Do You Think When You Drink?

Most habitancy are now familiar that mild to moderate consumption of red wine reduces the risk of heart disease. This record will contemplate the risks as well as the benefits of drinking wine and alcohol, a topic which I feel is leading to raise with patients I see in the clinic, particularly those with ongoing condition challenges.

Cancer Awareness

You will have heard by now of the ironic discovery in the 70's called the "French paradox", which established that although many French habitancy smoke cigarettes and eat a diet high in saturated fats such as butter; they are still half as likely to die from cardiovascular disease than habitancy in many other countries. Years of investigate collectively involving more than 750,000 men and women has shown that drinking one to two glasses of red wine daily lowers the risk of heart disease, heart assault and cardiovascular associated deaths by up to 30 to 40 per cent. Much investigate since then has revealed rather that sensible (mild to moderate) drinkers have a tendency towards having a salutary lifestyle in general, they get plentifulness of sleep, and they make the right dietary choices, smoke itsybitsy if at all and exercise regularly. They also tend to have healthy, stress free communal lives, take less risks with their condition and have a "happy heart" in general, both emotional and physical. Scientists used to attribute French heart condition solely to a liking for red wine, but it seems there is a lot more to the French paradox than just wine; it is more likely that their Mediterranean diet high in fresh fruits and vegetables, olive oil, herbs, garlic and fish, having a regular low key red wine intake as well as their laid back Mediterranean stress-free lifestyle appear to be the most leading influences to heart health.

Male patients in particular tell me "but I plan that drinking wine was supposed to be good for your heart?" I think for many guys in particular the French anomaly has come to be a valid and scientifically endorsed calculate to drink on a daily basis, because "my doctor told me that red wine is good for me". Naturally, most habitancy want to hear that drinking a moderate amount of red wine each day appears to be beneficial for heart disease and may even expand their lifespan, but there is a lot more here than meets the eye. This to me is a bit like the strange plan that eating chocolate every day is somehow good for your body. Tell me honestly, how many habitancy can absolutely have one glass of red wine and one or two squares of dark chocolate daily? I call it unnecessary self-imposed temptations based on false assumptions and clever marketing.

Alcohol is a dual edged sword and can be a poison as well as a medicine, the inequity between its Jekyll and Hyde nature lies in just one thing - the dose. Red wine may well have some condition promoting effects, but in my opinion, alcohol should cautiously approached as a salutary daily addition to any person's diet. Alcohol the only beverage I know from personal contact that when you have just "a itsybitsy too much" you end up waking up absolutely feeling like death warmed up, and how can that be any good for your health? Any beverage which when consumed has a fine line between feeling good one moment and will have you feeling like you are about to croak the day after, makes you wonder about any condition promoting benefits. And I'll bet that there will be plentifulness of readers out there who participate of wine and have had the most unpleasant contact of waking up with the sick from hell, or a tummy that makes you reach for a bowl early in the morning at just the plan of cooked eggs for breakfast. That is not to say that I don't enjoy a nice Pinot on chance - after all, you have to live and let your hair down at times. But to have one or more units of wine, beer or spirits on a daily basis would make me feel tired and washed out in only a matter of a few weeks. And that is not how I like to feel.

Each time a new sick person comes into my clinic and starts to talk about their condition problems, I am keen to find out if any dietary and lifestyle habits are potentially underpinning their problems, and alcohol is often a hotly debated topic. It is surprising how many habitancy I have convinced to stop alcohol consumption while the week and to drink only at the weekends. Most are amazed at how quickly their digestive issues, fatigue patterns, skin irritations and many more condition issues just seem to disappear in a short duration of time. Their condition awareness also begins to grow as they start to see their family and friends in a distinct light. Their self-esteem increases and more salutary choices are made in terms of the diet and lifestyle. As weight-loss occurs, their energy and wellbeing increases. I call this the "upward spiral" of health. Once you start to go up this ladder it becomes easier to resist temptation, some of the friends you used to hang nearby with (read drinking buddies) whether go up the ladder with you and clean up or decree to bail out and drop off the ladder and feel more comfortable on the lower rungs with their other mates who they play golf with, shoot, or fish with, etc. It is amazing to see some men in the clinic come to be real advocates for a salutary lifestyle in their own communal and family circle, these are the guys who now start to inspire their sons, fathers, brothers, and male friends to make condition changes themselves, to sell out their drinking, eat more healthily and exercise regularly. Sometimes unfortunately it may take a heart attack, a car crash or even a loss of driver's license to come to be even aware that there is such as thing as this "health-ladder". Are you aware?

It is also surprising at just how much the median guy drinks on a regular basis, and it is not until they are pulled up that they sit back and take stock of their patterns of alcohol consumption that reality sinks in - they have built a real desire for it. Are you one of those guys who looks at his watch and thinks to himself: "its 5.00 o'clock, let's have a drink" on a regular basis? New Zealand, like any other country, as if you haven't noticed has a real qoute with alcohol. But I don't think the alcohol is the real issue here, it is rather the someone involving it, being blissfully unaware of why they need to drink so often and heavily. Physical, emotional or psychological tress often underpins drinking, and many will tell you that alcohol makes them feel good or relaxes them. The truth is that alcohol stresses the body creating a vicious cycle of desire, dependency and even more stress, and it is not until you break this cycle for some months that you can absolutely understand what I mean. I know, I used to be a heavy drinker myself in my twenties who was kidding himself like a lot of blokes out there do in their twenties, thirties and even in their sixties.
Red Wine and the Heart: The Real Facts

Although one glass of red wine a day may well be good for your heart, drinking more than this seems to promote plaque build-up in blood vessels, suggest the findings from a study of over 4000 older adults. Dr. Mukamal, a biostatistician at the University of Washington in Seattle, used data from the Cardiovascular condition Study to added evaluate these associations. The new findings are reported in the medical Journal Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis and Vascular Biology. (December 2003)

All subjects were tested with ultrasound to look for atherosclerosis (a build up of plaque & calcium in the arteries) in blood vessels found in the neck. Among subjects without heart disease or associated problems, those who drank one to six alcoholic beverages per week had the least amount of atherosclerosis, and the many amount of arterial damage was found in habitancy who consumed 14 or more drinks per week. And those who smoke and drink heavily? You guessed it, major condition problems. In habitancy with established heart disease, involving 7 to 13 drinks per week was associated with less atherosclerosis than not drinking at all. Once again, however, subjects who drank 14 or more beverages per week showed the most atherosclerosis. So what we are finding at is about one to maximum two small drinks of red wine per day. Interestingly, this study never has looked at those who have never or very rarely have consumed alcohol.
Is Red Wine absolutely That Fine?

Findings in the Journal of the American relationship of medicine as recently as 2001 should caution researchers and the communal to consider the existing evidence and the popular plan that moderate drinking is good for normal health. The most recent investigate appears to point out that many "heart tick to red wine" studies have a methodological flaw: they commonly collate drinkers with non-drinkers, but fail to distinguish between those who never drank alcohol and those who quit drinking for condition reasons. For example, investigators questioned more than 22,000 men aged 40 to 69 in Japan on their drinking frequency in 1990, then tracked the men until 1997. By separating these two groups of non-drinkers, investigators found that ex-drinkers did have a higher risk of mortality than non-drinkers and that moderate drinkers did not absolutely have decreased mortality when compared with those who had never been drinkers. The Jama finding shows that, if an inadequate comparison group (never drinkers combined with ex-drinkers) is used, the protective consequent of moderate drinking is seriously exaggerated. Thus, moderate drinkers spuriously showed a reduced risk when compared with non-drinkers, which erroneously included both ex-drinkers and never drinkers.
Alcohol Interferes With Sleep

Many habitancy believe that wine "helps" them to relax and sleep better, when in fact quite the opposite is true - it interferes with sleep. Alcohol does have a sedative effect, in fact as you know, a glass of wine or two will put you to sleep. But consider the following drawbacks; your peaceful sleep may last only three or four hours. Then that "relaxing drink" begins to disrupt your sleep patterns. Alcohol makes occasional or persisting insomnia worse in the long run. Because of alcohol's sedating effect, many habitancy with insomnia drink alcohol thinking that it will promote sleep. However, alcohol consumed within an hour of bedtime appears to disrupt the second half of the sleep period. The someone may sleep fine while the first half of sleep, but wake from the dream state and returning to sleep with difficulty, and end up tossing and turning. This sleep disruption often leads to daytime fatigue and sleepiness. Older habitancy are at particular risk, because they accomplish higher levels of alcohol in the blood and brain than do younger persons after involving the same amount, and they need to take particular care if they take one or some pharmaceutical drugs and drink commonly even more so. Wine is often consumed in the late afternoon (e.g., at "happy hour" or with dinner) and many studies show that a moderate dose of alcohol consumed as much as 6 hours before bedtime can growth wakefulness while the second half of sleep.

Alcohol Can Potentially Cause Long-Term condition Problems Even at Moderate Levels

Here are just a few condition effects associated with daily slowly heavy alcohol consumption.
o Researchers have found that drinking red wine even slowly may absolutely growth the risk of heart disease by addition the concentration of the amino acid homocysteine. And this corresponds with a huge growth in cardiovascular risk compared with those who abstain. Alcohol affects the stomach's ability to bind Vitamin B12 with the hormone called intrinsic factor. This leading vitamin can then not be effectively conveyable to the small intestine for absorption. Many guys I talk with who drink commonly have Vitamin B12 problems, and this is revealed with a blood test. The lower the B12, the higher the risk for heart disease. You see, alcohol absolutely is a dual edged sword and I've only just scraped the face with vitamin and mineral deficiencies here.
o A study has shown that involving just one drink per day may growth the risk of breast cancer in women. Alcohol reduces the liver's ability to clear oestrogen, as well as addition the body's oestrogen levels generally, which may promote breast cancer. Now tell me, how many ladies stop at one glass per day?
o Other inherent risks with very regular wine consumption: pharmaceutical drug interactions (many), increased incidence of accidents, some liver diseases, high blood pressure and stroke, digestive problems, as well as impaired fertility in men and women.
o Your poor brain, remember after you turned 40, how you felt that morning after only a few reds?
o Alcohol in large and regular amounts affects your ability to handle stress, which in turn increases your desire for more alcohol. habitancy who abuse alcohol have all kinds of health-related problems as well as a lot more accidents. An impaired stress response affects some body systems, along with the ability of the immune system to fight infection and even of brain cells to learn and remember, agreeing to the researchers. Studies show that alcohol causes the body to lose part of its ability to talk to added stressors. Heavy drinkers may therefore come to be unable to commence their stress axis appropriately when they are faced with a challenge, and that can be damaging.
o Wine makes you fat, each gram contains 7 calories. (fat contains 9 fat per gram). Guys end up with the belly, and women may end up in the Bbc. (the big bum club!)
Here are three real case histories which expound what I mean about red wine, the cases are all real but the names have been changed:
Jeff

Jeff is a 33yr old guy who works as a plumber and also moonlights part-time as a web found student. Jeff came into my clinic complaining of poor sleep and libido and persisting fatigue. When I queried his lifestyle it was unavoidable that wine was consumed most evenings, "I have three to four glasses of wine because it relaxes me and makes me feel good", "I make my own wine but end up giving a lot away to my mates". Jeff also has a less than salutary diet and goes to bed quite commonly nearby 12.00 pm - 1.00am. Jeff has had a few accidents the past few years, along with a nasty fall from the roof of his house trying to fix spouting. He admitted to me that he started the work "after a few wines" one Saturday afternoon, and he is still visiting a chiropractor three years later. His doctor did all the obligatory blood tests, blood pressure, etc, to found the cause of his tiredness. And of procedure all things came back 100% fine. The doctor never enquired into his occupation, his diet or any aspects of his lifestyle.

What I all the time find involving is that when a sick person presents to a doctor of Western medicine with fatigue, their diet and lifestyle is rarely addressed, and this is exactly where the qoute lies most of the time. Jeff needed somebody to sit down with him and contemplate where his tiredness was coming from, and to expound the likely causes. I ultimately convinced Jeff to stop drinking altogether for 3 months, to get to bed by 9.30 - 10.00pm at the most recent and to get up early to found a good rhythm of high energy in the morning and low energy in the evening. I also mentioned to Jeff that he probably wouldn't have had that fall if he tackled that spouting job sober. Jeff is now very happy, he has made major changes and realised that he had his lifestyle back to front. Jeff now functions much great as a father and husband and hardly ever drinks at all.
Graeme

Graeme is a 57yr old attorney who came in on hint of his wife. When Graeme gets home from the office while the week, he has a large glass of red wine, followed by a second glass before supper with some crackers and cheese, and a added glass is served with the evening meal. Graeme often goes to wine tastings and enjoys a glass at the golf club after a game. while the weekends there often friends and family often come visiting and wine is never far away, after all, they had a cellar built when the house was made and wine is bought by the carton through the wine club. Graeme is about 40 pounds overweight, does not exercise and has been under valuable stress after one of the senior partners from the law firm moved away some time ago. You can see where this is heading, Graeme's cardiovascular blood tests revealed a high heart condition risk due to elevated homocysteine levels. Graeme explained that his doctor was fine with his "moderate" red wine consumption because his cholesterol was fine, but I disapproved. I found out that Graeme's doctor is a member of the same golf club and wine tasting group as Graeme. In addition, Graeme has a history of gout and high-blood pressure, and was keen to start working on a wellness plan because of his family's history of heart-disease. He was rather surprised when I mentioned that regular and daily consumption of red wine wouldn't be helping his health, and he promised to cut back considerably. Needless to say his doctor called me a quack, a "typiocal" naturopath with absolutely no idea about medicine, science or healing. It is involving how I have a doctor currently as a sick person in our practice who self-prescribes an anti-depressant, a sleeping pill and who drinks wine every night.

Peter

Pete is a pilot who still flies his small airplane at the age of 74. He has been flying for roughly 50 years and wouldn't trade it for the world. He takes exceptionally good care of his condition along with a regular 1 hour exercise program 7 days a week because he wants to be still flying at 90. Peter's daughter is a physical schooling instructor who has taught him how to stay fit and flexible. I find it rare to see an elderly gentleman is such fine shape is truly amazing and inspiring, and Pete's radiant smile is a testimony to his health. He enjoys one (small) glass of red wine each day with the evening meal for medicinal purposes of course, as he declares! His sleep is great and his libido is exquisite beyond 70yrs of age. Peter's diet is on par with the best I've seen and his blood pressure is 120/75, which is exceptional for his age. This is how red wine adds value to a person's health, in small and regular amounts taken long term. Peter has been drinking red wine like this since the 1970's.

Red Wine is the Only Alcoholic Beverage which Confers Some itsybitsy Benefit, No Other Alcohol

Sorry chardonnay fans, but in terms of condition benefits, white wines pale in comparison to reds. This is because white wines are traditionally made without grape skins, or the mashed combination containing the skins is removed early in the fermentation process, which is where most of the protective compounds are found. When choosing a red wine, look for full-bodied wines which are rich in beneficial chemicals. A good ability Shiraz, cabernet sauvignon, merlot and even a blended Grenache all fit the bill. And remember, we are only talking about red wine here, not beer, spirits and all those "mixers" our younger habitancy are into. Much of the benefit appears to be due to the polyphenols, an antioxidant, found in grape skins and red wine. Polyphenols are known to combat damaging free radicals in the body. It appears that polyphenols lower "bad" Ldl cholesterol while raising "good" Hdl cholesterol and decrease the yield of a protein that plays a major role in the improvement of heart disease.

But before you go out and stock your pantry with red wine there are some precautions that need to be taken. While drinking about one glass of red wine each day may yield some benefit, drinking two or more glasses (of wine or any alcoholic beverage) may offset the benefit and growth your risk of many distinct types of condition problems as previously, even cancers. So it is likely that the alcohol itself is irrelevant to the beneficial effects of wine consumption. In fact, alcohol absolutely is toxic and nearly all of the benefit attributed to drinking wine may be associated to these polyphenolic bioflavanoid compounds.

And habitancy with a history of alcohol abuse or any type of liver disease should not drink alcohol at all. Also, habitancy with diabetes and hypertension should limit their intake of alcohol very much.

You also need to be aware that involving large amounts of wine or grapes will growth insulin levels and ultimately have a negative impact on your condition - you may pile on the weight. If you absolutely want the flavonoid benefits of the grape, why then not consume whole a small amount of grape skins (spit out the seeds) and pass up most of the meat of the ripe grape, which has no real major benefit but a lot of extra fructose (sugar). A small bunch of ripe grapes daily is a great addition to any diet, and so is red grape juice. Now we are talking, all the benefits of the polyphenols but without the damaging effects of alcohol. There is no doubt, alcohol does have the ability to excerpt a lot more goodness from the red grape skin than can be offered from grape juice, but the downside is the damaging effects of the ethanol (alcohol) to the gut, brain and condition in normal as already mentioned.
One Small Glass a Day of Red is the Key

If you are going to drink, it does make sense to select red wine over other alcoholic beverages, and use a wine saver to ensure the wine doesn't oxidise and go rancid. You can even buy "wine saver" gadgets allowing you to pump out the air inside the bottle prior to sealing, making the remaining wine very durable. But wait for it, the liver suffers from alcohol! Even marginal drinking has an consequent of undermining the liver's ability to clear toxins from the body. Remember Peter the pilot? In Peter's case, there are no fatty foods consumed, no chocolate or dairy products, take aways, etc. The only food or beverage Peter consumes which could potentially work on his liver is the tiny amount of red wine he consumes each evening, so no problems here. Once a someone consumes some glasses of alcohol daily and in addition takes paracetamol or other medications regularly, consumes a take-away once or twice a week, eats high fat foods like peanuts or regular chocolate bars, consumes sugary foods, etc, is when you start to load the liver's capacity to detoxify. It's all about the plan of "total load".
Can We Test the Liver's Function?

Standard Lft's (liver function tests) studies done by your doctor are efficient for detecting actual damage to your liver. These blood tests are of itsybitsy value however in detecting your liver's actual detoxification potential, because they portion acute liver cell damage directly, rather than functional ability of your liver, i.e., the uptake, metabolism, storage, and urination of toxic substances like alcohol, drugs, chemical sprays, solvents, etc. Why wait until damage is done? besides the standard liver function test, there is a simple urine test ready which can identify how your liver, the body's main detoxifying organ, is handling a wide variety of chemicals, along with wine. Your naturopath can fill you in more.

All of the investigate I have studied appears to back up what we have all the time known, than light to moderate reed wine consumption is ok for your health. But that is exactly the point, light to moderate consumption. When it comes to alcohol, like whatever else in your life, absolute moderation is your key. You must learn to "discipline your discipline" when it comes to alcohol, more so than with any other food or beverage you wil ever be "legally" allowed to consume.

References

o Jama September 2001 (286:1177-1178)
o Medical Journal Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis and Vascular Biology. (December 2003)
o Landolt, H.-P., et al. Late-afternoon ethanol intake affects nocturnal sleep and the sleep Eeg in middle-aged men. J Clin Psychopharmacol 16(6):428-436, 1996.
o Vitiello, M.V. Sleep, alcohol and alcohol abuse. Addict Biol (2):151-158, 1997.
o Aldrich, M.S. Effects of alcohol on sleep. In: Lisansky Gomberg, E.S., et al., eds. Alcohol Problems and Aging. Niaaa investigate Monograph No. 33. Nih Pub. No. 98-4163. Bethesda, Md: Niaaa.
o Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental investigate 2000;24:110-122.