People are proving that moderate drinking is incredibly healthy.But what does "moderate" mean?How do you know when alcohol is harming your health?In fact, even scientists admit that alcohol in certain (small) doses is beneficial;let's take red wine as an example, which contains antioxidants, vitamins and trace elements.Damage occurs when alcohol damages a person's internal organs, and this will certainly happen if you drink more than 170 g of alcohol more often than once every 8 days.
So, is it possible to drink in moderation?What risks does a person who drinks alcohol face?At what point does moderate drinking stop and alcohol abuse begins?
ALL THE MOST IMPORTANT THINGS ABOUT DRINKING IN MODERATION
"The main thing is to drink in moderation," often thinks a person who is already on the verge of terrible and destructive alcoholism.
The dose, after taking which the human liver is in serious danger, is equal to 90 g of pure ethanol per day.Just a moment, this is 285 ml of vodka (a little more than a glass of vodka).Damage to the human brain occurs from a much smaller dose - 19 g of ethanol (or 60 ml of vodka) in 24 hours.And this refers to absolutely healthy people with a normal and working liver, healthy brain, kidneys and other organs.
Now imagine what awaits a person if he drinks a glass of vodka every day:
- Alcohol addiction will begin to develop, which is very difficult to get rid of;
- in six months he will begin to suffer from such alcohol addiction with the presence of a hereditary predisposition to this disease;
- this problem will manifest within 36 months (3 years) in the absence of hereditary predisposition.
- after a few months there will be a strong desire to regularly increase the dose.
If we assume that a person has suffered a significant disease (for example, viral hepatitis), then the moderate dose for him will be 2 or even 3 times less.
It should be clear: moderate drinkers - how much can you drink without harming your own body?How much can you drink to restore all body systems?
All calculations are based on the fact that a healthy person processes alcohol in the amount of 170 g per day.As a result, interesting results and conclusions are obtained:
- If a person consumes 170 g of pure alcohol in one day, then for the next 8 days he must refrain from drinking any (even the weakest) alcoholic beverages.
- The permitted (acceptable) monthly dose is 586 grams.
- In other words, you can drink a little more than one and a half classic bottles of vodka per month.
If it turns out that you need to drink more than 170 grams on one holiday, then you need to increase the time period between alcohol consumption, so that the next time you drink alcohol, say, not after 8 days, but after 10-12.This will significantly reduce the harm and negative consequences of alcohol.
What conclusion should you come to in such a situation: drink much less often or drink moderately?Experts are more inclined to the first option.Less often means once a month and no more often than that.Although some claim that if the dose is properly observed, it does not matter how often a person drinks.
WINE: IS IT HEALTHY OR NOT?
Moderate drinkers, at least those who call themselves that, insist on the following – drinking dry red wine is extremely healthy.Their reasoning is based on the fact that wine contains a strong antioxidant and prevents cancer.
On the contrary, scientific research shows the following: drinking wine in large quantities is harmful.It contains certain substances, the excess of which will unintentionally cause complications, so such a drink will be harmful.
You need to know some well-founded facts about the benefits of wine:
- The drink contains the antioxidant resveratrol, which is also found in grape juice, only in much smaller quantities.
- It contains valuable microelements that improve human health.
- An acceptable dose for a person in good health is approximately 3 glasses of wine per 7 days (450 ml of drink).
It should also be noted that talks about the effectiveness of red wine in the treatment of atherosclerosis turned out to be just rumors, since modern research proves the opposite.
It turns out that drinking wine is beneficial, but only when you adhere to established standards and do not exceed the safe dose of the consumed drink.
IS IT ALLOWED TO DRINK BEER IN MODERATE QUANTITIES?
Another drink besides wine that many claim is healthy is beer.Yes, indeed, unpasteurized or live beer can be useful for the body, but here too there are certain restrictions, after which the drink becomes harmful to people.600 ml per day is a perfectly acceptable norm, although this norm is also subject to reservations, because drinking even a small amount of beer for several years leads to the development of the third stage of alcohol dependence.
Beer in moderate quantities has beneficial effects:
- Cosmetic effect on skin condition.
- Normalizes blood pressure.
- Calms the human nervous system.
- It maintains the necessary cholesterol levels.
It is important to remember that beer addiction progresses secretly and little by little, which is difficult to notice at the initial stage.Consequently, this same disease is more difficult to treat than, for example, addiction caused by abuse of vodka or other alcoholic beverages.Therefore, it is fundamentally wrong to argue that beer is a safe alcoholic drink.
STIMULATING EFFECT OF MODERATE DOSES OF ALCOHOL
As with all alcohol, benefits can be achieved with moderate consumption, taking into account the so-called paradoxical stimulant effect.
What is the meaning of this principle?It is the stimulating effect of small doses of exposure to those substances that cause a toxic effect in larger doses.In simple words, if alcohol in large doses harms the body, then in small amounts it can have a stimulating effect.
This effect is not achieved by moderate groups of people, but by those who consume only insignificant (about 50 ml of vodka 2 times every 7 days) doses of alcohol, and not a gram more.
WHAT IS BETTER: DRINKING IN MODERATION or NOT DRINKING ALCOHOL AT ALL?
And what do you want to do now, knowing all these figures that speak of either the benefits of alcohol or its harm?Should you quit drinking forever or should you drink in moderation for your health?
Previous studies showing the benefits of moderate drinking have been proven wrong.Scientists from the world's leading countries are talking about it today.
Those experiments showed the following result: moderate and moderate drinkers were much healthier than those who did not drink at all.But what's the catch?The fact is that everyone was recruited into the category of abstainers: people who were already in poor health, those people who drank a lot in their youth, those who could not drink alcohol for health reasons.
So the result was unreliable.Scientists conducted a series of additional studies, correcting their mistake, and it turned out that those who do not drink are healthier than those who drink moderately, and the former live much longer than the latter.
ARE THERE BENEFITS FROM ALCOHOL AND SHOULD YOU DRINK IN MODERATION?
A study conducted in 1999 by a physician-scientist showed that moderate alcohol consumption has benefits for a person's cardiovascular system.Similar research was conducted in the same year, when the benefits of alcohol for the human brain were proven.
The results of the experiments were as follows:
- Those patients who learned to drink in moderate doses were less likely to experience a myocardial infarction.They drank from 14 to 56 g of pure alcohol per day (less than 1 glass of vodka).Also, people who adhered to moderate doses were less likely to develop intellectual disability.
- Those who made the brave decision not to drink at all had a slightly increased risk of heart attack and were slightly more likely to develop dementia.
- Those who often drank alcohol in large quantities had the most pronounced health problems.In such situations, myocardial infarction occurs, and brain diseases are more common.
After such research results, several burning questions immediately arise in my head: can we drink alcohol in moderation?So it's still better to drink a little alcohol than to become a teetotaler?
But here it is important to mention another experiment conducted by scientists in 2008, which showed a completely different effect - patients who drank alcohol in moderation were more likely to experience serious brain diseases than those who abstained from alcohol completely.
CONCLUSIONS: IS IT POSSIBLE TO DRINK FOR THE ANSWER?
As you can see, the experiments showed completely different results, which is nothing abnormal, because health and how long a person will live on earth are affected by many factors besides alcohol intake: daily diet, lifestyle, working conditions, climate.Therefore, one specific study cannot provide 100% objective information.
Only one thing can be said for sure - there are benefits to drinking alcohol in small quantities, but this benefit is not particularly noticeable considering the danger that awaits you if you drink alcohol.In addition, alcohol damage manifests itself immediately and is easily detected by scientists and doctors when examining a person.
How to drink in moderation and is it even worth doing?If you really care about your health, then it is better to forget about alcohol altogether.Consume only what brings real benefits and does not contain harm, so that you no longer have doubts.