One of the prickliest parts of any initial clinic visit are the questions pertaining to health habits, especially alcohol.
A typical exchange:
“Do you drink alcohol?” I ask.
“Oh, you know, just socially,” is the common response from this and many other patients.
Given the chief reason for this patient’s visit is memory loss, I gently follow up with, “Define what you mean by social drinking.”
“You know, drinking in moderation,” she answers defensively. “A bottle of wine at night after a few cocktails.”
Everywhere you look, including on the bottle itself, we are urged ‘to drink responsibly.’ Yet, no one seems to know exactly what that means and more importantly, very few people want to admit exactly how much they drink.
Although there’s been a global dip in alcohol consumption, the U.S. is the only country to have an increase in the amount of alcohol consumed. Locally, Arizona is among the top 5 states for alcohol-related deaths.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention define a standard drink as about a half an ounce of pure alcohol, which varies by the spirit you imbibe. The highest percentage of alcohol is found in a shot of distilled liquor like gin or vodka while the lowest is in a traditional beer— about 5%.
So then what is moderate drinking? According to the National Dietary Guidelines for Americans, the acceptable amount is one alcoholic drink per day for a woman and two drinks per day for a man, consumed on a single day with no averaging for the week.
More than that is considered excessive. Consequences of excessive drinking include nerve and liver damage.
So if you drink any alcohol, don’t say you drink just socially when asked by your doctor. That’s the medical equivalent of yada…yada…yada. No one’s judging, and it may have a larger impact on your diagnosis and treatment than you realize.
Dr. Sirven is the chairman of neurology at the Mayo Clinic.