Alcohol Companies Are Funding Research To Convince You Drinking Is Healthy

We don’t trust nutrition studies funded by soda companies. Why would we trust alcohol studies funded by the booze industry?

 Becoming a “mindful drinker” changed my life

The controversial term may be new, but the goal is the same: Drink less. And I do.

 Even One Drink A Day May Pose Health Risk, Study Finds

In an attempt to clarify the confusing information about what levels of alcohol are safe vs. risky, a new study in The Lancet reports that the "safe" upper limit for alcohol consumption may be less than we thought, at least here in the U.S. The study largely confirms what other research in the last few years has suggested: that low levels of alcohol consumption seem to be best, whereas "moderate" drinking may actually be too much.

Toxic Alcohols – Minding the Gaps

We see patients with toxic alcohol poisoning most commonly in three clinical scenarios. One, which is usually relatively straightforward, after an intentional suicide attempt where they tell you exactly what they took; the next scenario is a bit more challenging – when they come in agitated and won’t give you a history and the third – also very challenging – the inebriated patient found down. Alcohol is everywhere, and inevitably inebriated people show up at your ED with a myriad of medical and psychiatric problems – we’re all familiar with these patients. Or they are simply very drunk. And most of them just need to sober up and can be sent home.

A Drink or Two After Work Is Fine For Your Health

Still, you should probably take a night off here and there.

A Link Between Alcohol and Cancer? It’s Not Nearly as Scary as It Seems

Once again, we’ve been told that something we eat or drink is going to kill us. Once again, we’re provided an opportunity: A more nuanced discussion of risk — and how we communicate it — can leave us much happier, and perhaps healthier.

Alcohol and Your Health- Cheers! or Not?

Depending with whom you speak, alcohol can be a villain or it can be a hero. We have long known that alcohol can help reduce the stress of everyday life, and even relaxes our most tightly wound friends and associates. Recent data also suggests that fairly regular alcohol ingestion is actually good for your heart.

Alcohol, Chemistry and You

This ChemCases.com unit looks at the chemistry of beverage alcohol (ethyl alcohol) through the eyes of a General Chemistry student.

Alcohol: An Astonishing Molecule

The substance has nourished and intoxicated animal life long before humans walked upright. Yet our manipulation and consumption of alcohol led to profound physical and cultural effects—and helped make us who we are.

Alcohol: The True Gateway Drug?

Generations of kids have been warned that marijuana is the gateway drug to more dangerous substances. It's a classic case of both logical fallacy and government misinforming the public—all while a likelier candidate has been pushed on kids with government sanction.

America, Can We Talk About Your Drinking?

More people are consuming alcohol in risky ways. That’s not a good trend.

Even moderate drinking may speed brain decline

Alcohol has an effect on your brain, perhaps at lower levels than previously thought.

Even Small Amounts of Alcohol Impair Memory

Drinking moderately might still be affecting your brain, even if you never black out.

How Drinking Alcohol May Affect The Bacteria In Your Mouth

This Microbiome study alone is not proof of what specifically happens when you put something with greater than zero proof in your mouth. More studies are needed. Call this another way that you don't quite know what's going on when you drink.

Is Fermented Tea Making People Feel Enlightened Because of ... Alcohol?

The ethanol in kombucha has some regulators concerned about the popular microbial drink.

Just One Drink Raises the Risk of Breast Cancer

Researchers found a link after analyzing 119 studies; exercise mitigates the damage.

Legal Drinking Age - Should It Be Higher or Lower?

Support for lowering the minimum legal drinking age comes from the most unexpected places, several American colleges. Does it makes sense?

Millions Of Americans Binge-Drink Regularly: Study

The health consequences of heavy alcohol use, and particularly binge drinking, are huge, both in the short and long terms. Immediately, binge drinking can lead to drunk driving, accidental injuries, risky sexual behavior, and violence.

We’re Drinking So Much It’s Now a 'Public Health Crisis'

If you have 4 to 5 drinks in one sitting at least once a week, that's considered high-risk behavior.

Wine isn’t special: drinking a small amount of any alcohol can be good for your health

For many years, researchers believed red wine might be a magical elixir. This notion dated back to the 1990s and what's known as the "French paradox" — the observation that the French drank lots of wine and had lower rates of cardiovascular disease. We now know this is likely wrong. Scientists have since discovered that drinking very small amounts of any type of alcohol — no more than one drink a day for women, two for men — may have some modest health and heart benefits. There's nothing special about red wine on this score. It could be white wine, or beer, or whiskey.

Can I be allergic to alcohol?

Alcohol allergies are pretty rare, but intolerance is a lot more common.

Our Ability To Digest Alcohol May Have Been Key To Our Survival

As we're sipping away on a glass of stout or Merlot, we probably take for granted our ability to digest the alcohol in the drink. Alcohol, or dietary ethanol (as scientists like to call it), is technically a toxin — imbibing too much can lead to a hangover and even poisoning, of course.

The Claim: Mixing Types of Alcohol Makes You Sick

THE BOTTOM LINE -- It is the total quantity of alcohol consumed, not combined, that influences intoxication and sickness.

There is no such thing as a safe level of alcohol consumption

The myth of a safe level of drinking is a powerful claim. It is one that many health professionals appear to believe in and that the alcohol industry uses to defend its strategy of making the drug readily available at low prices. However, the claim is wrong and the supporting evidence flawed.

What Alcohol Really Does to Your Brain

We hear many different things about how alcohol affects the brain and body, most notably that it is a depressant. That's only part of the story. Alcohol is a depressant, but it's also an indirect stimulant, and plays a few other roles that might surprise you.

What we learned about drinking alcohol in 2018

The truth about drinking is going to disappoint you. Not because it’s scary, but because it’s still inconclusive. There’s no amount of routine drinking that will definitively kill you (although acute alcohol poisoning can be fatal). Though the data suggest drinking alcohol over time correlates with a shorter life span, the truth is scientists still don’t know if it actually causes health problems that lead life to end sooner, despite headlines suggesting otherwise.