To your health

Eulalee Thompson

It's the time of year when many people can think of not much else but Christmas preparations, parties, eating and drinking. Talk about drinking. You can drink to your health.

IT'S NO secret that all the latest studies on alcohol and health are indicating that imbibing in your favourite alcoholic beverage, in moderate portions, is associated with lowered risks for heart disease and strokes caused by blood clots.
The important proviso, of course, is that your indulgences should be moderate. There is a fine line between healthy drinking and risky drinking. No more than one drink per day for women according to the U.S. National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism and for men, no more than two drinks each day. They have also quantified "a drink". One drink is a 12-ounce bottle of beer; a five-ounce glass of wine; or a 1.5-ounce shot of 80-proof liquor.

The health benefits are associated with one or two drinks per day but more than two drinks per day has been linked to various illnesses such as high blood pressure, cancer, and liver disease. And of course, there is the issue of alcohol dependency.

Intelligently weigh the benefits against the risks when taking alcohol and here are some helpful guidelines:

consumption of moderate amounts of alcohol can impair the ability to drive

women who are pregnant or who are planning to become pregnant should not drink alcohol. Taking alcohol during pregnancy may cause foetal alcohol syndrome where alcohol in the mother's bloodstream crosses into the placenta, the organ in the womb that nourishes the foetus. Foetal exposure results in reduced IQ, malformed facial features and growth failure after birth.

people who take prescription or over-the-counter medications (including aspirin on a daily basis) should discuss regular consumption of alcohol with their physicians

never drink and drive

take snacks before drinking and even during your drinking spree, food in the stomach slows the digestion of alcohol

and, of course, people with a family history of alcohol problems or those who cannot restrict drinking to a moderate level should probably abstain

if you are on a special diet, for instance, if you are diabetic, you should note that alcohol quickly provides almost twice as much energy as a similar amount of sugar. Nutritionists at the Caribbean Food and Nutrition Institute (CFNI) says that diabetics should pass on another food item that has an equivalent amount of energy if they drink. For example, a four to five-ounce glass of table wine, a bottle of beer and 1.5 to two ounces of strong liquor are about equal in energy value and would replace about two ounces of meat or a cup (or two servings) of rice or other staple.

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