A small amount of drinking is good for health?

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Production: Zhang Shiying Wu Yibo

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Is a small amount of drinking good for your health? There have been some articles promoting that moderate drinkers have lower incidence and mortality of cardiovascular diseases than those who drink too much and those who don't drink at all. The so-called "a small amount of drinking is good for health" probably comes from this. Is that really the case?

Does French cardiovascular health benefit from wine?

There is a famous saying "French paradox", that is, the lifestyle of French people is not healthy, but the incidence of cardiovascular disease is not high. There are various explanations for this situation. One of them is that the French like to drink wine. Wine may be good for cardiovascular health, so the incidence of cardiovascular diseases in France is not high.

Directly saying that there is cause and effect is hooliganism. In fact, people who drink wine tend to have higher economic conditions and pay more attention to daily life, such as nutritional conditions and medical care. Therefore, the low incidence or mortality of cardiovascular diseases may not be the result of drinking wine. Excluding these other factors, although the positive effect of wine on cardiovascular health has become less recognized, some people still believe it. There are many hypotheses, one of which is that wine contains antioxidants such as resveratrol. However, it has been found that it is almost impossible to reach the effective concentration of antioxidants. In other words, if you want to achieve the effect of dredging blood vessels and resisting oxidation, you must drink a lot of alcohol, so that the great damage to organs such as the liver will be more serious.

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What are the hazards of pregnant women drinking alcohol?

Studies have found that alcohol has a great influence on the fetus. During pregnancy, even if the mother drinks a small amount of alcohol, it will have a certain impact on the development of the baby's eyes, nose, mouth and other five senses, such as the nose becoming shorter and the nostrils slightly upturned. On the one hand, alcohol affects the ultrastructure of placenta, on the other hand, acetaldehyde, the oxidation metabolite of alcohol, has toxic effect on cells and can affect the appearance of fetus.

In addition, pregnant women's drinking may also change other aspects of fetal facial features, such as increased abortion probability, abnormal fetal weight and joint development, and may also affect intelligence. Therefore, it is suggested that pregnant women should avoid drinking alcohol.

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Excessive drinking can lead to cancer.

Alcohol does great damage to the liver, which not only induces liver cancer, but also makes the concentration of acetaldehyde in saliva as high as 10- 100 times that in blood, thus causing upper gastrointestinal cancer. Even drinking only half an ounce (25 grams) of wine every day will lead to a significant increase in the incidence of various cancers. Oral cancer and throat cancer increased by 82%, esophageal cancer increased by 39%, laryngeal cancer increased by 43%, breast cancer increased by 25%, and the incidence of other colon cancer, rectal cancer and gastric cancer also increased. The mechanism of alcohol-induced cancer varies with different types of cancer. For example, in the occurrence of liver cancer, acetaldehyde and acetic acid, the metabolites of alcohol in the liver, will induce cirrhosis and may further develop into liver cancer; In addition, alcohol can reduce the concentration of retinoic acid, leading to excessive proliferation and differentiation of cells, so it is more likely to cause cancer.

The influence of alcohol on the body should not be underestimated.

The quantity of heat contained in alcohol cannot be ignored. Every gram of alcohol contains about 7 kilocalories, and every 400 ml of beer produces about 1 12 kilocalories, which is equivalent to 30 grams of staple food. At the same time, it can weaken the body's fat metabolism, increase the body's fat storage and increase appetite, so long-term drinking is easy to cause obesity.

A study in the United States shows that neither light nor moderate drinking can avoid the adverse effects of drinking on people's brains. To some extent, people who drink between 1 ~ 6 glasses a week are considered light drinkers, while moderate drinkers drink more than 7 glasses a week. The results show that both light and moderate drinkers will cause different degrees of brain atrophy after drinking, and this situation is regardless of gender and race.

No matter how much you drink, you will induce asthma. For asthma patients, no matter how much alcohol they drink, the level of alcohol is harmful. This is because alcohol can not only cause allergic diseases, but also stimulate the throat, thus inducing asthma attacks.

According to epidemiological investigation and study, drinking more than 40 grams per day, totaling more than 73 kilograms, lasts for more than 5 years, and 48% people will suffer from alcoholic liver disease in different degrees. Moreover, because different individuals are very different, their sensitivity to alcohol is different, and their physical condition and metabolic ability are different, it is difficult to control the so-called small amount of drinking, which varies from person to person. Whether it is liquor, wine, beer or any other alcoholic beverage, as long as the total amount is too large, it is harmful to the liver.

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Live a healthy life and stay away from drinking.

The Dietary Guidelines for China Residents (20 16) suggests that adult men should not drink more than 25 grams a day, which is equivalent to 750 ml of beer, 250 ml of wine or 85 ml of low-alcohol liquor; Adult women do not exceed 15g, which is equivalent to 450ml of beer, 50 ml of wine 150ml or 45ml of low-alcohol liquor.

Therefore, the healthiest drinking amount is zero! Live a healthy life, stay away from alcohol, abandon the rumor that a small amount of drinking is good for your health, and be responsible for your health!

References:

[1] Lai Yamin, Qian Jiaming. Can a small amount of drinking promote health [J]. China Journal of General Medicine, 20 13, 12 (10): 780-782.

[2]Arranz S, Chiva-Blanch G, Valderas-Martínez, Palmira, et al. Effects of wine, beer, alcohol and polyphenols on cardiovascular diseases and cancer [J]. Nutrients, 2012,4 (12): 759-78.

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