Drinking alcohol is part of almost any adult celebration. The holiday season is filled with parties featuring a variety of flavored drinks, beer and football seems to be as tightly connected as shoes and shoelaces, and most other adult celebrations that come to mind include some amount of drinking. Though not everyone partakes in these adult beverages, two-thirds of Americans drink alcohol, and for those who drink, they average four drinks per week. Not surprisingly, beer is the most common alcoholic beverage, slightly ahead of wine.
Though it’s a common practice, is it reallyhealthy?
Before we explore the pros and cons of alcohol consumption, a much more important point to consider is your relationship with alcohol. Like any other food, if you need it in order to feel good, it could become more of a psychological issue than a physiological one. If you were told you should stop consuming alcohol, would you want to argue the point? Would you become defensive, or say “I could never do that?”
If there are certain foods or alcoholic beverages you feel you’d have a hard time giving up indefinitely, you may have more of a psychological dependence on them than you realize. We’re not going to get into depth in that topic on this article. As you read through the pros and cons, if you find yourself ignoring the negatives and only holding onto the benefits of alcohol, strongly consider your relationship with it. There are strong similarities among drug addiction, carbohydrate and sugar addiction, and alcohol addiction, and it doesn’t mean someone needs to be drinking a daily basis for it to be an issue.
Health Benefits of Alcohol
In his best-selling book, Blue Zones, Dan Beuttner points out many cultures where alcohol consumption is a regular part of each day. In these Blue Zones, people tend to live much longer than in other cultures around the globe. It’s just one of the many associations seen in these long-living cultures. There are other practices common among these cultures, such as higher levels of activity, lower levels of stress, less reliance on modern technology and shorter work weeks. Regular consumption of low to moderate amounts of alcohol, especially wine, is a common practice among these groups.
Heart Health
Research on alcohol and cardiovascular disease shows a strong association between alcohol consumption and development of cardiovascular disease (CVD). Those who drink low to moderate amounts of alcohol have a 20-40% reduced risk of developing CVD. Is it that those who drink are able to lower stress levels better? Is it the antioxidants found in some alcoholic beverages? To date, there is no research to showing that drinking alcoholcauses less CVD. Current research only shows an association. Associations show a couple things happen together, but associations never prove one causes the other. Other research is requied to show causation.
Some alcoholic beverages may lead to some reduction in CVD (mixed drinks are another story), but red wine has the most support. Resveratrol is a powerful phytonutrient found in red wine that may provide additional heart health benefits beyond the alcohol itself. Red wine also has other antioxidants which may provide some benefit.
Alcohol is also a vasodilator, meaning it helps to increase the size of blood vessels, which can provide some short-term benefit in terms of blood pressure and vascular function.
While regular consumption of light to moderate amounts of alcohol may benefit the cardiovascular system,irregular (weekly or monthly), high levels of drinking increase the risk of cardiac events and other causes of death. This means having four or five drinks on a weekend night poses a serious risk, so you can’t save up your drinks throughout the week and binge just once a week. If it fits with your lifestyle and nutrition program, a small amount with one meal in a day on a daily basis could be beneficial, but if you’re more into weekend heavy drinking, even if it’s just once a week, you could be asking for trouble.
Reduced Diabetes Risk
Observational studies, like the Nurses Health Study, suggest low to moderate amounts of alcohol may reduce the risk of developing diabetes. Unfortunately, these studies can only say there is an association between those who regularly drink low to moderate levels of alcohol and the development of type II diabetes. As we’ll see below, drinking can begin to raise blood sugar levels, which would contradict this finding.
Social Benefits
Alcohol may help certain individuals in social situations to relax and engage in conversation more comfortably. Introverts may gain the most social benefit from a drink or two. Of course, each person has a line they may cross that takes their conversation from relaxed and more confident to a point where they’d be better off keeping their mouth shut. Social drinking can quickly get out of hand when everyone follows the crowd as well.
Some people may claim they have more “fun” when they’ve had a few drinks, but again, there’s a line between consuming a healthy amount of alcohol and overdoing it. Though it may be fun in the moment, the amount consumed could quickly work against one’s health (and social) status.
Detrimental Effects of Alcohol
Though there seems to be a reasonable number of associated health benefits related to low to moderate alcohol consumption, we can’t forget that alcohol is a toxin. As such, the liver carries the burden in dealing with metabolizing it. Individuals vary greatly in their ability to process alcohol, which is why some people can drink far more than others without seeming to be effected. This also shows the importance of being aware of other toxins you’re exposed to while consuming alcohol. Even mixing over the counter medications with alcohol can put a significant burden on the liver and other organs.
Effects on Appetite
People don’t realize the profound effect alcohol has on what they eat. It’s not uncommon for health conscious individuals eat well most of the week, but on weekends, once drinking begins, their nutrition habits go out the window. Part of the reason for this is that alcohol stimulates the release of ghrelin, a hormone that increases appetite (I always remember it by “ghrelin” sounding like a “growling stomach”). As appetite increases, so does food consumption.
Since alcohol also impairs peoples’ judgment, they end up eating foods they would not otherwise consume. In a matter of hours, they’ve loaded up on highly processed, low-quality foods without realizing it. If you’re dining out, you’d be best served by drinking water, tea or club soda at the beginning of the meal, and if you choose to have a drink, do so with your meal rather than before it. For those trying lose weight or body fat, drinking alcohol can be a huge roadblock to their success.
Effects on Physical Performance
Alcohol consumption negatively affects performance in a number of ways. First, it reduces calcium function in muscle contraction, which reduces strength (not that most people would drink just before a training session or event). It also lowers hydration levels and the impairs ability to maintain body temperature.
Each gram of alcohol consumed leads to production of 10 mL of urine. As mentioned above, it also causes vasodilation. This is seen as a potential benefit in terms of heart health, but it can also lead to an increase in fluid loss.
The effects of fluid loss might be most obvious the morning after a night of drinking to excess. As the body becomes more and more dehydrated, it can changes the fluid levels in the skull. When the tissues inside the skull become dehydrated, it shrinks in size and the tissue attached to the inside of the skull gets tighter, which causes the painful feeling of a headache.
Alcohol also disrupts the body’s ability to regulate core temperature. If it can’t maintain an optimal internal temperature, cooling itself in heat or warming itself in cold, performance drops.
A major goal of post-exercise recovery is to increase protein synthesis. Simply, increased protein synthesis means creation of new muscle. Alcohol reduces protein synthesis, and the more one drinks, the less protein synthesis they’re able to achieve.
Unfortunately, people often see gifted, professional athletes in the news following poor decisions involving alcohol consumption and assume that if they can drink and perform as well as they do, that it’s okay to drink. A better way to look at it is to wonder how much better they’d be if they refrained from drinking.
Blood Sugar Regulation
Alcohol can disrupt the body’s ability to maintain ideal blood glucose levels. Short-term, drinking can cause hypoglycemia or low blood sugar. Consuming high doses of alcohol also shuts down the muscles ability to store glycogen, or carbohydrate, as efficiently as it should. When alcohol is consumed with a high-carbohydrate meal, insulin secretion can be exaggerated, which drives blood sugar levels lower than they should be. If an individual drinks heavily on a periodic basis, it’s possible their fasting blood sugar levels could rise.
Sleep
Though many people think drinking helps with sleep, research doesn’t support this. Those who drink a light to moderate amount on a daily basis seem to adapt to the effects of alcohol over time. On the other hand, those who drink on a more periodic basis are more likely to have disrupted sleep following alcohol consumption. They may fall asleep quickly, but the quality of sleep will be worsened, especially by a reduction in REM sleep. Personally, I’ve noticed that a glass of wine at night won’t change the total time I sleep, but it does reduce the time I spend in REM and deep sleep based on the results of my Zeo sleep monitor.
Hormones
Even though some people may adapt over time to regular alcohol consumption and attain the normal sleep stages, their release of hormones does not adapt. Whether an individual drinks periodically or regularly, hormone production is negatively affected. Alcohol consumption, especially in the evening, has a negative effect on growth hormone production. Growth hormone production peaks early in the night following the onset of sleep. Alcohol consumption lowers growth hormone production in a dose-dependent way. As more alcohol is consumed, growth hormone is suppressed even more. Growth hormone is important for physical recovery, fat metabolism, cortisol regulation and development or maintenance of lean body mass.
Breast Cancer
Alcohol consumption in women is associated with an increased risk in the development of breast cancer. This association has been shown to be dose-dependent, meaning breast cancer risk increases with increasing levels of alcohol consumption. One drink per day is associated with a 10% increased risk of the cancer. For each additional drink, risk has been shown to increase by 12%. There are a few possible ways alcohol could contribute to the development of breast cancer. It has been shown to increase estrogen levels, could be carcinogenic and could lead to nutrient deficiencies.
Other Issues with Alcohol Consumption
Since alcohol is a vasodilator, it increases the size of blood vessels, which can lower blood pressure in hte short-term. However, over the long-term, the consumption of alcohol seems to increase blood pressure. If additional research proves that point, it would mean regular alcohol consumption could increase one of the most significant risk factors for cardiovascular problems.
As mentioned above, the liver bears much of the burden of alcohol metabolism. Compared to those who have never drink alcohol, light drinkers (<20 g/d for women, <40 g/d for men) are 1.45 times more likely to develop liver cancer. Moderate drinkers (20-40 g/d for women, 40-60 g/d for men) and heavy drinkers (>40 g/d for women, >60 g/d for men) are 3.03 and 3.6 times more likely to develop liver cancer, respectively.
The metabolism of alcohol has been shown to disrupt the metabolism of vitamin A. Heavy drinkers may develop severe deficiencies, which can lead to a number of problems, including a decreased ability to see in the dark.
Alcohol also causes a reduction in the body’s stores of magnesium, a mineral critical to brain, muscle, liver and vascular function. Magnesium is already a common deficiency for the population as a whole, but in regular or binge drinkers, it can be even more severe.
How much should I drink?
The majority of benefits from alcohol are seen at a drink per day in women and up to two drinks in men. Classifying a “drink” can be as difficult as understanding how much a “cup of coffee” is as well. According to the USDA, a 12-ounce serving of beer has an average of 13.9 grams of alcohol, a 5-ounce serving of wine contains 15.4 grams of alcohol and a 1.5 ounce serving of 80 proof liquor has 14 grams of alcohol. Since alcohol concentration can vary among brands and types of alcohol, the amount found in a serving can vary.
Daily recommendations vary, but most suggest for women up to 20 grams per day, and men, up to 40 grams per day of alcohol as being beneficial for heart health. Again, you have to ask, will the potential heart health benefits outweigh the potential risks in other areas? For heavier drinkers, there’s no doubt that cutting back is a good idea. For those who rarely or never drink it would be hard to justify drinking daily. There’s some evidence drinking can be beneficial in small amounts, but there needs to be more research done to see if alcohol actuallycauses these benefit, and if so, if those benefits outweigh the negatives alcohol has been shown to cause. There’s no benefit to more than a couple drinks in a day, and you can’t use up your daily allotment in a single day. The evidence is clear that is a path toward health problems. To be clear, if a drink or two a day isassociated with some health benefits, you can not save those up during the week and have seven to fourteen drinks on Friday and Saturday.
Personally, the more I’ve gained an awareness of how I feel from the food and drinks, the less appealing alcohol has become. If you find you can maintain great health and and optimal body fat levels while having a drink or two, feel free. If you’re not happy with where you’re at, consider dropping the drinking for a while. From personal experience, I saw dramatic changes in body fat levels with clients I trained when they stopped drinking. You don’t need to drink to be healthy. If you need to drink to be happy, you may find that eventually hurts your health.
What’s your stance on alcohol? Share in the comments.
This article was by Tom Nikkola curtesy of Lifetime Fitness
http://www.lifetime-weightloss.com/blog/