Does anyone know where I can find data about the effects of alcohol consumption that involve the amount consumed vs the frequency? A lot of the articles only seem to involve one or the other rather than saying anything about the frequency and the amount.

For example, the difference between actually having one drink per day compared to "peaky" drinking that only averages to one drink per day.

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Well I can say this. A large amount of alcohol consumed puts a strain on the liver and pancreas, but due to the liver's regenerative abilities the damage caused by a one time bout can be repaired with no long term effects. However, large amounts consumed with great frequency degrades the liver's abilities to metabolize alcohol. Chronic use damages the liver and it is not able to repair itself. The pancreas also goes into overtime attempting to produce enzymes used in breaking down the alcohol molecules. One affect this has is to add a strain on the heart. Long term one can develop liver disease, pancreatitus, and fatigue of the heart.
With all that said, many doctors feel one or two drinks a day are ok.

 

Oh, you did ask for actual data. Try looking here.

http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/alcohol.htm

 

People tend to be not to bright when drunk. It is easy to get into trouble of many sorts.

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http://www.cdc.gov/alcohol/faqs.htm

http://alcoholism.about.com/od/about/Alcoholism_101.htm

http://www.drug-aware.com/alcohol-information.htm

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I have an application that will use the view screen on my Iphone. When you turn the phone horizontal the Accelerometer will make it appear to poor out.

It's got some pretty darn good video interphase.

The best part is I can drink as many as I want and still pass a breath test.



Burp ! kv

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How deeply do you want to go into the subject? Do you want it on a layperson's level or in more rigorous scientific terms? Needless to say, there is a lot of information on alcohol consumption and its effects. Unfortunately, a good portion of that information is also biased by politics and religion. You know, the people who say just one drink will kill brain cells, and they aren't about to be dissuaded.

This article in J. Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism just happened to pop up on a search. It seems to answer part of your question, namely it assesses differences between binge drinking, high daily, and "acceptable" daily drinking on components included in the "metabolic syndrome."

One thing to remember is that most studies look at alcohol abuse and heavy consumption because they create measurable endpoints within a reasonable period. Longitudinal studies of low-level alcohol consumption are difficult to do.

John

 

Well I'm trying to find out if there are any long term effects to having six drinks a week. It seems that one drink a day is not bad...even recommended. But I mean 6 drinks on the weekend, every weekend. All these studies vaguely refer to "an average X drinks per day". But like those in power engineering know, the RMS average can mean very little without information about the peaks.

I sat down and calculated the equivelant number I limit myself to and it worked out to be 6 drinks and that never seemed to be a lot compared to what I saw around me (like at a bar where I guess it's almost impossible to keep count how much others are drinking). But the other day I was at get together and not drinking and noticed a few people seemed to be drinking an endless number of beers. I counted them out and it was more or less worked out to be six. Now I'm not sure how often they did that, but I do that every weekend and am thinking I should lower my limit. Now, the obvious reason why I don't just not drink at all is, obviously, because I enjoy it.

I don't actually drink beer because by the time I have that much liquid in general, I get sick from the amount of liquid in general before anything else. Maybe that's why it never seemed like a lot to me.

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Let's put it like this. If you have one drink a day, it would difficult to tell whether you had had a drink the previous evening by examining your blood at noon. If you have one binge a week, you could detect changes after the binge. Those are biochemical changes and do not necessarily show permanent or accumulative damages. You will notice in that paper that the binge subjects had more than one binge a week. As I said earlier, it is difficult to study the effects of long-term, low-level alcohol use.

What you describe sounds like fraternity life when you are short of women. From a practical standpoint, spread out your fun. The joy lasts longer when you are sober. John

Edit: One adverse side effect of binge drinking is the much higher risk of accident while intoxicated compared to the occasional drinker. I left out the effects on pregnacy and prematurity on purpose.

 

Long term study of such behavior sometimes gets a little sticky.

1. Frequency is based on what daily average ? Hours between drinks. Day's between drinks.

2. Amounts, what is a drink comparatively speaking a measurement based on what average Alcohol Content.

3. How many liters to total body ratio fat to muscle. What is your genetic inheritance compared to someone else.

In this study how do you determine the effects of food or the lack of in the chemical process.

I still don't understand how they informatively are able to come up with conclusions that alcohol in any amount can be good at all.

Meanwhile Scientist are trying to create an attribute found in Red Wine. It's good stuff.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Resveratrol

This is a leading anti-oxidant the body will use to defeat fat build up and age progressive diseases.


The French paradox is what led to it's discovery. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_paradox

kv

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Over here in Oz when da yard arm gets here it's beer'O'clock and a general rule when you've had enough to dwink is when your typing on the puter resembles a doctors script. As far a wine goes they do say a glass of a good red everyday does reduce some health risk, but who really stops on 1 glass when a nice drop is at hand.

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A critical examination of the effects of heavy drinking: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uMjKq9ER2EQ

*hic*


Torben

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Hi dknguyen,

the amount of alcohol consumed and the frequency of consumption are in direct relation.

Here is an example I observed the other day:

A man entered a bar and ordered 8 glasses of whiskey which he emptied in fast sequence. The amount was not very much, but the frequency was high.
Next he ordered 7 glasses and the procedure repeated with decreasing orders until he ordered just one glass of whiskey.

When he took the drink he asked: "Isn't it funny? The less I drink the more drunk I get."

Does that solve your problem?

Best way however is to stay off alcohol. I consume 1/2 gallon of milk daily. It's not only good for a balanced calcium household, but also works like a medicine preventing maroditis.

Don't know what is maoroditis? That's easy to explain. If you consult a doctor and tell him that you are getting forgettable he will ask you when you stated that. If you ask you ask back: "State what?" you have maroditis (advanced).

Regards

Hans

 

Hi dknguyen,

the amount of alcohol consumed and the frequency of consumption are in direct relation.

Here is an example I observed the other day:

A man entered a bar and ordered 8 glasses of whiskey which he emptied in fast sequence. The amount was not very much, but the frequency was high.
Next he ordered 7 glasses and the procedure repeated with decreasing orders until he ordered just one glass of whiskey.

When he took the drink he asked: "Isn't it funny? The less I drink the more drunk I get."

Does that solve your problem?

Best way however is to stay off alcohol. I consume 1/2 gallon of milk daily. It's not only good for a balanced calcium household, but also works like a medicine preventing maroditis.

Don't know what is maroditis? That's easy to explain. If you consult a doctor and tell him that you are getting forgettable he will ask you when you stated that. If you ask back: "State what?" you have maroditis (advanced).

Regards

Hans

 

Good story.

Now for some details. Alcohol distributes in the total body water, which is about 60% of body mass expressed as volume. Thus, a 70 Kg man has about 42L of body water. Alcohol metabolism is roughly zero order over a wide range of concentrations. That is, a fixed amount is metabolized per hour. That rate is 150mg/L/hr for light drinkers to 300 mg/L/hr for people who are habituated. If one assumes a value of 200 mg/L/hr for a 70 Kg man, he metabolizes 8.4 g/hour. Specific gravity of alcohol is 0.7, so 8.4 g = 12 mL of alcohol. 80 proof is 40% alcohol, and thus, 30 mL of 80 proof whiskey contains 12 mL of alcohol.

Long story, short: If you are a 70 Kg man, once you get to the level of inebriation you like, you can maintain that level by drinking no more than 1 oz of 80 proof whiskey (or equivalent beer or wine) per hour.

Your bar patron just needed to reach a steady state.

John