The Dose Makes The Poison
Is alcohol bad for your health? It depends on who you ask.
As a personal trainer, I make a concerted effort to walk the walk, lead a healthy lifestyle, and present myself as an excellent example to my clients and everyone around me. When I tell a new client about my love for beer and brewing, I garner some puzzled reactions, which is quite understandable. The World Health Organization (WHO) has recently stated unequivocally that no alcohol consumption is safe for human health and has been deemed a group 1 carcinogen. This places alcohol in the highest risk group alongside radiation, asbestos, and tobacco, not the most attractive bedfellows, to be sure. Nevertheless, I sit at my kitchen table typing away while sipping a home-brewed Alt Bier on a muggy June evening. As the old saying goes, the dose makes the poison.
The WHO is not the sole judge of what is and is not healthy for human consumption. Research on alcohol and its effects on our health is numerous. You can find a study to justify whichever side of the fence you sit on regarding abstinence or drinking. Studies have also shown that light alcohol consumption may reduce the risk of heart attack, lower the risk of kidney stones and enhance your sex life. The one thing that can be said with certainty is that heavy drinking is terrible for one’s health and should be avoided at all costs. Like many drugs, users can develop physical and psychological dependence. It is well known that if you have a parent who was an alcoholic, you will have a greater chance of becoming alcohol dependent yourself. There are also certain groups of people, primarily of Asian ancestry, who lack the specific enzyme, alcohol dehydrogenase, that metabolizes alcohol within the body. Even a tiny amount of alcohol can cause severe sickness and should be avoided altogether.
My goal isn’t to tell you if you should or should not drink but to make you aware of the data about alcohol consumption to enable you to make an informed decision. Myriad variables profoundly affect our health and well-being but don’t seem to kindle the emotional response to alcohol consumption. Excessive alcohol consumption can lead to fatty liver disease and liver damage, but what else can? Eating loads of sugar and a diet high in saturated and trans fats. Yet I don’t see anyone telling me never to eat a gram of sugar lest I turn into an addict and wake up in a fog surrounded by empty bags of candy. The culture around alcohol in the United States is flawed and hypocritical. Anyone underage is told they should completely abstain, yet it’s party time once they reach the magical age of 21. I suppose no one who preaches abstinence doesn’t realize that it only makes the offending behavior much more desirable.
The reality is that in the U.S., alcohol is and will be a part of our culture. Should you choose to partake, you might as well do so as safely as you can. Here are a few guidelines I’ve undertaken that help me manage my intake; hopefully, they can help you too.
Drink for quality, not quantity. Mass-produced light lagers like Bud Light, Miller Lite, and Michelob Ultra all have one thing in common, a distinct lack of anything resembling flavor. This is intentional, so you can slurp it quickly and grab another. They are brewed to be light-bodied by substituting barley with corn or rice, with near non-existent hop bitterness or flavor. A better option would be to drink a real lager, such as an authentic German-style Pilsner or Helles. Thankfully, a craft brewery near you probably makes a fantastic lager. I would much rather have one great pint of Pilsner than three bottles of yellow swill any day of the week. The same rationale can be applied to spirits and wine as well. Why drink an inferior product when a better option is so readily available?
Hydrate! When alcohol is metabolized, it takes water along with it, leading to dehydration and one reason you have a hangover after drinking too much. A one-to-one ratio of beer to water works well; for every drink you have, a glass of water should follow. I promise the extra trips to the bathroom are much better than a hangover.
Drink slowly. This goes hand in hand with the first tip. Make an effort to enjoy and appreciate the flavor of your beverage. The higher the alcohol content, the more you should pace yourself. Alternatively, have a smaller serving.
Try a low/no alcohol beer. This segment of the beer market is exploding. This style is much more palatable than ever due to new advancements in brewing. I Have a few cans of Guinness Zero in my fridge right now. While they are not on the level of a proper Guinness, they are shockingly close, in my opinion. Athletic Brewing Company also makes some top-notch options across a wide range of styles, and since they are alcohol-free, you can order them online from anywhere.
Make yourself a drink allowance. For me, three is the limit regarding the number of beers I’ll have at any time. Many times I only end up drinking one or two. Any more than three, and there’s a good chance I’ll have a terrible night’s sleep and a hangover the next day. Three is also the number of days in a week I’ll allow for drinking and most weeks. Once again, just because you set a limit doesn’t mean you have to reach it. Most weeks end with only two days of beer consumption.
Lastly, for fellow parents with small children, we know they’ll wake up at the crack of dawn and expect you to be up too. Do you want to cope with the limitless energy of a child while nursing a hangover? Me neither.
To err is human, and there are plenty of occasions when I don’t abide by my rules. Catch me on a fall Saturday afternoon at a football game tailgating with friends, and suddenly, I forget a few of the rules above, except for the hydration part. This brings us to the final point, the context in which your drinking occurs. We drink for many reasons, to celebrate, mourn, remember, out of boredom, anxiety to fit in with the crowd, and a host of others too long to list here. There is no one size fits all prescription when it pertains to your relationship with alcohol. It’s your decision. Educate yourself, decide, and if you drink, do so safely, and please, please, please don’t drive.
