Drinking Patterns and Their Definitions

The number of drinks a person consumes and the rate at which he or she consumes them influence how much alcohol enters the brain and how impaired that person becomes. Many people are surprised to learn what counts as a drink. The amount of liquid in one’s glass, can, or bottle does not necessarily match up to how much alcohol is in the drink. To facilitate research and clinical care and to help individuals make informed choices about how much alcohol they are consuming, public health agencies in the United States have established a definition of a standard drink, as well as definitions of various alcohol consumption patterns. These definitions facilitate objective assessments of how much a person is drinking, enable comparisons of alcohol consumption within and across studies, and help consumers follow low-risk drinking guidelines