Posts Tagged ‘Alcohol’

Drinking to Gain Less Weight? Health Blog

March 16th, 2010

Alcohol and Women's Weight Loss

Here’s something for women to toast: a study just published in the Archives of Internal Medicine showed that women who drink moderately gain less weight than women who do not drink at all.  The results seem counterintuitive, given the caloric content of alcoholic beverages and the expectation that drinking might entice women to sit around in a pleasant stupor instead of burning off calories at the gym. But after following 19,220 women enrolled in a long-term women’s health study at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston for 13 years, the researchers found that moderate drinking did indeed correlate to reduced weight gain.

The women, aged 39 or older, all began the study at healthy weights. Sixty percent claimed they drank lightly or moderately, and 40 percent did not drink at all. The study controlled for factors that might influence weight gain, including exercise, smoking, and diet. As the study progressed, 41 percent of the women crossed the line to become overweight or obese, with the nondrinkers leading that trend. In fact, those who did not drink became overweight at a 30 percent higher rate than the women who had a drink or two daily. The nondrinkers gained nine pounds, on average, over the course of the study, while the moderate drinkers gained only three.

Some drinks had more impact on keeping weight down than others, with red wine the most beneficial, but beer and spirits also did the trick to a lesser degree. Considering that a glass of wine averages about 125 calories while a pina colada tips in at 450 or so, it makes sense that two pina coladas would have a far greater impact on the waistline than two glasses of wine. But the researchers think it’s more than calories that make the difference in red wine’s beneficial impact. They believe that resveratrol, a compound found in grapes and wine, deserves at least some of the credit. In 2008, researchers at the University of Ulm in Germany reported that resveratrol inhibited the development of new fat cells, plus it hindered the storage of fat already in cells. Resveratrol also is credited for the beneficial cardiac effects of red wine.

So is resveratrol the lone hero making wine a weight loss boon? Well, probably not considering how little there is in red wine these days (about 1 mg per glass). So what’s going on here? In fact, researchers believe that the key factor is that women tend to substitute drinks for food, unlike men, who prefer to have their cake and drink beer too. Men eat normally when they drink and so drinking leads to weight gain for them, plain and simple. Just think of the iconic image of men sitting around TV watching a football game — fronted by a couple of pepperoni pizzas, a case of beer, and assorted bags of Cheetos and pork rinds. But women cut back on the food filling up on the beverages instead, and so their overall caloric intake goes down, particularly if their drink of choice is a low-calorie glass of wine.

But before you chuck the Jenny Craig and run out to Costco to stock up on discount wine, there are several factors to consider. First, as I’ve written before, studies show that drinking ups the cancer risk considerably. In fact, a study of over one million women at Oxford University in 2009 found that drinking even one glass of wine daily leads to a significant increase in the risk of certain cancers. Those who drank two glasses a day doubled that risk, showing a 12 percent increase in breast cancer, a 22 percent rise in laryngeal cancer, and significant increases in cancers of the rectum, liver, and mouth. A separate study that same year out of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center in Seattle, Washington, found no difference in breast cancer risk when comparing wine, beer, and liquor, and concluded that those who had two drinks daily increased their risk of developing breast cancer by 24 percent.  And in yet another study, Harvard researchers pooled and analyzed six studies and found that for every 10 grams of alcohol a woman drinks per day, her risk of breast cancer increases by 9 percent.  (Ten grams is slightly more than a third of an ounce.  A shot of scotch–or a jigger–is about 1.5 ounces.) “The risks far outweigh the benefits,” said Naomi Allen, the director of the Seattle study. That conclusion seems to apply in the weight-loss arena, as well. 

It’s also significant to note that more isn’t better.  After the second drink, the weight starts piling on for women as well as for men. Remember, a five-ounce serving of red wine has 125 calories, a shot of Scotch has 107 calories, a twelve-ounce serving of beer has 153 calories, and mixed drinks have far more.  The study specified that only moderate drinkers — again, one or two daily — fared well in relation to weight gain. The other purported benefits of drinking also decline after two.

In any event, substituting alcohol for food, even if it prevents weight gain, doesn’t make sense nutrition-wise. Cancer risk aside, calories from chardonnay or a sugary Pina Colada just can’t match calories from fresh organic foods for the energy content and nutritional value they deliver. Deliberately drinking to lose weight is like buying risky stocks to save for your kid’s college fund. You just might reap the benefits you hope for, but on the other hand, there are more reliable and safer pathways to the goal — such as dietary wisdom and exercise.

And finally, keep in mind that the women involved in the study didn’t actually lose weight — they only gained it a little more slowly.

:hc

Alcohol Plus Energy Drink Spells Disaster: Health Blog

March 13th, 2010

Energy Drinks Mixed With Alcohol

The term “mixed drink” usually conjures up visions of martinis, Mai Tais, margaritas and the like, but among the youth-set, a new type of cocktail has become popular. The drink is a combination of alcohol, usually vodka, and an energy drink like Red Bull or Rockstar — an upper and downer all in one. The combo is so popular, in fact, that it’s earned an acronym: AMED, meaning alcohol mixed with energy drink. Almost a third of college students drink AMED cocktails. The popularity probably has little to do with the taste, and everything to do with the effects.

“Combining energy drinks and alcohol can trick the brain, making people think they’re sober — or sober enough — when they’re not,” says Dr. Dennis Thombs of the University of Florida Medical School. Those who indulge believe they can enjoy the pleasures of getting drunk and then use the energy drink to switch over to sobriety in order to drive home. Unfortunately, Dr. Thombs found otherwise in a study he directed recently.

Surveying about 800 patrons emerging from bars in a college partying area, the researchers found that those who had combined alcohol and energy drinks actually were drunker than those who had consumed alcohol only. In fact, they were three times as likely to be drunk. The energy-cocktail subjects registered an average of .109 on the breath-alcohol scale, far higher than the legal driving limit of 0.08, and far higher than the average alcohol breath concentration of those who had alcohol only, which was 0.081. Also, the energy-drink consumers drank longer and harder than their alcohol-only compatriots, staying at the bars later and imbibing over longer periods of time.

After drinking the alcohol-caffeine cocktail, people apparently tend to overestimate their sobriety, falling into a condition dubbed “wide awake and drunk.” According to study co-author Dr. Bruce Goldberger, “There’s a very common misconception that if you drink caffeine with an alcoholic beverage the stimulant effect of the caffeine counteracts the depressant effect of the alcohol, and that is not true.” He explains that caffeine simply reduces the sleepiness that alcohol brings on, but it doesn’t reduce the intoxication. In other words, motor skills, judgment, and visual acuity all remain compromised. The sobering news is that, in spite of being intoxicated, the energy cocktail kids believed they were so alert that that they were four times more likely to say they planned to drive within the hour, compared to those who drank alcohol only.

Previous research has linked some unfortunate consequences to drinking energy cocktails. According to a 2007 study from Wake Forest University School of Medicine, those drinking the combo cocktail had two times the risk of being hurt or injured compared to those drinking just alcohol alone. They also had twice the risk of needing medical attention and were twice as likely to accept a ride from a drunk driver. Unfortunately, the effects extended even beyond injury risk. The Red Bull and vodka drinkers were twice as likely to sexually assault a partner, as well as twice as likely to be victims of sexual assault.

The impact of the caffeine is amplified, perhaps, because energy drinks contain so much caffeine. While the FDA sets a 65-milligram limit on the amount of caffeine allowed in a food or beverage serving, the FDA doesn’t regulate energy drinks so they can contain far more than that. A small can of Red Bull contains 80 milligrams, but if the cocktail contains Rockstar, that amount shoots up to 120 milligrams, and with Spike Shooter, it’s 300. On top of that, there’s the fact that energy drinks contain stimulants other than caffeine. Red Bull, for instance, also contains taurine, which may enhance the effects of alcohol, as well as glucuronolactone, which may stimulate the basal metabolic rate.

The thing is that both alcohol and energy drinks each have the potential to harm the body. The impact of alcohol is well known, but energy drinks are relatively new and many don’t realize that caffeine intoxication is a real risk, as is dependence, addiction, and withdrawal — if you consume too much.

All in all, it makes you think about the real meaning of Red Bull’s slogan, “It gives you wings.” By any chance, are they referring to the final outcome of your automobile accident?

:hc

Non-Drinkers Virtuous, but Depressed: Health Blog

October 20th, 2009

Drinking Alcohol

To drink, or not to drink: that is the question that the experts keep batting around, and the jury still is out. One week the news announces that red wine keeps the doctor away; the next it announces that drinking alcohol leads to cancer. For those on the love-to-drink side of the fence, a new study gives you something to toast.

The study, led by the Norwegian University of Science and Technology and the University of Bergen, analyzed data collected on 38,000 Norwegians. The researchers looked at drinking habits and mental health of the subjects, considering how much alcohol they had consumed in the two previous weeks and reviewing results of standardized tests that measure anxiety and depression levels. While it was indeed those who drank the most who turned up the most anxious, the surprise was that those who didn’t drink at all had an elevated incidence of anxiety compared to moderate drinkers. Even more surprising, though, was the fact that those who drank the least registered as most depressed. Those who hadn’t had a drink in the past two weeks were more depressed (and more anxious) than the moderate drinkers; those who abstained from alcohol completely were the most depressed of all.

It seems counter-intuitive that abstinence would bring on the blues since alcohol is a depressant, but in fact, the data showed that the happiest people consumed a few glasses of wine a week, or a bottle of beer, or a shot of hard liquor. To repeat, too much alcohol correlated with increasing depression, but again, not as much as complete abstinence. As the abstract for the study, published in the journal Addiction, concludes, “The risk of case-level anxiety and depression is elevated in individuals with low alcohol consumption compared to those with moderate consumption. Individuals who label themselves as abstainers are at particularly increased risk.”

But teetotalers need not despair. There is a silver lining in this study for them — sort of.

The reason for the increased depression, say the experts, probably has nothing to do with the effects of alcohol on the system, and everything to do with the context in which drinking occurs. According to study director Dr. Eystein Stordal, non-drinkers tend to be social misfits. “We see that this group is less socially well-adjusted than other groups. Generally when people are with friends, it is more acceptable in Western societies to drink than not to drink. While the questionnaire recorded non-drinkers’ subjective perception of the situation, a number of other studies also confirm that teetotalers experience some level of social exclusion.”

For those who don’t cop to the “if you can’t beat them, join them” mentality at cocktail hour, here’s some more unsettling analysis from the pros. Time Magazine says non-drinkers “have fewer close friends than drinkers, even though they tend to participate more often in organized social activities,” and “have a harder time making strong friendship bonds.” And a UPI article says, “…abstinence may be associated with being socially marginalized, or with particular personality traits that may also be associated with mental illness.”

The experts do also note that non-drinkers may have made the choice to abstain not because they’re lunatics, but because they have health issues that prevent them from drinking, and those health issues may have an independent effect on mood. And in fact, according to Dr. Stordal, “We found on average that there were more people with physical complaints among the non-drinkers than in the other groups. These individuals are more likely to use medicines that mean they shouldn’t drink. But it may also be true that having such an illness increases a person’s tendency to be anxious or depressed.”

In other words, if you don’t drink because you have cancer, it may be the cancer that makes you depressed and not the lack of merlot. Or, it could be the medications you take to battle the disease are triggering your depression. On the other hand, if you had a drinking problem in the past, as did 14 percent of the subjects now on the wagon, you might still be facing the internal and external issues that led you to drink in the first place, and now you have no substance with which to soothe yourself, which would lead, of course, to depression.

If you do choose to risk being a pariah and refuse to drink, you can take comfort in knowing that a study several years ago found that after seven days of abstinence from alcohol, brain cell proliferation doubled, and after four to five weeks, new neurons formed in the hippocampus. You can interpret those findings several ways. Perhaps they indicate that ignorance really is bliss — the more brain cells you have, the more miserable you get. On the other hand, maybe the analysts need to go on the wagon for a month or two themselves so they might notice that many non-drinkers don’t have a personality flaw, a physical ailment, a mental illness, or a history of substance abuse — they simply want to be conscious, clear, and happily depressed without the use of intoxicants.

:hc

Binge Drinking in Your Golden Years: Health Blog

August 29th, 2009

Binge Drinking, Senior Citizens

For at least some senior citizens, relaxing on the porch with a cup of tea just doesn’t cut it for entertainment — unless that tea happens to be spiked. The results of one of the largest-ever studies of substance abuse recently discovered that a surprising number of older adults enjoy binge drinking a bit too much. In fact, out of 11,000 respondents, 22 percent of men aged 50-64 and nine percent of women in that same age group had indulged in binge drinking in the previous 30 days. Plus, 19 percent of the men and 13 percent of the women drank two or more alcoholic beverages daily on an ongoing basis, which experts consider risky levels. Of those over 65, the binge-drinking numbers came in at 14 percent of men and three percent of women, with at-risk drinking on a daily basis applying to 13 percent of men and eight percent of women. Or as John Belushi said in Animal House, “Toga! Toga! Toga!”

The study, a joint project of Duke University and the National Survey on Drug Use and Health, analyzed results of surveys administered between 2005 and 2006.  Binge drinking was defined as consuming five or more drinks in a single sitting. (Toga!) Since the surveys relied on self-reporting and since the brain undoubtedly goes too fuzzy to count after a few drinks, it’s possible that even higher percentages of the nation’s seniors regularly get blotto. No wonder so many elders get into car accidents — and we worry about teens!  In fact, research shows that similar percentages of 50-64 year olds binge drink as do adolescents — slightly under 20 percent of those aged 12-20 (although that percentage skyrockets once the kids hit college).

According to study director Dr. Dan Blazer of Duke University, “A surprising number of older Americans are engaging in drinking patterns that are putting their health at risk, yet these problems often go unrecognized. Middle age and older adults may be easy to miss for at-risk or binge drinking because most clinicians are focused on excessive drinking behaviors among young people, such as those in college. [Older adults] often don’t show the typical signs of alcohol dependence.”

Or perhaps, many of those signs are ascribed to other possible causes such as side effects from prescription drugs or diabetes or heart disease.

Interestingly, the data showed that the higher the income, the greater the likelihood of binge drinking. Divorced, separated, or widowed men were more likely to binge drink. In general, men binged more than women did, as did smokers and those who indulged in recreational drugs.

The Duke University researchers expressed concern that heavy drinking poses more of a risk to elderly people than it does to teens, in part because so many older people take prescription medications that may interact with alcohol. Plus, drinking can exacerbate health problems typical among the elderly, such as hypertension, cardiovascular disease, and diabetes, and there’s a much greater chance of broken bones if elderly people fall when drunk. Dr. Blazer comments: “[Older people] don’t metabolize alcohol as quickly, they may be on medications, or they may have some health problems that alcohol may contribute to. On average, if a young person drinks five beers and an older person drinks five beers, the older person is almost certainly going to have more difficulty.”

But there is another side to this story. In contrast to Dr. Blazer’s concerns, another large-scale study a few years ago found that being over 65 doesn’t necessarily mean that drinking will have negative health consequences. That research analyzed drinking patterns of over 13,000 seniors in the US and England, and found that consuming up to two drinks a day usually caused no health problems; in fact, the subjects who had the two drinks a day fared better health-wise than those who didn’t drink at all. The director of that study, Dr. Iain Lang of the Peninsula Medical School, said, “Current guidelines on drinking for the elderly are too conservative, and a couple of drinks a day will do no harm, and will in fact have a more beneficial affect on cognitive and general health than abstinence.”  (Toga!)

(On a side note, that study found that heavy drinking among elders in the UK far exceeded the rate in the US, with 10.8 per cent of US men versus 28.6 per cent of UK men exceeding recommended daily drinking limits, and 2.9 per cent of US women versus 10.3 per cent in the UK. But that’s a subject to explore at our next toga party.)

So, to drink or not to drink, that is the question — if you’re over 50. Certainly, it isn’t safe to binge drink and then drive to Bingo, nor is it a good example for the kids. Binge drinking may impair your reputation, your judgment, and your health if pushed to the point where you’re incoherent and unsteady. But enjoying a few glasses of wine daily (as long as you avoid the heavy metals and pesticides) or an evening martini is unlikely to present much of a problem. Essentially, you can choose your study — if you love to drink, go with the UK study and make sure the rest of your health routines are clean and life-supporting. If drinking isn’t essential to your happiness, go with the Duke study, be righteous, abstain, and avoid wearing togas.

In any event, happiness correlates with longevity, and if drinking correlates to happiness for you, perhaps that’s something to consider when evaluating the Duke study and its call for needing far better mental health services for seniors.

:hc

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Drinking Leads to One in 25 Deaths: Health Blog

July 2nd, 2009

Alcohol Consumption

Here’s a shocker to mull over the next time you sip your glass of heart-healthy cabernet: alcohol consumption causes one in 25 deaths worldwide, according to new research. The study, published in The Lancet, found that the mortality rate in Europe and particularly in Eastern Europe, was actually far higher, with one out of every 10 deaths directly related to alcohol. Alcohol also causes up to six percent of all disability worldwide.

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Scientists and Doctors on Drugs: Health Blog

May 20th, 2008

Addicted Doctors, Doctor Safety, Prescription Addiction

Many modern anesthetics and pain killers were developed from experiments that scientists conducted on themselves, often getting addicted in the process. There was the chemist Humphry Davy,who discovered laughing gas in the early 1800’s, enjoyed it with the poets Robert Southey and Samuel Coleridge, but got so addicted that he never did anything with his discovery. Then there was dentist Horace Wells, who used the gas successfully to sedate his patients, but soon discovered chloroform, which he preferred, and sniffed his way into desperate addiction. Cocaine came on the scene after surgeons William Hall and Richard Halsted enjoyed testing the effects until they got hopelessly hooked. And so the stories go, right up to recent times with Timothy Leary and Richard Alpert exploring the limits of LSD in their Harvard labs.

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Alcohol – Good or Bad – Pick Your Study: Health Blog

March 11th, 2008

fields

Two reports examining the relationship between heart health and alcohol consumption came out this week, and the results couldn’t be more different. One study says a drink a day keeps the cardiologist away, while the other warns against alcohol consumption lest you boost your blood pressure.

The first study followed 7500 people over a four-year period and found that those who drank in moderation — a maximum of one drink a day for women and two drinks for men — were 38 percent less likely to develop heart disease than those who didn’t drink at all.  The results, published in the American Journal of Medicine, noted marked improvement in HDL cholesterol levels among the drinkers, as well as reduced incidence of heart attacks and other “cardiovascular events.” Those who drank only wine fared even better than those who consumed other alcoholic beverages.  Interestingly, in spite of the help to the heart afforded by alcohol, the study showed that drinking did not decrease the death rate, perhaps, the researchers suggested, because drinking has associated negative effects that counterbalance the positive.

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Alcohol and the Liver Detox: Health Blog

May 27th, 2007

alcohol

Recently I’ve received several questions from people asking if there are there any special considerations or, in fact, would it just be a waste of time for someone who is a heavy drinker who wants to do the liver cleanse. Are there any special precautions or would it be a waste of time? And what happens if they start drinking again right after the detox is done — or if they drink during the detox?

Interesting questions, these.

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