Health
Doctors reveal what ‘reasonable’ drinking looks like — and who should avoid alcohol
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With 40% of adults resolving to drink less alcohol in 2026, according to a recent survey, some may be struggling to find a healthy balance.
Health experts agree that each person’s relationship with alcohol is unique, based on history, tolerance and lifestyle.
Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel, a Pennsylvania-based oncologist and author of the new book “Eat Your Ice Cream: Six Simple Rules for a Long and Healthy Life,” has noted that indulging in certain activities – like eating ice cream or drinking alcohol – may not be healthy to do every day, but can provide some benefits in moderation.
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“There has been a lot of research on alcohol,” he said in a recent interview with “CBS Sunday Morning.” “The safest level is probably zero. There are some studies … where it’s half a cup a day, three cups a week.”
“On the other hand, 60% [to] 65% of the public drinks,” he went on. “You’re not going from 65% to zero, so you have to give people reasonable advice.”
A doctor shared “reasonable” drinking advice for striking a balanced relationship with alcohol. (iStock)
Emanuel advised against binge-drinking or drinking alone, both of which are “really bad for you.”
“[But] if you’re using alcohol as a lubricant for social interaction, which many people do, that’s probably good,” he said. “You’re getting some benefit from the social interaction.”
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When social drinking becomes risky
While drinking’s stress-relieving factors may be helpful for some, indulging in alcoholic drinks can be risky for those with a pre-disposition to addiction, experts caution.
In a recent episode of “The Huberman Lab” podcast, Dr. Andrew Huberman and guest Dr. Keith Humphreys, professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Stanford School of Medicine, discussed the fine line between indulging for pleasure and potentially fostering an issue.
Experiences with alcohol can be different for every individual, experts say. (iStock)
According to Huberman, who is also a Stanford University neuroscientist, up to 10% of people experience alcohol as a “dopaminergic,” making them feel “spectacularly good.”
Others may drink and experience a cue to stop, like dizziness, nausea, “blacking out,” severe hangovers or other negative effects.
“The safest level is probably zero.”
“Some people really can drink five or six drinks, and then the next day they’re at work hammering away,” he said. “The conversation becomes very difficult to have, because it sounds like it’s highly individual how people will react.”
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High-risk groups
One of the greatest risk factors for becoming an alcoholic is having your first drink before the age of 14, according to Huberman.
“I find that some people will have their first drink, and it’s like a magic elixir for their physiology,” he said. “And there are very few things that can get somebody like that to stop drinking, except the risk of losing everything.”
While drinking’s stress-relieving factors may be helpful for some, indulging in alcoholic drinks can be risky for those with a pre-disposition to addiction, experts caution. (iStock)
Humphreys said the biggest indicator of personal risk is whether alcoholism runs in someone’s family — particularly if their parents were alcoholics.
“The father-to-son link is the strongest one you see in genetics,” he said. “Men drink more than women do … whether they’ve got an alcohol problem or not.”
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Drinking alcohol has been shown to be particularly harmful for women, as the risk of developing hormone-related cancers substantially increases.
Risk vs. benefit
For those who are not predisposed to addiction, Huberman noted that some studies suggest that certain types of consumption are OK in moderation, such as drinking red wine or having a maximum of two drinks per week.
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“I would love to believe [red wine] is healthy,” Humphreys responded. “It’s not … Why would there be a benefit to red wine that wasn’t in other alcoholic beverages?”
“There might be some cardiac benefits, but we don’t get to live our lives as single organs. We have a whole body,” he went on. “If that’s true, it’s smaller than the cancer risk. So, your net is you’re not going to get any mortality reduction from drinking alcohol.”
“I would love to believe [red wine] is healthy,” one expert said. “It’s not … Why would there be a benefit to red wine that wasn’t in other alcoholic beverages?” (iStock)
Drinking two drinks per week — such as a 12-ounce beer, 4-ounce glass of wine or a 1-ounce shot of liquor — poses only a “very small risk” of health complications, but it’s not something Humphreys would recommend, as it’s “just not good for you,” he said.
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Despite the risks, however, the experts acknowledged the stress-relieving and social benefits of having a drink.
“Getting together with friends is enjoyable, enriching,” Humphreys said. “Good food and good wine taste good, and I value those things. And there are many other decisions we make like that where we endure some risk because we care about something else.”
“It’s dangerous for someone my age to hike up a mountainside probably, but if the view is spectacular, I can say, ‘Oh, I’m going to accept that risk.’”
“Good food and good wine taste good, and I value those things.”
What’s become most dangerous about social drinking, according to Humphreys, is that some people feel they need to explain themselves when they stop.
Huberman echoed, “If you don’t drink at parties, or you refuse an offer of alcohol, people think there’s something wrong with you.”
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Given recent data on the risks of alcohol consumption, Humphreys said it should be simple to say no, much like opting not to smoke a cigarette.
“Health is a reason people still accept, I think, as a legitimate [reason] for changing behavior,” he added.
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South Carolina health officials are warning of “irreversible” neurological damage in children as measles-related hospitalizations climb in the state.
Of the 876 confirmed cases in the state’s upstate outbreak, at least 19 patients have been admitted with serious complications.
“Some of these complications include measles encephalitis, or inflammation of the brain, in children and pneumonia,” state epidemiologist Linda Bell said in a Feb. 4 briefing.
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Bell emphasized that the complication is particularly dangerous for young patients.
“Any time you have inflammation of the brain … there can be long-term consequences, things like developmental delays and impacts on the neurologic system that can be irreversible,” the expert warned.
Some of the more serious measles-related complications include measles encephalitis, or inflammation of the brain, in children, as well as pneumonia. (iStock)
While the state does not systematically track every medical complication, pneumonia is the leading cause of measles-related death among young children, affecting approximately one in every 20 infected minors, according to CDC data.
A total of 147 students are quarantined across 10 K-12 schools, Bell noted.
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The outbreak also poses a risk to expectant mothers. Because the MMR (measles, mumps and rubella) vaccine cannot be administered during pregnancy, several exposed women recently required emergency treatment with immune globulin to provide “passive immunity.”
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Bell noted that this is critical to “protect them against the high risk of complications during pregnancy and to protect their newborn babies.”
The measles virus is notoriously contagious, capable of lingering in the air for up to two hours after an infected person has left a room, experts say.
Pneumonia is the leading cause of death from measles in young children, affecting approximately one in every 20 infected minors. (iStock)
South Carolina saw a historic surge in vaccinations in January. In particular, Spartanburg County saw a 162% increase in MMR vaccinations compared to the previous year.
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“I’m hoping that what we can attribute [the vaccine surge] to is a wider recognition of the threat of this disease circulating in our communities and the desire for people to be protected against the complications,” Bell said in the briefing.
A new case in the Pee Dee region suggests the virus may be spreading beyond the initial upstate clusters through “unrecognized community transmission.” (Paul Bersebach/MediaNews Group/Orange County Register via Getty Images)
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Health officials continue to urge the public to seek vaccinations, especially as a new case in the Pee Dee region suggests the virus may be spreading beyond the initial upstate clusters through “unrecognized community transmission.”
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As far as the encephalitis and pneumonia fears, “these are complications we hope to prevent,” Bell added.
“Increasing vaccination coverage protects those who cannot be vaccinated, like young infants, pregnant women and those with weakened immune systems.”
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Surgeons at Northwestern Medicine in Chicago were able to keep a critically ill patient alive for 48 hours after removing both of his lungs, the hospital reported last week.
The patient, a 33-year-old Missouri resident whose name was not shared, was originally flown to Northwestern Memorial Hospital with lung failure linked to a flu infection in spring 2023.
When his condition escalated to severe pneumonia and sepsis, his heart stopped and the team performed CPR, according to a press release on the case.
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“He had developed an infection of his lungs that just could not be treated with any antibiotics because it was resistant to everything,” said Ankit Bharat, M.D., chief of thoracic surgery and executive director of the Northwestern Medicine Canning Thoracic Institute. “That infection caused his lungs to liquify and then continued to progress to the rest of his body.”
The lungs needed to be removed to stop the spread of infection, but there was a dangerous risk of immediate heart failure.
“He had developed an infection of his lungs that just could not be treated with any antibiotics because it was resistant to everything,” said Ankit Bharat, M.D., chief of thoracic surgery and executive director of the Northwestern Medicine Canning Thoracic Institute (pictured). (Northwestern Medicine)
“The lungs act as a ‘shock absorber’ for the right side of the heart; when you remove them, the heart pumps against high resistance and can fail instantly,” Bharat told Fox News Digital.
“Another critical danger is that without blood flowing from the lungs to the left heart, the left heart chambers can collapse or form deadly clots.”
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While the man remained on life support, the medical team designed a “total artificial lung system” (TAL) that took over gas exchange (oxygenation and CO₂ removal) and maintained blood flow to the heart in hopes that it could keep the patient alive after both of his diseased lungs were removed.
“A key innovation here is that we maintained the heart’s natural physiology. By using a ‘flow-adaptive’ design, we allowed the patient’s own heart to regulate blood flow, rather than forcing it with a machine,” Bharat said.
“Just one day after we took out the lungs, his body started to get better because the infection was gone.”
“Just one day after we took out the lungs, his body started to get better because the infection was gone.”
After 48 hours, the patient was stable enough to proceed with a double-lung transplant. Two years later, he is back to his regular routine.
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“The patient is doing remarkably well,” Dr. Bharat said. “He has excellent lung function, his heart function is preserved and he is completely functionally independent.”
This was the first successful application of this specific type of system, according to the medical team.
The medical team designed a “total artificial lung system” that maintained blood flow to the heart until the transplant could be placed. (Northwestern Medicine)
“While the concept of removing lungs and bridging to transplant has been attempted in rare cases historically, those prior attempts faced significant limitations regarding blood flow management and the risk of clots,” Bharat told Fox News Digital.
“Our system is novel because it includes a self-regulating ‘shunt’ that mimics the natural physics of the lung to protect the heart, and it uses dual return tubes to maintain normal blood flow through the left heart chambers.”
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In a case study, which was published last week in the Cell Press journal Med, experts revealed a “molecular analysis” of the removed lungs, showing extensive scarring and damage. This supports the idea that in some severe cases of acute respiratory distress syndrome, transplantation may be the only viable option.
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Researchers hope that the TAL system could eventually be a viable strategy for patients who are waiting for donor lungs — specifically, those with severe acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) along with necrotizing pneumonia or septic shock.
The patient’s new transplant is shown at left, and his old lungs are shown at right. “This technology allows us to ‘clean the slate’ by removing the infection, stabilizing the patient and bridging them to a successful transplant,” the lead surgeon said. (Northwestern Medicine)
“These patients have a mortality rate exceeding 80% and are often turned down for transplant because they are too infected,” Dr. Bharat said. “This technology allows us to ‘clean the slate’ by removing the infection, stabilizing the patient and bridging them to a successful transplant.”
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In the future, he added, they hope to develop durable, implantable artificial lungs that patients can live with long-term, not just as a bridge to transplant.
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