The last nutrition guideline for Americans is if you drink alcoholic beverages at all, do so in moderation.
Alcoholic beverages supply a lot of calories but few other nutrients.
Because so many people have problems controlling alcohol intake, most medical recommendations suggest not drinking or not increasing the amount you currently drink. A problem for many people is how to define moderation. The official definition is no more than one drink per day for women and no more than two drinks a day for men. Light to moderate drinkers have less heart disease than non-drinkers. But heavy drinkers have higher rates of heart disease, stroke, and several types of cancer.