Seems hard to believe but a little alcohol is better than none. However, too much can really hurt.

One or 2 drinks for men and 1 drink for women in a day may actually improve your own prospects for good health!

Drink a Toast to their Health and one for your own. Cheers!

How much is a little and how much is too much? We’ll look at that!

Contact or call us and we’ll help you build skills for high quality nutrition and moderate exercise that will last all year and for years yet to come.

‘Tis The Season To Be . . . Careful

Food and Drink are part of Seasonal Celebrations. Enjoy celebrations but balance everything out. Dessert with 300 calories equals 1 hour of brisk walking. Make one drink last all night and share the dessert by leaving most for someone else.

Blame it on me! Tell them, I recommend one drink and no dessert but you’ll have one bite anyway.

Is Mild or Moderate Alcohol Use Good for Your Health?

Mild or moderate use is Okay. But Heavy use is Deadly.

The idea that moderate drinking might have health benefits seems too good to be true.

We’ve known simply forever that excess alcohol damages the body, weakens skill, destroys talent and wrecks lives. Nevertheless, investigators have kept up the search for scientific evidence that restrained use can improve health.

Results of National Surveys and clinical trials sometimes have been inconsistent with this new belief. Others have rigorously confirmed it’s truth.

Our National Health Interview Surveys began collecting data in 1957. Data collected since 1997 until 2009 were linked to National Death Index records up to 2011. Data from 333,247 adults, collected over 8 years, included 76,869 abstainers and 219,041 alcohol drinkers.

The Figure shows the results from alcohol use in relation to death from All Causes, Cardiovascular Disease and Cancer. One drink was taken to be 12 ounces of beer, 5 ounces of wine or 1.5 ounces of whiskey. Light Drinkers among Men and Women took fewer than 4 drinks a week. Moderate Drinkers were Men who took 4 to 14 and Women who took 4 to 7 drinks a week. Heavy Drinkers were Men who consumed more than 14 drinks and Women who consumed more than 7 drinks during a week.

This shows relation of amounts consumed to rates of death from All Causes (All), Cardiovascular Disease (CVD) and Cancer. The Blue bars set to 1.0 are Rates of death for Abstainers in each group. The Red bars in each group show rates of death for Light Drinkers. Green bars show rates for Moderate Drinkers and Gold bars are data for Heavy Drinkers.

The gain in Years of Life for All Light and All Moderate Drinkers was +20%. Heavy Drinkers among All Causes lost about -10%.

As a rough rule of thumb, a reduction of 20% in mortality rate represents about 4 years of Total Life Extended and about 8 years of Healthy, High-Quality Years of Life Extended! These are substantial gains in Life with Good Health and Total Years!

How Alcohol Improves Health And Reduces Complications Of T2DM

Many studies show how alcohol can reduce complications and death rates.

• increased insulin sensitivity
• reduced glycogen to glucose release by the liver
• increased blood levels of HDL, the good cholesterol
• decreased formation of blood clots and thrombosis
• increased breakdown of clots

Effect On Risk For Developing Type 2 Diabetes

Since 2000, observational studies reported that moderate use of alcohol reduced the risk for Type 2 Diabetes. In 2015, a systematic review of results from 1.9M adults in 38 studies reported reductions in risk for moderate drinkers. The best evidence showed greatest reductions in women.

The Figure shows Risk for T2DM of 70,551 men and women in Denmark.

The Gray bars for Men and Orange bars for Women are set to 1.0 for Abstainers. Reduced risk for developing diabetes in both Men and Women Drinkers displays as bars less than 1.0.

Results showed that moderate drinkers of alcohol 14 drinks a week had the lowest risk of Diabetes.

Of course, escaping Diabetes did not mean they escaped increased risk of death from Cardiovascular Disease and Cancer.

Use of Alcohol With Type 2 Diabetes

If you have diabetes, and your blood sugar is under good control, it’s probably ok to have a drink. The most sensible advice is mild or moderate use of alcohol. Combine this with calorie control, high quality nutrition and moderate exercise.

However, if you’re injecting insulin or taking medication that lowers blood sugar level, you must check it before you have even 1 drink. Alcohol increases insulin sensitivity and blocks release of glucose by the liver. If glucose levels in the blood are low, alcohol interferes with normal safe recovery.

Note: Alcohol can cause dangerous hypoglycemia when blood sugar levels are low!

Be Very Careful Because Using Alcohol Can Be Dangerous!

The most sensible advice is limit alcoholic drinks. For Men, no more than 2 drinks on one day and no more than 7 drinks in any one week. For Women, one drink a day and 3 drinks a week.

Remember that every drink of beer, wine or liquor adds 100 calories to your daily total. If you’re having difficulty managing your weight, those calories must be offset by reductions in other sources.

A second thing to remember is that even one drink affects intellectual capabilities, especially executive function. Issues requiring judgement, decisions or restraint might not get the attention they need.

A third thing is that drinking alcohol can be addictive. Anything more than 7 drinks a week for men or 3 drinks a week for women can cause addicting responses in the brain.

Finally, alcohol abuse causes chronic illness, organ failure and premature death. Cirrhosis of the liver, heart failure and dementia are some of the most common effects. Alcohol-related illness is the third most costly cause of chronic illness in the US.

Enjoy Your Time With Others

The December Holidays are good times to share with family, friends and neighbors. Good Health depends on what we do with others as much as what we do for ourselves. So Enjoy your time with others!

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