Alcohol consumption "How Much Is Too Much?"

Is drinking alcohol harming my health now, or will it be harmful to me later in life? Should I stop drinking alcohol? Am I a binge drinker?

Most adults who drink alcoholic beverages (beer, wine, or liquor) consume safe and healthy amounts. For others, unsafe drinking patterns increase their risk for injury, illness or future alcohol problems. And, for 1 in 13 American adults, alcohol abuse or alcohol dependence (alcoholism) causes substantial harm to their health and disruption in their lives.

If you consume alcoholic beverages, it's important to know whether your drinking patterns are safe, risky or harmful.

Alcohol Facts:

• The alcohol contents of a regular beer, glass of dinner wine and shot of whiskey or other distilled spirit (80 proof) are all the same.
  
• 83% of American adolescents don't drink alcohol.
• Drinking among high school seniors has dropped 30% since 1982.
  
• Average age at first drink has risen from 16.1 in 1984 to 16.2 in 2002.
• Distilled spirits (whiskey, brandy, rum, tequila, gin, etc.) contain no carbohydrates, no fats of any kind, and no cholesterol

source:http://www.alcoholscreening.org/index.asp