is genetically determined.
Age: The proportion of fluid in the body decreases with increasing age. The same amount of alcohol therefore increases the alcohol concentration in the blood of older people. In addition, their liver no longer works as quickly as it did when they were younger. The alcohol is therefore broken down more slowly.
Stomach contents: What you ate before drinking alcohol also plays a role. Rich and especially fatty foods delay the absorption of alcohol into the blood. The blood alcohol level therefore rises more slowly – the alcohol is then better tolerated. This is why a drink on an empty stomach goes to your head particularly quickly.
State of health: Illnesses, such as liver disease, but also the intake of certain medications can impair the metabolism of alcohol – for example, because the liver works more slowly or is burdened with the breakdown of active ingredients in medication.
Those who tolerate a lot are particularly at risk!
Tolerating and tolerating are therefore two different things. Just because someone is used to alcohol and experiences fewer symptoms of intoxication and hangover does not mean that their body can cope well with the cell poison. On the contrary: people who apparently tolerate a lot often drink considerably more. The risk of long-term damage to their organs is then even higher. And they are also more likely to become addicted to alcohol.
What can I drink if I still have to drive?
In Germany, a blood alcohol concentration of 0.5 per mille is the limit for fitness to drive. This can be calculated using the so-called Widmark formula: it takes into account the fact that men’s body fluid makes up approx. 68 percent of their weight and women’s approx. 55 percent.
Alcohol consumed in grams, divided by body weight times 0.55 (women) or 0.68 (men).
This means that a man weighing 80 kg has a blood alcohol level of 0.44 after 0.5 liters of beer, compared to 0.72 for a woman weighing 60 kg. The body then breaks down between 0.1 and a maximum of 0.2 per mille per hour.
In addition, the blood alcohol limit may be set too low, especially for inexperienced drinkers: Alcohol has a stronger effect on them and their ability to react deteriorates more quickly!
It’s best to only get behind the wheel with a blood alcohol level of zero!
When do you become an alcoholic?
Alcohol addiction cannot be defined by a certain amount of consumption. Some people regularly drink a lot without being addicted: Others consume significantly less, but are already deep in the throes of addiction.
Signs of addiction
There are six criteria for addiction:
- A strong desire or a kind of compulsion to consume alcohol
- Reduced ability to control the start, end and quantity of alcohol consumption
- Physical withdrawal symptoms when abstaining from alcohol
- development of tolerance – more and more must be drunk for the same effect
- Progressive neglect of tasks and interests in order to drink and recover from intoxication
- Alcohol continues to be consumed even though there are already harmful physical, mental or social consequences.
Each of these signs is a clear warning signal. If someone fulfills three of them, they are considered to be an alcoholic.
Risky consumption even without addiction
Risky and later harmful consumption begins long before addiction. Alcohol becomes a cane: people don’t drink for pleasure, but to relieve stress, frustration and anxiety. And you drink to an extent that damages your body and soul and leads to conflicts with your environment.
