What is a “standard drink?”
The body can typically process one standard drink per hour. If you make the decision to drink, know what you are consuming. The size of a container is not the best way to measure “a” drink. To make low-risk drinking choices staying within these limits will help reduce and avoid negative consequences related to drinking:
Women: no more than 2 drinks a day and no more than 7 drinks per week
Men: no more than 3 drinks a day and no more than 14 drinks per week.
What counts as “one drink?”
A standard measure that will apply to different types of alcohol beverage regardless of how they are served.
Beer – most domestic beer is 4 to 5% alcohol, served in a 12 ounce can or bottle. This means an average beer contains about 1/2 ounce of pure alcohol,
Wine – the average table wine contains 12% alcohol, so 4 ounces of wine contains about 1/2 ounce of pure alcohol,
Liquor/hard alcohol – one ounce of 100 proof of liquor contains 1/2 ounce of pure alcohol.
Measured in this way – beer, wine and liquor contain about 1/2 ounce of pure alcohol, which is a little more that the average amount of alcohol that the body can process in an hour. For this reason, that amount has become the standard for one drink.
