It is common to encourage students to “stay within your limit” when giving advice about drinking. “But, what is the limit?” they ask.

There are health limits of all sorts. There is a speed limit for safe driving, a target pulse limit for safe exercising, a cholesterol limit for safe eating and even a radiation limit. Why is the limit for safe drinking left up to the drinker? Is there no objective data to suggest a safe drinking limit?

A thorough review of the alcohol research literature provides two similar answers. A safe limit for alcohol consumption by healthy people is:

Not more than two or three drinks in any one day.

Most medical literature, as well as research conducted by the National Cancer Institute and the National Institute on Alcoholism and Alcohol Abuse, suggests that drinking two or three drinks daily does not significantly impair one’s health.

A “drink” is defined as either a five-ounce glass of wine, a can of beer, a mixed drink or 1 1/2 shots of liquor.

“Two or three drinks daily” is an absolute figure, not an average. That means you cannot drink seven beers Friday and nine Saturday, then abstain from drinking all week and still meet this criteria.

At any party or “drinking event” the drinker’s blood alcohol does not exceed .05 pecent.

Blood alcohol level (BAL) is the objective measurement of how much alcohol is available in the blood to affect the brain. BAL is used universally as a measure of intoxication. It is what the police measure when someone is stopped for DUI.

At BAL below .05 percent, a person is not considered intoxicated or impaired. Most people have no idea what BAL .05 percent means as far as their own drinking behavior. The following is a formula to translate BAL .05 percent into the number of safe drinks:

(Weight Value) X (Time Constant) = number of safe drinks

Weights and hours spent drinking can be converted into weight values and time constants by using the following table.

Weight values

00 lbs. = 1.525 lbs. = 2.060 lbs. = 2.595 lbs. = 3.0

230 lbs. = 3.5

Time Constants

hr = 1.0

2 hrs = 1.5

3 hrs = 1.75

4 hrs = 2.0

5 hrs = 2.3

For pregnant women, alcoholics and people who are ill or on medication, alcohol use might always be dangerous. Drinking on an empty stomach, gulping drinks and other factors might lower your safe drink limit. For more information, call the Health Center at 753-9745.