Happy Monday humans! I spent my weekend cooking delicious food and hanging with the worlds happiest baby so life is good these days. So after the post on probiotics and fermentation I had a reader ask a good question- alcohol is fermented; does that make it good for my immune system? While I know this reader is smart enough to know that alcohol is not good for the immune system I think it is an important topic to take a look at.
During fermentation bacteria and/or yeast are essentially pre-digesting food for you. While consumption of microorganisms themselves give us plenty of health benefits [1], they also cause chemical changes in the food which are beneficial to our health. For example, anti-nutrients are compounds in foods which interfere with our absorption of nutrients [2] and can damage out intestinal lining. These sort of natural pesticides for plants are decreased during fermentation [3] and we then get to enjoy the health benefits of food with more available nutrition.
Anyway, all this cool stuff bacteria and yeast are doing for us creates by-products and ta-da! ALCOHOL. I can make anybody pretty… I can make you believe any lies……. I wont torture you with my type-singing, just check out Brad’s video.
During fermentation bacteria and/or yeast are essentially pre-digesting food for you. While consumption of microorganisms themselves give us plenty of health benefits [1], they also cause chemical changes in the food which are beneficial to our health. For example, anti-nutrients are compounds in foods which interfere with our absorption of nutrients [2] and can damage out intestinal lining. These sort of natural pesticides for plants are decreased during fermentation [3] and we then get to enjoy the health benefits of food with more available nutrition.
Anyway, all this cool stuff bacteria and yeast are doing for us creates by-products and ta-da! ALCOHOL. I can make anybody pretty… I can make you believe any lies……. I wont torture you with my type-singing, just check out Brad’s video.
Anywho let’s use traditional beer as our example. Barley and hops are fermented by yeast to produce alcohol. Yes, alcohol is yeast poop. After the alcohol develops, barley, yeast, and other flavoring agents are removed and the alcohol is clarified. This removes any particles which would make the product cloudy. Meaning the part that is good for us is taken out. Now, I know I don’t need to tell you that alcohol is bad for your health, hangovers do that for me. But alcohol has greater effects that just a day-after headache from hell.
I know many of you are savvy calorie counters at this point and know to factor that bottle of wine, two shots of tequila and three beers into your calorie allotment for the day but it isn’t just the calories in the drink itself you need to worry about. As you know the liver is the part of the body that breaks down alcohol. The liver is also the part of the body that processes carbohydrates, fats, and proteins- the components of our diet which give us calories. Consumption of alcohol interferes with your body’s ability to break down carbohydrates, proteins, and fats to be used as energy [4]. Instead, they get stored. Stored energy = the dreaded F word- FAT. Oh crap. So now you are consuming excess calories in alcohol PLUS slowing your body’s ability to process the food you are consuming. There is a laundry list of the downsides to alcohol consumption including malnutrition, decreased immunity, decreased insulin sensitivity, cancer, and liver injury [5], [6] to name a few. But again, I know you are not an idiot. Just remember, in addition to making you feel like ass, alcohol makes you store the F word on yours as well.
Beneficial Boozing
That phrase made you as happy as when I told you its okay to eat butter, didn’t it?! The truth is a number of studies have shown ONE drink for women and TWO for men per day can have some beneficial health effects including an increase in HDL, the “good cholesterol.” [7]. However, if you do not already drink you should NOT start drinking . If drinking for you is a couple at hour on Friday I do NOT recommend you pick up a daily habit. If you are taking medications or supplements of any sort make sure you discuss alcohol consumption, no matter how little, with your physician. Most medications have interactions with alcohol that may enhance or diminish the effects of the medication you are taking.
For those of you who are off the wagon, don’t be jackasses about it.
ONE drink means:
12 ounces of beer. This one is easy, 12oz is the size of a standard can or bottle.
I know many of you are savvy calorie counters at this point and know to factor that bottle of wine, two shots of tequila and three beers into your calorie allotment for the day but it isn’t just the calories in the drink itself you need to worry about. As you know the liver is the part of the body that breaks down alcohol. The liver is also the part of the body that processes carbohydrates, fats, and proteins- the components of our diet which give us calories. Consumption of alcohol interferes with your body’s ability to break down carbohydrates, proteins, and fats to be used as energy [4]. Instead, they get stored. Stored energy = the dreaded F word- FAT. Oh crap. So now you are consuming excess calories in alcohol PLUS slowing your body’s ability to process the food you are consuming. There is a laundry list of the downsides to alcohol consumption including malnutrition, decreased immunity, decreased insulin sensitivity, cancer, and liver injury [5], [6] to name a few. But again, I know you are not an idiot. Just remember, in addition to making you feel like ass, alcohol makes you store the F word on yours as well.
Beneficial Boozing
That phrase made you as happy as when I told you its okay to eat butter, didn’t it?! The truth is a number of studies have shown ONE drink for women and TWO for men per day can have some beneficial health effects including an increase in HDL, the “good cholesterol.” [7]. However, if you do not already drink you should NOT start drinking . If drinking for you is a couple at hour on Friday I do NOT recommend you pick up a daily habit. If you are taking medications or supplements of any sort make sure you discuss alcohol consumption, no matter how little, with your physician. Most medications have interactions with alcohol that may enhance or diminish the effects of the medication you are taking.
For those of you who are off the wagon, don’t be jackasses about it.
ONE drink means:
12 ounces of beer. This one is easy, 12oz is the size of a standard can or bottle.
(Photo courtesy of Daniel Spiess)
5 ounces of wine. This is where you REALLY need to be careful. I literally want you to get out a measuring cup. ONE drink is 1/2 cup plus 1/8 of a cup. TWO drinks is 1 and 1/4 cup. Below is a picture I took of 5 ounces in a standard wine glass, ONE GLASS OF WINE DOES NOT MEAN FILL YOUR GLASS. Don’t be a jackass.
And finally, one liquor drink is 1.5 ounces, the amount in a standard shot glass.
For those of you who do want to responsibly enjoy a bevee get a bang for your boozy buck. Go for dry red wines or check out this awesome list of beers with the highest phenolic content. As for mixers- club soda, lemon, and lime are your best friends. Be creative; add mint and fresh or frozen fruits and avoid artificially colored mixers. Soda, tonic water, and juice are obnoxiously high in sugar. Diet soda alters the way your brain perceives sweetness making you need more to activate the same reward [8] and if you even think about putting an energy drink into your vodka I will go Dikembe Mutombo on you, NOT IN MY HOUSE! Woof thinking back on the number of RBVs I pounded in Dark Horse makes me wonder how I am alive today.
Finally, I can’t sign off without mentioning that alcoholism is a disease. If you find that you cannot make it through the day without alcohol you should seek professional help. You can find a local Alcoholics Anonymous and other resources here or speak with your physician about services he or she can recommend. It is not something to be ashamed of, we all go through hard times and it is how you cope and overcome that makes you the person you are.
Now go do something that makes a world a better place, like making someone smile.
CHEERS!
For those of you who do want to responsibly enjoy a bevee get a bang for your boozy buck. Go for dry red wines or check out this awesome list of beers with the highest phenolic content. As for mixers- club soda, lemon, and lime are your best friends. Be creative; add mint and fresh or frozen fruits and avoid artificially colored mixers. Soda, tonic water, and juice are obnoxiously high in sugar. Diet soda alters the way your brain perceives sweetness making you need more to activate the same reward [8] and if you even think about putting an energy drink into your vodka I will go Dikembe Mutombo on you, NOT IN MY HOUSE! Woof thinking back on the number of RBVs I pounded in Dark Horse makes me wonder how I am alive today.
Finally, I can’t sign off without mentioning that alcoholism is a disease. If you find that you cannot make it through the day without alcohol you should seek professional help. You can find a local Alcoholics Anonymous and other resources here or speak with your physician about services he or she can recommend. It is not something to be ashamed of, we all go through hard times and it is how you cope and overcome that makes you the person you are.
Now go do something that makes a world a better place, like making someone smile.
CHEERS!
