Drink less alcohol
Drinking less alcohol lowers health risks; choosing not to drink also lowers them.
What it costs
The effort to drink less, choose alcohol-free occasions, or stop drinking.
What you get
CDC’s current page says, “Drinking less is better for your health than drinking more,” and “You can lower your health risks by drinking less or choosing not to drink.” It also says, “The less alcohol you drink, the lower your risk for these health effects, including several types of cancer.”
Notes
The same CDC page still defines moderate alcohol use as two drinks or less in a day for men and one drink or less in a day for women. CDC also says the risk of some cancers increases with any amount of alcohol use, so the moderate-use definition is not a risk-free target: the direction the page gives is to drink less, or not at all.