Everything one single alcoholic drink can do to your body

'Just one won’t hurt' is something we tell ourselves often, but when it comes to alcohol, it just might.

Enjoying one drink per day seems like a great way to moderate life’s little pleasures, but what you may not know is that even just one alcoholic drink can start to make changes to your body.

According to a large-scale study, cited by Medical News Today, no amount of alcohol is safe to drink.

As per senior author Dr Emmanuela Gakidou, the long-held belief that two drinks per day is fine is a 'myth'.

She explained that her team found that any amount of alcohol consumed could actually increase your risk of death... Even if you are a light drinker.

Drinking any form alcohol can be bad for you (Klaus Vedfelt/ Getty Stock)

Recently, Washington University School of Medicine in the US revealed just what a single glass of alcohol can do to you.

Published in the journal Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research, it analysed data collected from 434,321 people aged between 18 and 85, and what it found was chilling.

It found that those who drank one or two drinks four or more times a week were 20 percent more likely to die a premature death than those who drank three or less times per week.

Now, this statistic wasn’t based on age, as it was seen across the board for the entire group.

“It used to seem like having one or two drinks per day was no big deal, and there even have been some studies suggesting it can improve health,” said first author Dr Sarah M. Hartz.

“But now we know that even the lightest daily drinkers have an increased mortality risk.”

A study found that alcohol consumption can increase the risk of death (Dragon Claws/ Getty Stock)

“A 20 percent increase in risk of death is a much bigger deal in older people who already are at higher risk,” Dr Hartz added. “Relatively few people die in their 20s, so a 20 percent increase in mortality is small but still significant.”

She went on to say that as people get older, they risk death from many other causes - ‘20 percent risk increase at age 75 translates into many more deaths than it does at age 25.’

While studies suggest that drinking one glass or less each day could protect a person from cardiovascular issues, the risks far outweigh the rewards, say researchers.

“Consuming one or two drinks about four days per week seemed to protect against cardiovascular disease, but drinking every day eliminated those benefits,” said Dr Hartz.

"With regard to cancer risk, any drinking at all was detrimental."