While enjoying an occasional alcoholic beverage is unlikely to harm your health, drinking in excess can have substantial negative effects on your body and well-being. You may wonder at what point your drinking becomes harmful to your health, as well as how much is too much.

Is it OK to drink alcohol occasionally?

Even the occasional drink is harmful to health, according to the largest and most detailed research carried out on the effects of alcohol, which suggests governments should think of advising people to abstain completely.

Is it better to drink occasionally or not at all?

It concluded that the best option for overall health was no drinking at all. ... For example, the risk of heart attack and related cardiovascular disease was 14% lower for men drinking 0.8 drinks/day, and 18% lower for women drinking 0.9 drinks/day compared with none.