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Myths Regarding the Physical Benefits of Drinking Alcohol

By: David B Smith

Whatever problems might be accompanied with alcohol consumption, a few alcoholic drinks have always been believed to have had medicinal .

Alpine rescue teams traditionally attached containers of brandy to tracking dogs who would seek out lost souls in the snow. The alcohol was thought to be helpful in warming a frost-bitten patient and be beneficial in rehabilitation. Similarly, St Paul in the Bible proposed that wine was good for the disgestion (1 Timothy 5:23). Extended recent medical research though has called these medicinal benefits .

It would seem that alcohol has no food value . It includes none of the nitrogenous substances found in meats, eggs, milk, vegetables and seeds, out of which tissue is built, or any of the carbonaceous elements found in fat, starch and sugar.

Medical experts have subjected alcohol to various tests and experiments and have concluded that it has none of the features of structure-building foods. Also, Alcohol is incapable of being assimilated or turn into any organic proximate, and accordingly cannot be considered even remotely nutritious. It is consequently not a food in any sense of its being a useful agent in building up the body and directs nothing essential to the bodily tissue.

The other query is whether it is of any value as a source of heat or energy. Oddly enough, it seems that alcohol does not undergo any bodily combustion (like fats, or starches, or sugars) such as would give heat to the body. This is counter-intuitive, as experience tells us that drinking alcohol frequently warms the core of the body. The medical justification for this though is that the alcohol draws more blood to the stomach and so increases heat at the centre at the expense of the rest of the body.

This would suggest that the brady-bearing St Bernards probably did more harm than good by providing brandy to the being who may have been suffering from hypothermia. While the brandy may have given the facade of warmth by drawing more blood to the stomach, it was probably drawing the blood away from the areas where it was most necessary!

Over time the method of using brandy to warm frost-bitten subjects was indeed abandoned, and physicians have instead recommended the entire exclusion of spirits in cold climates in order to retain heat under unfavorable conditions.

For the above reasons we have to dismiss any idea that alcohol can make you fitter or stronger, even . Unmistakably it can make the being feel more confident and powerful, and this may partially be accounted for by the fact that strength experienced after the use of alcohol is not new strength added to the system, but is the consequence of calling into action pre-existing nervous energy. Beyond this though, all suggestions of increased power and ability are beyond question illusory.

Indeed, The ultimate effect of continued alcohol indulgance is exhaustion. This final point reminds us though that while alcohol may be of no nutritional value to the body, it may be of great value to the mind. Indeed, no one would debate that alcohol can function marvellously to aid in relaxation and diminish stress.

The problem of course is that when a person become reliant on alcohol to preserve mental equilibrium it can lead to alcohol addiction, which in turn can lead to severe bodily ailments and can take a terrible toll on the addicts life and relationships.

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For more information on alcohol and alcohol problems, visit Alcohol Problems





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