Spotlight on Alcohol:

#lifestyle #alcohol #health #guidelines #science

Jen Pfeifler APD M.s. | Just. Love. Pears. nutrition | October 2020

ALCOHOL. We all have had our trial and errors; whether from a college frat party, tailgating at your favorite football game, a wedding gone wild, or a girls night out, the majority of us have fallen victim to the effects of alcohol.

I'm not here to put a damper on your fun, but to merely be the messenger of the effects of alcohol on your health, how much is "safe" and some tips that could improve your experience with the dreaded hangover. What you do with this information is in every right, yours to make! I'll preference this by saying I most certainly enjoy a few drinks when the occasion arises!

1) What does alcohol do that causes a health hazard in the first place?

Putting aside alcohol's nutritional value and metabolic process for the purpose of this article, it is in essence, a toxin that impairs your immune system and increases inflammation in the body. It also has been known to impact hormones which is why it may increase breast cancer rates. Alcohol is criticized the most for it's correlation with cancer, which given it's immune suppression characteristic, makes sense.

The liver is the main organ that is put in over drive. Over time with consistently high alcohol intake, the liver gets stiffer and stiffer putting one at risk of alcohol related liver disease (ALD). However, multiple factors including Intake, genes, lifestyle, diet and current health markers are all involved with determining how much alcohol will lead to ALD, heart disease, risk of stroke or cancer.

2) Acute affects of alcohol:

The increased difficulty to multitask, slowed reaction time, decreased ability to feel pain and inability to override the "stop" signal are are some noticeable effects you might have experienced. This might be why "dumb decisions" are made as your ability to say 'no' becomes impaired. Interestingly, you may feel warmer when you start drinking, but in fact the opposite happens. Alcohol actually increases blood to the skin, which means the body loses heat quicker.

3) Why do some people become intoxicated quicker than others?

This doesn't necessarily have to do with body weight, although it usually seems that way, due to the main factor involving your body's water concentration. This is what determines your blood alcohol concentration (BLC), and what is measured when you are breathalyzed. Your muscle mass retains water, so if you want to increase your ability to tolerate more alcohol naturally, you have to increase muscle mass. Unfortunately, for both men and women this is the only way!

Tips to keep your blood alcohol concentration down while out on the town:

1) Always line your stomach with food. Because your stomach lining has some enzymes that can metabolize alcohol (similar to the liver) eating food helps "hold up" the alcohol allowing your stomach to do some of the liver's job. Contrary to what people think, alcohol is actually absorbed in the small intestine, not the stomach! Interestingly, men have more of these enzymes in the stomach, which contributes to why men tend to tolerate their alcohol better than women, and perhaps where the myth about alcohol being absorbed in the stomach came from.

2) Drink at a slower pace to help from overloading your system and keeping your blood alcohol concentration lower. Try alternating alcohol with a sparkling water or soda if you are susceptible to pouring it down the hatch quickly.

4) Latest Guidelines for men and women:

14 units or 1 standard drink a day and for both men and women is the newest guideline as of 2020. This has recently changed for men with a new report by the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee that has changed the guidelines for men from 2 drinks a day to 1, now parallel with the guidelines for women.

5) Who does alcohol actually benefit?

Women aged 55 and older can enjoy 2 glasses of red wine a week which has been shown to have a protective effect against heart disease. This is due to the antioxidant containing polyphenols. Bear in mind, going over this amount will cancel out the protective effect. Why this protective effect is only for this demographic is not understood. For whatever reason, cheers to you women!

For an alcohol free day or simply an alternative, here is a list of polyphenol containing foods that are equivalent to a glass of red wine:

A small handful of walnuts

4 squares dark chocolate

A large apple

1 1/2 cups of tea, 1 cup almonds

1 cup blueberries

1/2 cup filtered coffee

A little over 1/2 cup pomegranate juice

2 cups cranberries

6) Hangover tips:

According to research, 1 in 5 people do not get hangovers for reasons not understood! For the remaining people, here are tips to avoid a nasty hangover.

1) Try going for spirits that are lighter in color. Generally darker spirits have a substance called congeners, which seems to make hangovers worse. To name a few, red wine and brandy having the highest amount of congeners and vodka and gin not having any congeners in them at all!

2) My personal favorite- Try having a breakfast rich in carbs to help with restoring sugars lost with alcohol consumption, which has some evidence that the drop in the body's glucose levels contributes to a hangover.

3) Pop an ibuprofen before you go to sleep or in the morning to help reduce inflammation caused by alcohol consumption

4) Not to state the obvious, but eliminating alcohol altogether is the best way to avoid that nasty hangover.

Want to know more about how you can improve health? Book online, drop an enquiry or call for a free chat today at jen@justloveperas.com or 850.380.6657 or visit www.justlovepears.com!

References: Alcohol advisory committee, BBC guidelines for alcohol consumption