Alcohol plays a prevalent role in many cultures, with many of us toasting to big life moments, enjoying happy hours with coworkers or friends, or simply indulging in a few drinks after a long, stressful day.
Author Archives: paulwillia
The doctor’s guide to healthy drinking
Post-work happy hours and first date cocktails are so common these days, it’s easy to forget that alcohol is more than just a social lubricant — it’s a drug. In fact, it’s the most commonly used drug in the world. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), more than 51 percent of adults over 18 are regular drinkers, consuming at least 12 drinks in the past year.
Alcohol and your health: Is none better than a little?
That’s the best way to describe the relationship between alcohol and health. As I’ve written about before, a number of studies have demonstrated health benefits with lower amounts of drinking. But if you drink too much alcohol (especially at inopportune times), there may be significant harms as well. Just how these balance out remains a matter of some debate and controversy.
Dark chocolate or red wine?
Of course I would like to believe the scientists who claim that eating dark chocolate positively affects our wellbeing and that drinking moderate amounts of red wine improve our health. I like both dark chocolate and red wine and sometimes together to get a double wellness whammy. What’s not to like?
30 Interesting Alcohol Facts
Alcohol has wide-ranging effects in the body. There are purported benefits, as well as pitfalls, to consuming alcohol. Once it enters your system, it triggers immediate physiological changes in the brain, heart, and liver, among other organs. Over time, these changes can lead to long-term health complications if you’re drinking too much.
Is red wine the secret to good health?
If you’ve recently woken up with the mother of all hangovers, you will know that overdoing it on the alcohol front is never the best idea. But while drinking to excess is associated with a number of health concerns, is total sobriety really the only option if you want to look after your health and wellbeing?
8 Secret Benefits of Drinking Red Wine
Since the early 1990s, the news media has been full of reports about the health benefits of red wine. However, it can be difficult for wine drinkers to sort out the facts from the hype. There have been numerous scientific studies into this issue, and the results can help you understand whether moderate consumption of red wine really might help improve your health.
Can Alcohol Be Part of a Healthy Diet?
In fact, moderate drinking – up to 1 drink per day for women and 2 drinks per day for men, in most cases – can fit into a healthy diet and lifestyle.
Wine & Health and the Triumph of Bacchus
For the cover of my book Wine & Health: Making sense of the new science and what it means for wine lovers, my publisher chose a painting portraying the story of the Triumph of Bacchus. It’s a subtle nod to my analysis of wine’s renewed role in healthy living, but it also underscores the temptation to oversimplify the controversial topic. Sure, Dionysus (later Bacchus in the Roman pantheon) was the god of wine and revelry, but he also inspired generosity, joy, and temperance. The story goes that he gave a grape vine as a gift of gratitude to King Oenos, giving rise to the terms oenology and wine, endowing them from the beginning with positive attributes of human nature.
Why wine is good for your brain
Pop quiz: What is the one modifiable lifestyle factor associated with the lowest rate of decline in mental function with age? (Hint: It isn’t doing Sudoku or crossword puzzles, though I am a fan.) (Another hint: This is a blog about the health benefits of wine.)
Paul Williams 