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Table of contents
1. Enjoy wine sensibly: drink in moderation 2. Drinking wine responsibly 3. How the human body breaks down alcohol 4. About the healthy substances in wine 5. Drinking wine regularly: the advantages 6. Disadvantages of a regular modest consumption of alcohol 7. No alcohol is sometimes the best for your health 8. Further reading material Colophon
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2 | WIJN EN GEZONDHEID
Drinking wine regularly but moderately is good for your health. Excessive use of alcohol is counterproductive and harms the human body.
Listen carefully to your own body An average woman can take less alcohol than an average man. Alcohol spreads through the body via the blood and women have a relatively smaller amount of blood because they have more body fat. Therefore the same glass of wine results in a higher alcohol level in the blood in women. Incidentally, the same goes for fat men. In addition to the fat percentage, the height and the body weight also have an influence on the effect of alcohol. A person who is 1.55 m tall gets more alcohol into his blood from a glass of wine than a person who stands 1.90 m. And a person who weighs 60 kg gets more alcohol into his blood than a person whose weight is 97 kilo. Moreover, the liver enzymes which break down the alcohol from the blood do not work equally fast in all persons. The recommendation for a moderate and responsible consumption of alcohol are based on the average consumer, but who is average? Always listen carefully to the signals emitted by your own body. Drinking wine goes well within a healthy way of life if you drink regularly but moderately. But what is drinking responsibly? And also: how do you do that, drinking responsibly? Enjoy sensibly, drink moderately Drinking wine is enjoyable and may also have a positive effect on your health. Drinking moderately means one or two glasses per day at the most for an adult woman, and two or three glasses per day at the most for an adult man. In this way you profit optimally from the positive effects of wine and the negative effects are limited to a minimum. However, there are some exceptions where drinking even the smallest amount is not healthy. You can read more about this in Chapter 7.
Drink regularly The positive effects of wine on your health are the greatest at a combination of regular and moderate consumption. It is better to drink one or two glasses every day than to drink irregularly. Thus it is not wise to drink a great deal during the weekend and nothing during the week. Even if you stay in this way under the average of 14 to 21 glasses per week. Agencies such as the Netherlands Nutrition Centre recommend abstaining from alcohol one or two days per week, to avoid developing a dependency.
The standard glasses for each kind of drink have been adjusted to this percentage, so that every drink contains the same amount of alcohol. Therefore a beer glass is larger than a wine glass and a gin glass is much smaller. In order to properly follow the recommendations for moderate consumption, the best thing to do is drink each from its standard glass or, in the event of wine, maintain 100 ml per glass.
Drinking wine regularly but moderately is the best thing for your health
Live healthily If you want to live a healthy life, drinking wine regularly but moderately is obviously not enough. A genetic disposition can not be influenced, but many other factors can. You should, for example, eat healthy food with sufficient vegetables, fruits and fish and few saturated fats. You must also get enough exercise: at least half an hour per day of active movement, such as going for a walk or riding a bicycle.
It takes the liver approximately an hour to an hour and a half to break down the alcohol from one glass of wine.
Still, the speed at which the liver breaks down alcohol varies per person. That mainly has to do with the activity of the liver enzymes which in turn depends on genetic factors, among others. For example, there are relatively many Asiatic persons whose liver enzymes break down the alcohol very slowly.
Wine contains a large amount of antioxidants Antioxidants are substances which help protect the body cells against free radicals. Free radicals are aggressive molecules which are formed as a by-product by the combustion of food in the body. They also enter into the body by inhalation of polluted air, excessive exposure to sunlight and by viruses and bacteria. The free radicals can damage proteins in cells and enter into reactions with the DNA in body cells. This may result in deregulation of the cell division and in the growth of tumours. The antioxidants which are contained in wine, but also in vegetables and fruits, can render these free radicals harmless. Moreover, wine contains a large number of other bioactive substances. Research into the beneficial effects of these substances on health is still in full swing.
It is not quite clear yet which effect a moderate consumption of alcohol has on blood pressure. Some studies show a slight drop in blood pressure, but other studies, on the other hand, show a slight increase. It is a proven fact, however, that an excessive use of alcohol causes the blood pressure to rise.
Alcohol has a protective effect especially among males over 40 with an increased risk of cardiac and vascular diseases.
continues to be sensitive to insulin by a moderate use of alcohol. An excessive consumption of alcohol has a counterproductive effect. A person who drinks too much runs a greater risk of developing diabetes. It has an effect on the brain Anyone who has drunk an alcoholic drink knows that alcohol has an effect on the brain. A glass of wine has a relaxing effect, calms down a person and can reduce feelings of stress and anxiety. In a sense it is mind-expanding, so that one becomes more open and sometimes also more creative. It also increases a persons selfconfidence so that social contacts are established more smoothly. This is because alcohol has an effect on the stimulating and inhibiting systems in the brain. This pleasant and positive effect works only at a very moderate use. Even after drinking just one to three glasses the brain clearly functions less well and the ability to react decreases. Too much alcohol results in border-crossing, reckless, risky and often obnoxious behaviour. This in turn may lead to disrupted social contacts and physical accidents and, in the longer term, concentration problems and even permanent brain damage.
It may reinforce the bones Bone fractures occur relatively frequently in women after menopause. Because of the changed hormone housekeeping, decalcification of the bones (osteoporosis) occurs to a more or less serious degree. If osteoporosis occurs, the bone density decreases, the bones become less strong and therefore break more easily. Women who drink wine moderately turn out to have stronger bones than women who do not drink (moderately!). The scientists are not quite convinced yet of these outcomes, for there are studies in which the positive effect of a moderate alcohol consumption on the health of the bones has not been found. The provisional conclusion is that drinking alcoholic beverages moderately is not harmful and may protect the condition of the bones. Again, it is certain that the positive effect disappears when too much alcohol is consumed.
Weight in balance
Make sure you have the right weight, also when you drink alcohol regularly and moderately. Take this into account in your daily menu. One glass of wine contains about 82 calories (kcal). Per day an adult woman needs 2000 kcal and an adult man 2500 kcal on average.
Drinking wine moderately helps relax and reduces anxiety. It also increases creativity and self-condence.
This is how the body burns alcohol Just like fat, proteins and carbohydrates from the food, the alcohol in wine supplies energy. The substance alcohol supplies 7 kcal per gram. The conversion and combustion of alcohol is given priority in the body over the combustion of fat, carbohydrates and proteins. The body can not store the energy from alcohol and uses its right away. Energy from other food products which is not used immediately, is stored by the body in the form of fat. An alcoholic aperitif works as an appetiser. This is in fact what its purpose. It makes you hungry, but this does not prove that drinking moderately instigates more eating thereby increasing the risk of overweight. After all, alcohol itself supplies energy which partly satisfies the appetite. Again, striking the right balance is the principal message here.
It reduces the risk of dementia Drinking wine moderately has still another positive effect on the brain. Studies have demonstrated that alcohol may protect against dementia, such as Alzheimers disease. This is a disease in which the memory no longer works or no longer works properly. Persons who regularly drink wine moderately stand a 40% smaller chance of developing dementia. But once again: too much alcohol is not good. At an intake of four or more glasses per day the risk of dementia actually increases.
No relationship has been demonstrated between a moderate consumption of alcohol and other forms of cancer. Drinking excessive amounts of alcoholic drinks is simply bad for ones health and may result in an increased risk of cancer.
Alcoholism is a disease with serious physical and social consequences. The bad thing about an addictive substance such as alcohol is that the body gets used to it and needs an ever increasing amount to become satisfied. When alcoholics do not drink, they develop withdrawal symptoms such as sweating, trembling and anxiety attacks. It is difficult to kick an alcohol addiction. And as alcoholism is such a personal thing, there is no standard method to stop drinking. Expert help is usually needed. Exhibit-alcoholics continue to be sensitive, for example because of their character, to the attraction of alcohol, they rarely succeed in limiting themselves to drinking moderately. Therefore it is usually recommended that they do not drink alcohol at all. Do you want to know more about this? Then visit www.alcoholinfo.nl.
Alcoholism: a disease with serious consequences Drinking too much for too long may result in alcoholism and alcohol addiction. But what do too much and too long mean? Too much is more than five or six glasses of alcoholic drink per day and too long is when you do this for a number of years in a row. The causes and the occurrence of alcohol addiction are complex. Character, personality disorders and education play a part. The development of an alcohol addiction seems to depend to an important degree on hereditary factors. One out of three alcoholics has at least one parent who is also an alcoholic. Research is being conducted into the genetic explanation for this. The environment, often in combination with other factors, may stimulate the use of too much alcohol. One may think, for example, of friends who often drink too much and of problems, tension and stress.
Alcohol has a retarding and permanent harmful effect on a body which is still growing
No alcohol when you are or want to get pregnant For women who are or want to get pregnant the advice is: do not drink alcohol around the time of conception and during the entire pregnancy. Even the consumption of one glass of alcoholic drink per day increases the risk of complications during the pregnancy. It may also have adverse consequences for the later psychomotoric development of the child. Researchers can nor determine a safe lower limit. Therefore the advice to pregnant women is not to touch alcohol at all. No alcohol when you are breastfeeding Also during the breastfeeding period it is better not to drink alcohol at all. Alcohol finds its way into the mothers milk via the blood. There is still alcohol in the mothers milk until three hours after she has drunk one glass of alcoholic drink. Still feel like a glass of wine occasionally? Then do so immediately after having breastfed the baby. And then wait at least three hours again before you breastfeed your baby again.
No alcohol when your brains have to be 100% Drinking alcoholic drinks has an effect on the reaction speed and is therefore not a clever thing to do when you practise a sport. Not only does your performance decline, but the risk of injuries and accidents becomes greater. Also when studying or working, alcohol only bothers you. No alcohol with some diseases and certain medicaments Some diseases and certain medicaments interfere with or slow down the functioning of the liver. As the liver plays an important part in the breaking down of alcohol, it is not then wise to drink alcohol. Always ask your doctor or your pharmacist for information about the combination of alcohol, the disease in question and the medication.
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Carrao G e.a. A Meta-analysis of alcohol consumption and the risk of 15 diseases. Prevfentive medine 2004; 38:613-619. Gezondheidsraad. Risicos van alcoholgebruik bij conceptie, zwangerschap en borstvoeding. Den Haag: Gezondheidsraad 2005; publicatie no. 2004/22. (Health Council. Risks of alcohol consumption ar conception, pregnancy and breastfeeding. the Hague: Health Council 2005; publication no. 2004/22) Gunzerarth L e.a. National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholims report on moderate drinking. Alcohol Clin Exp Res 2004; 28(6):829-847. Hendriks HF, van Tol A, Alcohol. Handb (Manual) Exp Pharmacol 2005; (170):339-61. Review. Koppes LLJ e.a. Moderate alcohol consumption lowers the risk of type 2 diabetes. A meta-analysis of prospective observational mstudies. Diabetes Care 2005; 28(3):7 19-25. MacDonald I, editor. Health issues related to alcohol consumption. 2nd ed. Bodmin: Blackwell Science Ltd, 1999. Mukamal KJ e.a. Prospectivre study of alcohol consumption and risk of dementia in older adults. JAMA. 2003;289(11): 1405-1413. Mukamal KJ e.a. Roles of drinking pattern and type of alcohol consumed in coronary heart disease in men. N Eng L Med 2003; 348: 109-18. Orgogozo JM e.a. Wine consumption and dementia in the elderly: a prospective community study in the Bordeaux area. Rev neurologique. 1997; 153(3): 185-192. Reynolds K e.a. Alcohol consumption and risk of stroke: a meta-analysis. JAMA 2003 Feb 5;289(5)579-88. Rimm EB e.a. Moderate alcohol intake and lower risk of coronary heart disease: meta-analysis of effects on lipids and haemostatic factors. BMJ. 1999; 319:1523-8. RIVM. Nationaal Kompas Volksgezondheid 2007. (National Public Health Compass 2007). Ruitenberg A e.a. Alcohol consumption and risk of demtia: the Rotterdam Study. Lancet. 2002;359(9303):281-286. Tolstrup J e.a. Prospective study of alcohol drinking patterns and coronary heart disease in women and men. BMJ 2006; 332(7552):124408. Whitfield JB. Alcohol and gene interactions. Clin Chem Lab Med 2005; 43(5):480-7. World Cancer Research Fund (WCRF) / American Institute for Cancer Research. Food, Nutrition and Physical Activity and the Prevention of Cancer: a Global Perspective. Washington DC AICR, 2007.
Colophon
Productschap Wijn / Wijninformatiecentrum (Product Board Wine / Wine Information Centre) Productschap Wijn, BS Advies, Ruit&Rijst PIXNFLIX Visual Excitement
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Product Board Wine T (070) 370 83 47 F (070) 370 84 08 E pw@wijninfo.nl Wine Information Centre T (070) 370 83 26 F (070) 370 84 08 E wic@wijninfo.nl Edition: 2009