| Brief Guide to Drinking |
| One for the road? |
|
There is unanimous agreement that that too much alcohol is harmful, but here is now a body of opinion that supports the view that alcohol, in 'considered' amounts, can be good for one's health and the body in general. But it begs the question as to what is considered or reasonable.
Red wine is thought to have a beneficial effect on the heart and arteries because of the bioflavonoids and anti-oxidants that it contains. See Wine Merchants Online for availability. |
| How can we define or measure what we drink? |
|
We need to know how much alcohol we have taken in from say five pints of cider or four large gin and tonics. Is there are way of comparing the alcohol levels in different drinks? Clearly this can be done in the laboratory, but is there a rule of hand that is easy to apply? The answer is a qualified yes. Most countries now have defined a standard drink or unit of alcohol, the only problem is that the definition of a unit varies from one country to another. In the UK, the standard drink or unit of alcohol is a drink that delivers 7.9 g of absolute alcohol or 10 ml. In Japan, the standard unit is 19.75g or 25 ml of pure alcohol. This would be quite useful information if we all drank pure or neat alcohol (also known as absolute alcohol; but we do not. What we drink is mixed with water and other ingredients. Nor are our drinks conveniently labelled in terms of neat alcohol content,
The following values are a rough guide as to what may be expected:
|
| Proof |
|
Beers, wines and spirits bought in the UK usually have somewhere on their label a figure that says something like 13% Proof.
Proof indeed. Proof is old measure of the strength of an alcoholic drink. It has its origins from the days when a test was needed to show that the drink did really contain a 'correct' measure or significant amount of alcohol. The test was applied as follows :
This procedure was later replaced by a test using an instrument known as a hydrometer to measure the specific gravity. This was far more objective and allowed people to give a much better indication of the amount of alcohol in a given batch of beer or wine or spirit. |
| Other systems |
| The metric system is extensively used throughout Europe and relatively simple in that it is useful to know that the % AbV (absolute alcohol) multiplied by 10 immediately tells you how many millilitres of alcohol there are in 1 litre of the drink. |
| Other complicating factors! What Size Drink? |
|
Unfortunately, we do not usually order our drinks in millilitres (though it is now sometimes printed on menus in restaurants and bars). When ordering a drink we might ask for a pint, a bottle, a can, a gill, a glass, or a shot... Few of those are exact measures. There may an understanding (either nationally or locally) of what is meant. However, a English pint is not the same size as a US pint.
To help get around these various difficulties, the idea of a standard drink has been established in many counties. It is based on the standard unit of alcohol used in that country and is generally defined simply using words such as, "A standard drink is one pint of beer, or a glass of wine." Such explanations are only intended to be used within the country in which they are issued, because there are limitations that also need to be understood. Such a simple definition does not allow for variations in the size of the glass of wine or the strength of the wine or the beer! The idea behind the unit is to make people aware of how much they are drinking in a week or an evening. If you can estimate the number of units that you are drinking then you are less likely to damage your body by excess drinking. |
| The body |
|
It is the liver that is at the greatest risk from drinking too much. The liver is responsible for breaking down alcohol in the body and if it is asked to work too hard or too often, then it will fail (a condition known as cirrhosis develops).
Generally, the liver of a normal healthy adult can cope with about 8 to 10 ml (about 1 UK unit) of alcohol per hour, but it can't do that each hour throughout the day! People are usually advised not to consume more than a certain of units in a day or week. Thus for men 3 or 4 units a day is often suggested as a maximum, with a weekly maximum of about 28. For women, the suggested figures are somewhat smaller normally 2/3 units a day and up to 21 units in a week. Other advice may be offered, for example, have one 'alcohol-free' day a week. |
| Drink and drive? |
| If you drink and drive, then your reflexes will slow down, you are more likely to make mistakes and mistakes cost lives and health.. Anyone who is found to have a blood alcohol level in excess of 80 milligrams of alcohol per 100 cm3 of blood will be prosecuted. The permitted level in the UK is one of the highest allowed, 50 milligrams is a more usual upper limit. In some countries it is zero!! |
| Binge Drinking |
| There is no hard and fast definition of this. Basically, it means drinking too much and too fast. Put simply it is bad for you. The consumption of large amounts of alcohol in a short space of time can lead to alcohol poisoning and death, or people can choke to death on their own vomit. |
| Alcohol and Calories |
| Another bit of 'bad news' to do with alcohol, certainly for those of us how have to fight the flab - is that it is full of energy or calories. The energy content of pure alcohol is 29.3 kilojoules per gram. Thus, a normal bottle of wine will contain about 500 calories, which works out at about 80 calories a glass. Neither is a pint of beer calorie free, the term beer gut is not applied without reason. |
| Comments, copyright and linking |
|
Comments on this brief guide would be welcome. Also, please let us know if you do put in a link to this guide from your website and we will try to reciprocate with a link from us to your site.
Copyright: these pages are protected by copyright and reproduction of this material is strictly prohibited. Copyright belongs to Giant Games Limited, owner of the briefguides.co.uk and onlineshopping.co.uk websites. © 1997-2006 Giant Games Limited, but you are welcome to have a link to this webpage. |