Drink?: The New Science of Alcohol and Health

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Present an unvarnished, spin free account of the scientific evidence regarding the health ramifications and social impact of alcohol consumption. Binge drinking, or getting "wasted" is very bad for you, much better to limit how much you do this. If alcohol went through food standards testing for toxicity now, you'd only be allowed to have less than a wine glass of alcohol per year."

Still: it had good stuff in it, here and there. And if you know nothing about the subject, maybe you can start with this. While there is no single commonly accepted cause of hangovers, several bad things tend to happen in combination after a big night out. The author shares strategies to help people who aren't dependent get the maximum benefits with the minimum harm. One strategy is to decide before a social event how much you will drink, instead of deciding in the moment after judgment is impaired.A world-renowned authority on the science of alcohol exposes its influence on our health, mood, sleep, emotions, and productivity — and what we can and should do to moderate our intake. Professor Nutt does a much better job of citing some psychological aspects of why people drink, i.e., the self-help portion of the book. [Read the section on "Is Your Booze Buzz in Your Head?"] Later on he cites one study that "...showed that people drank lager 60 percent more slowly out of straight glasses than out of outward-curving (pilsner type) ones." Now that's interesting, don't you think? He also does a better job in this half of the book delineating when he is discussing fact or logic and not just opinion. ly defined as 0.08% BAC. The per se .08 level was a compromise arrived at after long debate with the powerful industries that make, sell and serve alcoholic beverages who wanted a higher legal limit. From the mouth and gullet, the liquid moves to your stomach, where about 20% is absorbed through the stomach lining. The rest is absorbed once it reaches the small intestines, all of it ultimately ending up in your bloodstream. Food can act like a sponge and slow the alcohol’s absorption: if you are drinking on an empty stomach, the alcohol takes effect much faster. A few minutes after your first sip, once it gets to your bloodstream and into your brain, it starts to have an effect.

We better understand the effects of alcohol today than we did a decade or two ago. For example, recent research shows that alcohol use is associated with at least eight cancers. We also know that alcohol acts on many different neurotransmitter systems in the brain. That's why severe alcohol intoxication can lead to coma and even death. In addition, the parts of the brain dealing with judgment are very sensitive to alcohol. Many patients with cirrhosis consider themselves social drinkers, though they tend to consume quite a bit.Parts of this was laughable. Long chapters about different ways to talk about alcohol use, just very clumsy kitchen psychology and mundane.

Previously he has been a member and then Chair of the Advisory Committee on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD - 1998-2009), a member of the HEFCE/NHS Senior Lecturer Selection Panel and of the MRC Neuroscience Board. Other previous national contributions include serving as the medical expert on the Independent Inquiry into the Misuse of Drugs Act (2000 Runciman report), and membership of the Committee on Safety of Medicines, the Committee on NHS drugs and the Ministry of Defence Science Advisory Board. He was the clinical scientific lead on the 2004/5 UK Government Foresight initiative "Brain science, addiction and drugs" that provided a 25-year vision for this area of science and public policy.

Overall, very useful and helpful book that made me think harder about my habits around alcohol. My major takeaways that I'm enacting: Many of us know the feeling of wanting a drink after a stressful day at work or enjoying a Friday evening pint at the pub. Drinking is a part of numerous celebrations, sporting events and bank holidays across the UK and the world. Yet, the 9 billion pounds spent by the UK’s National Health Services and police force on alcohol-related incidents per year are barely discussed. Drink? invites you to question not only the normalcy of these actions in our lives, but how, personally and through policy, we can reduce the harm caused by drinking. It is not just the headache: overdoing it inhibits the liver’s normal ability to release sugar, leading to the sluggish feeling that comes with low blood sugar levels. The body also reacts to what it perceives as an imbalance in brain chemicals, and tries to correct it by reducing Gaba – which can cause what many drinkers think of as “ hangxiety”. Finally, even one drink will negatively affect sleep, and having a few means you are unlikely to have had much beneficial sleep. After completing his medical training at Guy's Hospital London, continuing in neurology to MRCP, he went on to his psychiatric training in Oxford, he continued there as a lecturer and then later as a Wellcome Senior Fellow in psychiatry. He then spent two years as Chief of the Section of Clinical Science in the National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism in NIH, Bethesda, USA. On returning to England in 1988 he set up the Psychopharmacology Unit in Bristol University, an interdisciplinary research grouping spanning the departments of Psychiatry and Pharmacology before moving to Imperial College London in December 2008 where he leads a similar group with a particular focus on brain imaging especially PET. Irrelevant to which part of the book some of his suggestions appeared, a few concerned me. Although one section is subtitled, "Hangover Cures: What's the Evidence," implying he's presenting information and not recommendations, since this is a self-help book, I might assume that most readers aren't processing the "What's the Evidence" portion of the heading and merely focusing on the promise of "Hangover Cures."