Drink?: The New Science of Alcohol and Health

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As the most harmful drug in the UK, alcohol has a profound and wide-reaching impact on our health and on society at large. Drink? is the first book of its kind, written by a scientist and rooted in 40 years of medical research and hands-on experience treating patients. Professor David Nutt cuts through the noise to explain its long- and short-term effects, making complex science digestible and taking readers through the journey of alcohol inside the body 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. And it is a very scary book. I thought I knew most facts about the dangers, but Nutt goes into great detail about how alcohol affects every part of the body, what's involved in hangovers, fetal alcohol syndrome, and the types of cancers related to its use. He explains the drugs used for treatment of alcoholics.

Abstention may be the best strategy, however, for drinkers who are alcohol dependent, who have certain other health problems, or are pregnant. I realize this has turned into more of a critique than a book review. You may just want to read the first three and last three of the following paragraphs if you want the short version of my review.

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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. 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. 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.

I've been reading about the dangers of alcohol multiple times, so this didn't really offer anything new. Drawing on research conducted over the recent decades, Prof. Nutt is a leading ICL scientist in this area and presents us (in admittedly a dry account) with all the known science of alcohol to date. I believe something like this should be required reading for all who intend to drink alcohol. He has plenty of insightful examples, which makes the book a fast and interesting read. It's not dry and dull. His expertise is obvious. His credentials are impressive.Parts of this was laughable. Long chapters about different ways to talk about alcohol use, just very clumsy kitchen psychology and mundane. It’s by far the most harmful food product in the grocery store. And that’s really saying something.

When it comes to the brain, "The leading preventable causes of dementia are head injury and the damage alcohol does to the brain. At least one in five cases of dementia is probably due to alcohol. Women may experience brain damage at lower levels of alcohol intake than men." Though there is contradictory evidence about moderate consump- tion, it is "absolutely certain that heavy drinking (adversely) affects the brain." The British perspective came through a few times. For instance, in the section, "Major Ways Alcohol Affects Your Length of Life," I had to look up Professor Nutt's reference to Damien Hirst's sharks and cows with regards to Nutt's mention of formaldehyde. However, I was pleased that Professor Nutt was inclusive and did include science references to Asia and Africa along with Europe, the UK, and the USA.Binge drinking, or getting "wasted" is very bad for you, much better to limit how much you do this. It seems really hard to have a good social life and not drink. It is such an accepted part of life. People don't really understand the effect it has on our bodies and our lives. Of course people do understand at the extreme of becoming an alcoholic, but short of that, what's the big deal? Everyone should educate themselves on why it could be a big deal, so we can all make better informed decisions around drinking, and this book is an excellent introduction to this. I have not seen drug treatments working well with these people. They continue to come into jail, despite attending numerous programs. We call them "frequent flyers." One drug replacing another drug (alcohol) is not a real treatment. It's only a bandaid solution. Alcohol affects the prefrontal cortex, which primarily governs cognitive control, impulse behaviour and the brain’s memory centre. This means that your judgment becomes impaired and movement is disrupted. It seems fairly clear that there is nothing in alcohol that is directly beneficial: resveratrol, an antioxidant often credited with health-boosting properties, is only present in minuscule amounts in red wine. “The World Health Organization outlines its thinking quite clearly,” says Dr Inge Kersbergen, a lecturer in public health at the University of Sheffield. “Essentially, even low amounts of alcohol consumption increase our risk of seven different types of cancer and there is no evidence that any protective effects for other diseases outweigh this increase in cancer risk. So, even though the health risks of light drinking are small, people shouldn’t drink alcohol to try to improve their health.”

Drip-feeding your alcohol slowly over a week comes with its own issues. “It will reduce the acute risks such as accidents and, of course, hangovers,” says Boniface. “But drinking on a daily basis is also not advisable in terms of habit forming, so it’s good to have alcohol-free days every week.” This limits exposure to the psychological phenomenon known as the ‘alcohol priming effect’ whereby, Kersbergen says: “Drinking even a small dose of alcohol can cause people to drink more, even if they didn’t intend to, due to increased craving and reduced inhibition. Someone who wants to cut down on drinking could therefore find it easier to not drink at all on a day than to drink only one drink.” Overall, very useful and helpful book that made me think harder about my habits around alcohol. My major takeaways that I'm enacting: Nutt has spent a good part of his career attempting to educate the general public regarding drug and alcohol use. And to consult and lobby government to adopt more rational drug and alcohol policies based on evidence of individual and social harm. Some people drink before bedtime, but it's not advisable because it disrupts sleep after the first few hours. In addition, drinking before sleep increases snoring, which can lead to Never mix drinking with drugs. You are less likely to know what you're taking when you're drunk, and you don't know how it will mix.

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Drinking has become your hobby or the only way you socialize. This often happens with retirees or expats." However, the evidence is pretty damning, even though alcohol is associated with blue zone diets and minor improvements in cardiovascular health drinking any amount of alcohol has more negative effects than positive.