Alcohol-use quiz: The cost of crossing the line

Small amounts of alcohol may help protect against diabetes, some types of cardiovascular disease and even gallstones. However, heavier drinking could wipe out those beneficial effects and create greater risks. Drinking more than a small to moderate amount of alcohol can increase your risk of heart disease, stroke, liver disease, pancreatitis, osteoporosis and a variety of cancers, such as breast, gastrointestinal, oral, larynx, pharynx and esophageal.

Moderate drinking is considered, in general, to be no more than two drinks a day for men and one drink a day for women.

It may seem unfair, but women and men do respond differently to alcohol. Women become more impaired than men after drinking the same amount of alcohol, even when differences in body weight are factored in. That's why drinking recommendations differ, depending on whether you're a man or a woman.

The reason for the difference between men and women is that women's bodies have less water than men's bodies do. The alcohol that you consume mixes with your body's water content. If you have less water, the alcohol concentration is higher.

In addition, alcohol abuse exacts a heavier toll on women than it does on men. Alcohol dependence and associated health problems occur more quickly in women, for instance. Women also risk unintended pregnancies. Like their male counterparts, they face risky sexual behavior, sexually transmitted diseases, violence and unintentional injuries.

If you're a woman and you're drinking, don't try to keep up with the guys just to prove you can do it. You'll set yourself up for major health risks.

Evidence shows that any amount of alcohol may harm an unborn baby. It's well established that heavy alcohol use during pregnancy can cause fetal alcohol syndrome, a group of birth defects that includes physical, mental and behavioral problems. Moderate alcohol consumption can cause other neurodevelopmental problems. There's also evidence that even light drinking can cause problems, such as cranial abnormalities and low birth weight. Moderate to heavy alcohol use may also be associated with a higher risk of spontaneous abortion and sudden infant death syndrome.

While it's true that not all pregnant women who drink will have a child with alcohol-related problems, it's not known why some women do and some don't. That's why any alcohol use during pregnancy is considered unsafe.

There are no health benefits of alcohol use during pregnancy to either the mother or baby. There is evidence, however, that a fetus exposed to alcohol is more likely to develop alcohol abuse problems as an adolescent or adult.

You don't need to experience social, legal or other problems in order to have a problem with alcohol. You can engage in excessive drinking and face alcohol-related health problems even though you're not dependent on alcohol and don't lose control after drinking. In that case, you may have what's known as alcohol abuse. Both alcoholism and alcohol abuse can be dangerous to your health and well-being — and to those around you. Although not everyone who abuses alcohol goes on to develop alcoholism, many do.

Some signs and symptoms of alcoholism and alcohol abuse include:

• Drinking alone or in secret
• Not remembering conversations or events
• Feeling an urge to drink
• Irritability if alcohol isn't available
• Hiding or hoarding alcohol
• Building up a tolerance to alcohol so that you need an increasing number of drinks to feel its effects

The good news is that effective treatment is available for alcoholism and alcohol abuse. Counseling, medications and self-help measures can all help you overcome problems with alcohol.

Binge drinking generally means consuming five or more drinks on a single occasion — that is, within a period of a couple of hours. For women, binge drinking often is set at four drinks on one occasion.

Even if you don't drink every day, this kind of rapid ingestion of alcohol is associated with numerous health problems, such as:

• Accidental injuries from motor vehicle crashes, falls, drownings, hypothermia and burns
• Suicide
• Alcohol poisoning
• Heart attack
• Gastritis
• Pancreatitis
• Sexually transmitted diseases
• Poor diabetes control

Even though all states have a minimum drinking age of 21, that hasn't stopped underage drinking. Nearly 30 percent of those under 21 report having consumed alcoholic beverages.

This isn't merely harmless adolescent experimentation. Alcohol is a leading risk factor among the top three causes of death in children:

• Unintentional injuries, including car crashes and drownings
• Suicides
• Homicides

Worse, more than 25 percent of underage drinkers report binge drinking at least once during a typical month. Binge drinking is also a problem on college campuses, where students often turn it into a game, sometimes with deadly consequences.

Talk to your children about the dangers of underage drinking. Raising the minimum drinking age hasn't been enough on its own to stop youngsters from drinking.

Alcohol continues to play a major role in crashes. Just over 2 percent of U.S. adults admit to driving under the influence in a given month. While that may not seem like a high percentage, the results can be disastrous. Some 17,000 people die a year in alcohol-related crashes, accounting for 41 percent of all traffic-related fatalities.

In addition, despite so-called zero tolerance laws that make it illegal in all 50 states for people under 21 to drink and drive, many youngsters aren't heeding the law. Some 21 percent of youngsters ages 16 to 20 say they've driven while under the influence of either alcohol or drugs, putting themselves and others at risk of death or serious injury.

Talk to your children about the dangers of drinking and driving, and practice what you preach.

Coffee's about as helpful as a cold shower or a brisk walk in sobering you up. That is, it isn't helpful at all. Coffee will not lower your blood alcohol concentration — the proportion of alcohol to blood in your body.

Just one alcoholic drink can impair your ability to perform certain tasks necessary for safe driving, such as braking, steering, changing lanes and exercising good judgment. The only way to lower your blood alcohol concentration is to stop drinking and wait until your body metabolizes the alcohol you've already had.

Eating food to "soak up" the alcohol won't help, either. Once you're intoxicated, food won't sober you up — your body has already absorbed the alcohol. Eating before or while drinking, however, can slow down how quickly your body absorbs the alcohol. But it won't prevent you from getting drunk — and impaired — if you drink too much.