Why it’s important
The amount of alcohol you drink impacts your health
- Your liver can only process small amounts of alcohol.
- The rest of the alcohol can hurt your liver and harm other organs as it moves through your body.
- This is why the amount of alcohol you drink can increase your risk of getting ill, injured, or even dying sooner.
Standard drink sizes are important
- It can be hard to know how much alcohol is in a serving of beer, wine, liquor, or other type of alcohol.
- That is because different alcoholic products vary in the size and amounts of alcohol in them.
- For example, one can of beer might not have the same amount of alcohol, or standard drinks, as a can of a different kind of beer.
- Knowing what counts as one standard drink can help you figure out how much alcohol you drink.
Standard alcohol drink sizes
In the United States, a standard drink has 0.6 ounces (14 grams) of pure alcohol. The amount of pure alcohol in each drink depends on the alcohol content, or percent of alcohol by volume (ABV).
One standard drink is equivalent to:
- 12 ounces of beer with 5% alcohol.
- 8 ounces of malt liquor with 7% alcohol.
- 5 ounces of wine with 12% alcohol.
- A shot or 1.5 ounces of liquor or distilled spirts (80-proof liquor).
- 80 proof means the liquor has 40% alcohol.
- Brandy, gin, rum, tequila, vodka, and whiskey are examples of types of liquor.
Source: https://cdc.gov/alcohol/standard-drink-sizes/index.html