People are proving that drinking in moderation is incredibly healthy.But what does “moderate” mean?How do you know when alcohol is damaging your health?In fact, even scientists admit that alcohol in certain (small) doses is beneficial;Let's take the example of red wine, in which antioxidants, vitamins and microelements can be found.Damage occurs when alcohol damages a person's internal organs, and this will certainly happen if you drink more than 170g of alcohol more than once every 8 days.
So is it possible to drink in moderation?What risks does a person who drinks alcohol run?At what point does moderate alcohol consumption end and alcohol abuse begin?
ALL THE MOST IMPORTANT THINGS ABOUT DRINKING IN MODERATION
“The main thing is to drink in moderation,” a person who is already one step away from terrible and destructive alcoholism often thinks.
The dose after which the human liver is in serious danger is 90 g of pure ethanol per day.For a moment, that's 285 ml of vodka (a little more than a glass of vodka).Damage to the human brain occurs with a much lower dose: 19 g of ethanol (or 60 ml of vodka) in 24 hours.And this applies to absolutely healthy people with a normal, functional liver, brain, kidneys and other healthy 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 you will begin to suffer from alcohol dependence in the presence of a hereditary predisposition to this disease;
- This problem will manifest itself within 36 months (3 years) in the absence of a hereditary predisposition.
- After a couple of months, there will be a strong desire to periodically increase the dosage.
If we assume that a person has suffered from a major illness (for example, viral hepatitis), then the moderate dose for him will be 2 or even 3 times lower.
It should be clear: moderate drinkers: how much can they drink without causing harm to their own body?How much can you drink to restore all body systems?
All calculations are made based on the fact that a healthy person processes an amount of alcohol of 170 g per day.As a result, interesting results and conclusions are obtained:
- If a person eats 170 g of pure alcohol in 1 day, then for the next 8 days he must refrain from drinking any alcoholic beverages (even the weakest ones).
- The allowed (acceptable) dose per month is 586 grams.
- In other words, you can drink a little more than one and a half bottles of classic vodka per month.
If it turns out that you have to drink more than 170 grams on a holiday, then you should increase the time period between drinking alcohol and 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 frequently or drink in moderation?Experts lean more towards the first option.Less frequently means once a month and not more frequently.Although some argue that if the dosage is followed correctly, it really doesn't matter how often a person drinks.
WINE: IS IT HEALTHY OR NOT?
Moderate drinkers, at least those who call themselves that, insist this: drinking dry red wine is extremely healthy.Its foundation 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.
It is necessary to know some substantiated data 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 every 7 days (450 ml of drink).
It should also be mentioned that talk 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 useful, but only when the established standards are met and the safe dosage of the consumed drink is not exceeded.
IS IT ALLOWED TO DRINK BEER IN MODERATE QUANTITIES?
Another drink besides wine that many people claim is healthy is beer.Yes, in fact, live or unpasteurized beer can be beneficial for the body, but even here there are certain restrictions, after which the drink becomes harmful to humans.600 ml a day is a fairly acceptable norm, although this norm also has reservations, since drinking even a small amount of beer for several years leads to the development of the third stage of alcohol dependence.
Beer in moderation has beneficial effects:
- Cosmetic effect on skin condition.
- Normalizes blood pressure.
- Calms the human nervous system.
- Maintains the necessary cholesterol levels.
It is important to remember that beer addiction progresses secretly and little by little, making it difficult to notice at the initial stage.Subsequently, this same disease is more difficult to treat than, for example, the addiction caused by the abuse of vodka or other alcoholic beverages.Therefore, it is fundamentally wrong to demonstrate that beer is a safe alcoholic beverage.
STIMULATING EFFECT OF MODERATE DOSE OF ALCOHOL
As with the rest of alcohol, benefits can be obtained with moderate consumption, taking into account the so-called paradoxical stimulation effect.
What is the meaning of this principle?This is the stimulating effect of small doses of exposure to those substances that in higher doses cause a toxic effect.In simple words, if alcohol in large doses harms the body, then in small quantities it can have a stimulating effect.
This effect is not obtained by groups of people who drink in moderation, but by those who consume insignificant doses of alcohol (about 50 ml of vodka 2 times every 7 days), and not a gram more.
WHAT IS BETTER: DRINK IN MODERATION OR NOT DRINK ALCOHOL AT ALL?
And what do you want to do now, knowing all these numbers that talk about the benefits of alcohol or its harms?Should you stop drinking forever or should you drink in moderation for your health?
Previous studies showing the benefits of moderate alcohol consumption turned out to be wrong.Today scientists from the main countries of the world talk about this.
These experiments gave the following result: moderate and moderate drinkers were much healthier than those who did not drink at all.But what's the trick?The fact is that they were all recruited in the category of teetotalers: people who were already in poor health, those people who drank a lot in their youth, those who could not drink alcohol for medical reasons.
Therefore, the result was not reliable.Scientists conducted a series of additional studies, correcting their mistake, and it turned out that non-drinkers are healthier than those who drink in moderation, and the former live much longer than the latter.
DOES ALCOHOL HAVE ANY BENEFITS?SHOULD YOU DRINK IN MODERATION?
A 1999 study by a physician-scientist showed that drinking alcohol in moderation has benefits for a person's cardiovascular system.That same year, a similar study was carried out, when the benefits of alcohol for the human brain were demonstrated.
The results of the experiments were the following:
- Those patients who learned to drink in moderate doses were less likely to suffer a myocardial infarction.They drank 14 to 56 g of pure alcohol per day (less than 1 glass of vodka).Additionally, people taking moderate doses were less likely to develop an intellectual disorder.
- Those who made the bold decision not to drink at all had a slightly higher risk of having a heart attack and were slightly more likely to develop dementia.
- The most notable health problems were suffered by those who frequently drank alcohol in large quantities.In such situations, myocardial infarction occurred and brain diseases manifested themselves more frequently.
After the results of this research, several urgent questions immediately arise in my head: can an alcoholic drink in moderation?So does it mean that it is better to drink a little alcohol than to become teetotal?
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 suffer from serious brain diseases than those who completely abstained from alcohol.
CONCLUSIONS: IS IT POSSIBLE TO DRINK IN RESPONSE?
As you can see, the experiments showed completely different results, which is not at all abnormal, because health and how long a person will live on earth are influenced by many factors in addition to alcohol consumption: daily nutrition, lifestyle, working conditions, climate.That is why a specific study cannot provide 100% objective information.
Only one thing can be said with certainty: drinking alcohol in small quantities has benefits, but this benefit is not particularly noticeable against the background of the danger that awaits you if you drink alcohol.In addition, the damage caused by alcohol manifests itself instantly and is easily detected by scientists and doctors when examining a person.
How to drink in moderation?Is it worth doing it?If you really care about your own health, it is better to forget about alcohol altogether.Consume only what gives you real benefits and does not contain harm, so that you no longer have doubts.