Women More Likely to Have Serious Drinking Problems

In what looks to be another way to differentiate the sexes, women are more likely to be seriously affected by problem drinking than men.

A new study by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism confirms this even though fewer women across the country consume alcohol than men. The study shows female alcoholics have death rates that are 50-100 percent higher than their male counterparts. These deaths vary from causes such as suicide, accidents, stroke, heart failure and cirrhosis of the liver.

Despite this serious drawback for the fairer sex, almost 40,000 women each year drink enough to have babies born with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder. FASD can cause shorter children, lower IQ’s, mental retardation and organ defects. Additionally, it is almost 100 times more expensive to raise a child with FASD than one without.

Even so, FASD is completely preventable and pregnant women can go to the National Organization of Fetal Alcohol Syndrome website for information on drinking at www.nofas.org.

Overweight and oblivious: Aussie men embrace the beer belly

Now ask any college female and she’ll tell you: Australian men are hot. Like, really hot. Think Heath Ledger hot (may he rest in peace). However, this article from LiveNews may prove otherwise. Calling all college men everywhere– please, please, please do not take a cue from these guys:

Australian men are in denial about their weight and have come to accept the beer belly as the norm.

Professor Ian Caterson, from the University of Sydney says the misperceptions of men are deeply entrenched in Australian culture, with men forming the idea that bigger is better.

A national survey has found 60 per cent of men have a body mass index over 30 but only 36 per cent consider themselves overweight.

Professor Caterson says their female partners also seem to say it’s OK for their men to carry the extra kilos.

When it comes to their own weight, when women notice they have become heavier they tend to do something about it.

Via: http://livenews.com.au

Science Says: Wine Drinkers Have Smaller Brians Than Beer Drinkers

Scientists have discovered that drinking too much wine damages the brain more than beer or spirits.

In a new study, one area of the brains of wine drinkers was smaller than that of other people studied who drank different drinks in greater amounts.

The hippocampus, the part of the brain involved in memory, spatial tasks and many other functions, was more than 10 per cent smaller in those who drank wine than in those who drank beer.

In the study, alcohol alone may not account for the differences because the beer and spirit drinkers had greater lifetime consumption of alcohol; in the case of beer drinkers some had consumed twice as much alcohol as the wine lovers. One theory is that there may be something in beer that partially protects the brain from the damage caused by wine.

The researchers, from Germany’s Göttingen University, believe the findings may be linked to a compound in the blood called homocysteine, which other studies have shown is linked to higher risks of heart disease, strokes, brain atrophy and dementia.

Researchers found that beer drinkers had the lowest levels of the compound. One theory is that other ingredients of beer – B vitamins and folate – may break down homocysteine.

Drink a Beer After You Work Out: It’s Healthy For You!

A new study suggests that having a beer after you exercise can help you recover even faster than water. This is the type of study that college students dream about, but somebody actually went ahead and did it!

Spanish researchers did a test with 25 college students in which they made them perform strenuous exercise in 104 degree heat. Afterwards, the participants were split into two groups: half were given water, and half were given beer.

The result showed that the hydration effect in those who drank beer was “slightly better” than those who drank water. The reason for this is that Beer can help someone who has been sweating regain liquid better than water. The bubbles in the carbonation help to quench thirst and the carbohydrates in beer help replace lost calories.

There are skeptics, of course, who say that previous studies have shown most alcoholic drinks increase the amount of liquid lost through urination.

But Dr James Betts, a nutrition expert from Bath University in Britain, said, “If you are dehydrated to start with following exercise, a beer, as opposed to a spirit, probably does not have a high enough concentration of alcohol to induce a diuretic (increased urination) effect.”

So there you have it! A doctor even said it’s true! What more excuse do we need? Start boozing it up after you hit the gym! Just make sure you stick with beer, and not straight whiskey.

Back when I was playing rugby we used to have beer practices on Fridays just because they were awesome, but maybe we were on to something…

Dealing With Your Hangover

Dealing with a hangover is nobody’s favorite thing to do. But we know how it really is, and every so often a good party makes the average college student literally forced into boozing before they have to wake up early. So how do you get over your hangover so you can deal with all those annoying things you have to do during the day? Drinkaware.co.uk, a british drinking awareness site has made a list of some tips for the morning after that we like. Turns out that it really comes down to time and re-hydrating yourself. They mention at the end that the best way to cure a hangover is to avoid getting one. But as we know sometimes these things just kinda happen…

original at [drinkaware]

Chicago 12 Year Olds Drink Harder than You

Chicago students, rejoice! You’ve received top honors. A Red Eye/Chicago Tribune article published in February reported that Chicago is the top bing-drinking city in America (it’s also the home of College Drinker — go figure).

The federal government’s Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, which released its ranking of the 15 largest metropolitan areas last month, found that 25.7 percent of people over age 12 in the Chicago area were considered binge drinkers, more than any other metro area surveyed and well over the national average of 22.7 percent.

Age 12? Are you kidding? I know some people get started early, but damn, that’s plain ridiculous. I don’t suppose those same 12 year olds are shot-gunning cans of Natty Ice and beer bonging malt liquor down a staircase. If they are, I want to meet them, they’re America’s future.

And don’t be fooled by the picture — it’s straight vodka.