Basically, alcohol is a poison. But then, so is botox! And I know which I’d rather put into my body. Can drinking a poison possibly be healthy? Well, yes it can provided we do it regularly and not too much of it.
Why it is healthy.
I have written extensively on this topic before, but in brief it does help relax us by raising GABA in the brain, a relaxing and calming neurotransmitter. And red wine can be a good source of antioxidants.
Why it isn’t healthy.
Because it is a poison, when we drink it regularly we produce digestive enzymes to cope with it. Drinking infrequently means we have do not have this protection against it, so even a glass of red wine puts a strain on the liver as it struggles to detoxify the alcohol.
Therefore either drink a little regularly or don’t drink at all.
And, of course, alcohol is a depressant, even though the first drink makes us feel much better.
In health studies, alcohol consumption produces a J curve: non-drinkers are at the toe of the J, very moderate drinkers – ie regularly but not much – lie in the bottom of the J, the healthiest section. Drinking more leads to a rapid rise in related health problems. So most unusually, I agree with government advice to drink regularly but moderately, and have a couple of days off a week.
What to drink:
The best for health is red wine, and I’m afraid the wine, ideally, is a little challenging to drink. For maximum antioxidant properties, the wine will have good for aging on the label, and need aging to soften it. The grapes were grown at altitude in a harsh climate, so they make more antioxidants for protection.
Otherwise white wine is good. The advantage of champagne is it has a lower alcohol content, so apart from an initial whizz, it is less taxing on the body. These days, most wines seem to have such a high alcohol content, some are almost as strong as a fortified wine like dubonnet.
Other drinks: beer and lager are awful. Extremely fattening, usually containing gluten, so as well as making us fat, they bloat us up. Hops are oestrogenic, so feminising; too much can only lead to brewers droop – and too much over a period of time will lead to taking Viagra to get any action at all, plus growing a set of droopy moobs dangling over a podgy belly. Men bonding their maleness by drinking beer together is one of life’s mysteries.
Spirits are generally better than beer but the only health benefits can lie in straight spirits killing off some bugs on the food, plus a single only improving the mood. They are strong, so put a strain on the detoxification systems and they are usually drunk with a mixer, which, either slimline or fatline, shove up the insulin, which makes the body store yet more body fat.
Why we stagger about when very drunk.
One strong reason to avoid alcohol completely lies in its effects on the purkinje cells of the cerebellum – which is appalling. The purkinje cells are a layer of cells and the most important thing to know about them is they are the only source of output of all motor co-ordination from the cerebellum.
The cerebellum lies at the base of the brain and connects the brain to the body and sends signals from the brain to the body to produce movement. And these signals are sent by these purkinje cells. Alcohol plays havoc with the signals.
This explains why, as we get steadily drunker, we get steadily more and more wobbly and unco-ordinated. Alcohol really does these cells no good at all. Drinking too much over a long period can lead to permanent damage.
So it is good to drink a little red wine regularly. If we find that the amount we drink and the frequency climbs alarmingly, we are better off going teetotal.