Friday, September 3rd, 2010
“Dedicated to exploring the next generation of Body and Mind Enhancement.”

Topic of the week: How to keep children from obsessing over their appearance

By Mara Levy Published: 2007-12-10 19:54
Find and rate a specialist near you
Enter your ZIP code:
It's free and it only takes a minute!Become part of the editorial process, Submit new stories
FromTo


Send to Friend from Body Philosophy

iStock_000000938488Small.jpg

Send to Friend

By Michele Hickford
Published: Friday, December 14, 2007 - 03:46

Let's face it. This has been a rough year. A lot of us don't feel all that merry (or bright) this holiday season. Well here's something that'll twinkle your tinsel and bounce your ornaments. Drinking is good for you! And I'm not just talking about red wine. Here are 10 reasons to put the good cheer back into your festivities.

10. Drinking alcohol does not contribute to weight gain.
Although alcohol contains calories, apparently drinking alcohol doesn't lead to weight gain, according to extensive medical research over the past decade. In fact (and this really is the best part), many studies report a small reduction in weight for women who drink.

The reason alcohol doesn't increase weight is unclear, but research suggests energy from alcohol is not efficiently used but the body. Alcohol also appears to increase metabolic rate significantly, thus causing more calories to be burned rather than stored in the body as fat.

Whatever the reasons (and frankly, I don't care!), alcohol consumption is not associated with weight gain and is often associated with weight loss in women.

absolut_vodka_family_.jpg



9. Vodka could save your life!
It did for an Italian tourist in Australia. Although it's not clear that's the result he was seeking. The 24-year-old, who was not further identified, was rushed to Mackay Base Hospital in northeastern Queensland state after an apparent suicide attempt by ingesting a large quantity of ethylene glycol, a common ingredient of antifreeze that can cause kidney failure. Pure alcohol is often used to treat these cases because it can inhibit the toxic effects of ethylene glycol. Mackay Base Hospital Dr. Pascal Gelperowicz said the man was given pharmaceutical-grade alcohol when he arrived, but that the hospital's supplies soon ran out.

"We quickly used all the available vials of 100 percent alcohol and decided the next best way to get alcohol into the man's system was by feeding him spirits through a naso gastric tube," Dr. Gelperowicz said in a statement.

"The patient was drip-fed about three standard drinks an hour for three days in the intensive care unit," he said. "The hospital's administrators were also very understanding when we explained our reasons for buying a case of vodka."
iStock_000003198340Small.jpg



8. Compared to the rest of the world, you don't drink that much anyway.
We're always told you only derive benefits from alcohol with "moderate" drinking. In the stingy US, that's only 2 drinks for men, and one for women. But most countries define moderation at higher levels than the US. For example, Australia, Italy and France consider 3 to 4 drinks per day for men to be moderate. In terms of overall alcohol consumption by country, the US isn't even in the top ten!

According to "The Top 10 of Everything" for 2000, with per capita consumption of only 1.74 gallons of alcohol per person, the US is way down at 32nd on the list. Portugal is number one, with 2.98 gallons per person, with Luxembourg, France, Hungary, Spain, Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Austria and Switzerland rounding out the top ten.

iStock_000004145950Small.jpg



7. Moderate Champagne consumption may protect your brain.
According to study results published in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, the sparkling wine may help protect the brain against injuries incurred during a stroke and other ailments, such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases. The joint British and Italian research team found that the particular antioxidant polyphenols found in Champagne (which differ from those in red wine) gives bubbly its ability to not only protect against neurotoxicity, but even restore brain-cell function in the test subjects (Champagne-quaffing mice).

The scientists also believed that two of the polyphenols (caffeic acid and tyroso)l may help to normalize the cells' response to injury with their anti-inflammatory attributes. The compounds also act as cellular-level mops, essentially cleaning up and removing hazardous chemicals from the body. The researchers also wrote that there was evidence that dietary polyphenols can cross the "blood-brain barrier," which would suggest this molecular behavior has the potential to act in the same way within the human central nervous system, if consumed. Down the road, scientists are hoping to shed more light on the potential beneficial effects of Champagne on human health and life span, with a specific interest on its influence over aging.

iStock_000002410035Small.jpg



6. Overall, drinking saves more lives than it ends.
The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) calculates that if all drinkers in the U.S. became abstainers, there would be an additional 80,000 deaths per year, because abstaining dramatically increases the risks of heart attack, ischemic stroke, and other diseases and life-threatening conditions. Separately, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) estimated in 2001 that abusive drinking lead to about 75,766 deaths from all causes, a number that continues to decline. Putting the two analyses together indicates that moderate alcohol consumption saves more lives than are lost as a result of alcohol abuse.

5. Jagermeister might help your digestion (and trap flies).
Introduced in Germany in 1935, Jagermeister was originally concocted for medicinal purposes, said to cure everything from a chronic cough to digestive problems. In Germany to this day, it is still widely recognized as a digestif and is kept in many German households for that purpose, sometimes irreverently called Leberkleber, or "liver-glue."

It is also commonly used around the home in small quantities as an insect trap, as small flies and wasps are drawn to the sweet smell and taste of the drink (especially when mixed with Red Bull, but then you can't get them to sit still).

iStock_000004249048Small.jpg



4. Beer is good for you
While the health benefits of red wine are old news, Dutch researchers, writing in the journal The Lancet suggests beer may be even better.

Beer contains vitamin B6 which prevents the build up of a chemical called homocysteine in the body- thought to be linked to an increase in the risk of heart disease. Dr Henk Hendriks and colleagues from the TNO Nutrition and Food Research Institute studied 111 healthy men who each drank beer, red wine, spirits and water for three weeks with dinner. They found that homocysteine levels did not increase after beer consumption, but rose after drinking wine and spirits. Beer drinkers had a 30% increase of vitamin B6 in blood plasma, much higher than those who had drunk only wine or spirits.

iStock_000000296131Small.jpg



3. Whiskey, brandy, rum, tequila, and gin might be healthier than your mother's pot roast.
Distilled spirits contain no carbohydrates, no fats, no cholesterol and no sodium. Your mother's braised pot roast most likely contains about 10 grams of fat (3 grams saturated), 65 grams of cholesterol, 232 mg of sodium and 12 grams of carbs.
iStock_000003215014Small.jpg



2. Gin and tonic can help relieve cramps (leg cramps, that is).
Tonic water is flavored with a small amount of quinine, which comes from the bitter bark of the South American cinchona tree, and has been used for hundreds of years in more potent medicinal doses to prevent and treat malaria, stop nocturnal leg cramps, and treat a host of other maladies. It can also bring fever down, reduce inflammation, and combat some infections. Full strength quinine is only available by prescription, but many people report relief from leg cramps - even those brought on by athletic activity such as cycling or running - when they drink tonic water.
aa_fin.jpg



1. The court won't force you to join Alcoholics Anonymous.
In 2000, model-citizen Ricky Inouye, a Buddhist, meth addict and ex-con in Hawaii, was arrested for trespassing and tested positive for drugs. His parole officer ordered him to attend a Salvation Army treatment program that included participation in Narcotics Anonymous meetings. Inouye showed up but refused to participate, dropped out after two months, and was later sent back to prison in November 2001 for violating his parole. After his release in 2003, Inouye sued his parole officer and others for violating his constitutional rights. Inouye died while the suit was pending, but his son took over the case. In September of 2007, the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals sided with Inouye, ruling that the state had in effect coerced him into a religious-based program in the form of Alcoholics Anonymous (which requires participants to commit to "turning our lives over to the care of God"). So that's ONE less thing to worry about!