Jan 06 2009
Is Alcohol good for you? For Whom, How Much and How To…?
Boozing and partying can excite anyone. This is indeed considered as a part of the ‘real life’. Today, people do not think twice before they indulge in heavy drinking. They do not fear accidents while driving or a lot of health hazards that comes as a package with large amount of alcohol consumption.
Consuming alcohol is not bad as far as one indulges in ‘sensible drinking’. Now, sensible drinking does not indicate missing out on all the fun. It just means to live for the other day and have fun everyday. What fun it is to indulge heavily on alcohol today and land up in a hospital for treatment the rest of your life? Let’s promote sensible drinking. Let’s promote life.
What is sensible drinking?
Sensible drinking is drinking moderate amounts of alcohol. This does not result in any problems. According to the Department of Health, men should limit to only three to four units of alcohol each day and women should not exceed two to three units of alcohol per day.
Now, learning this about sensible or moderate drinking is not enough. One needs to understand that moderation varies with the age and sex of an individual.
The official definition of a drink is as mentioned below:
a) Beer – 12 ounces
b) Wine – 4-5 ounces
c) 80 proof spirits – 1.5 ounces
Unit of alcohol:
a) 1 unit of alcohol – 10ml pure alcohol
b) 3 units of alcohol – 1 pint of strong lager
c) 2 units of alcohol – 175ml glass of wine or 1 pint of ordinary lager
d) 1.5 units of alcohol – 1 alcopop
e) 1 unit of alcohol – 1 measure of spirit
To be precise, moderate intake is one that does not exceed more than a drink a day for woman and two drinks for a man. One also needs to understand that portion inflation tends to affect one’s glass. Most of the restaurants and bars tend to serve more than the standard-sized drinks. In fact, studies say that what’s usually served as a drink can actually be equal to two or more than two drinks. This is quite a pleasure but counts as overindulgence that leads to a lot of health problems.
There are varied guidelines under sensible drinking for men and women and the old.
The reason is simple alcohol tends to affect men and women differently. A woman tends to get a lot more intoxicated as compared to a man for the same amount of alcohol. Women are smaller and have a lower percentage of water retention with a higher percentage of body fat.
Now, alcohol gets distributed via body water and holds a property of being more soluble in water as compared to in fat. The BAC or Blood Alcohol Concentrations in women are known to be higher.
There is a stomach enzyme in human bodies that helps in breathing down alcohol prior to reaching the blood stream. Unfortunately, this enzyme is less active in women. Additionally, heavy intake of alcohol tends to create a lot of health problems in women. There is a heavy risk of osteoporosis and liver damage resulting from heavy drinking in women.
In case, of the older people, the definition of moderate drinking further changes. Experts feel that after the age of 65, women should restrict to half a drink per day and one drink per day for men. The reason is that it is very difficult to hold alcohol in the body or an individual is over the age of 65. This will end up in having a higher amount of BAC as compared to a young individual. Furthermore alcohol can also interfere with several medications older people tend to take in order to improve their health condition.
Benefits of taking moderate alcohol:
A lot of studies and researches have come to a conclusion that moderate drinkers are at a lower risk of heart disease. This is about 30-50 per cent lower as compared to the non drinkers.
There are also proofs related to a lot of researches that say that a heart attack in a moderate drinker results in lower risk of heart failure as compared to teetotalers or heavy drinkers. Also people who drink moderately at older age tends to have minimized risk of heart failure.
The reason is that alcohol tends to raise HDL or good cholesterol blood levels. These are responsible to removing cholesterol from blood stream, thereby preventing hardening of arteries. Alcohol also tends to minimize the stickiness of blood platelets, thereby prevent blood clots that causes heart attack.
There are many other health benefits of having alcohol such as protecting against is chemic stroke. There are also some studies that suggest cutting down the risk of developing serious diseases such as dementia and Alzheimer’s.
Risks of indulging in more than moderate drinking:
There are a lot of studies stating that people drinking more than what’s defined as moderate drinking have lowest mortality rate. The American Cancer Society considers alcohol as a great risk factor for breast cancer among women. This mainly occurs due to heavy drinking. Other risks of heavy alcohol consumption include the following:
a) Mouth cancers
b) Esophagus cancers
c) Liver cancers
d) Bladder cancers
e) Pancreas cancers
f) Colon cancers
Pregnant women should steer clear of alcohol. In fact, they need to abstain from drinking. Heavy drinking can also damage brain and pancreas. It may also result in hemorrhagic stroke.
It is also important to stay away from drinking alcohol under the following conditions:
a) Prior to or when operating equipment and machinery.
b) Using electrical equipment
c) Taking part in active sport
d) Planning a family
e) During pregnancy
f) During driving
g) Before driving
It is also very important to remember that there are penalties for drinking and driving and also drinking above a safe limit.
Dealing with a drink problem can be quite challenging. However, it is easy to get support from a local doctor or any of the local support organizations such as Alcoholics Anonymous or many more. You can also be free to talk to the following. Drink helpline known as Drinkline:
0800 917 8282
Safe drinking and sensible drinking is a key to promote healthy, safe and happy life.
Live and let live!
