Believe it or not this question came up not once, not twice, but THREE times in one week! And they weren't talking a cup of wine after dinner either. We are talking hard liquor on a regular basis potentially being good for you. Do you think it could possibly be good for your health? The arguments were 1) it provides you with important nutrients and 2) the metabolism of alcohol cleanses your system and boost your immunity. Is it true? You'll just have to keep reading and find out because I'm not going to telling you yet. :P
Nutrition of Alcohol
First we need to talk about what alcohol provides nutritionally. Alcohol has about 7 calories per gram. Just for a point of reference fat has 9 calories per gram while protein and carbohydrates have 4 calories per gram. In other words it is not a diet food. Now lets take a look at what specific nutrients are provided by alcohol.
Whiskey (86 proof 1.5 oz)
Basically there isn't a whole lot of anything in whiskey nutritionally speaking because it is distilled. If it wasn't in whiskey I left it off rather than put a zero which made the list really short. Lets try comparing it to beer. Beer is fermented instead of distilled. Everyone at health food stores is all about fermented foods and sprouted grains these days so maybe we'll find something more nutritionally significant there.
Beer (12 oz)
So it has a little bit of something in it, but trust me when I say it is nothing nutritionally significant. It doesn't even really put a dent in any of your daily nutrient requirements. The reason it has more nutrients in it is because it is made from fermented grains and retains some of the nutrients from the wheat it was made out of. But lets be honest, no one would look at this list and call beer a fermented-sprouted-grain super food. Clearly any health benefit would not come from the nutrients provided from alcohol. So lets look at another idea; alcohol metabolism detoxifies and benefits the immune system.
Metabolism of Alcohol
First it is important to know that the body cannot store alcohol (too bad we aren't talking about fat, hm?). Therefore, when alcohol comes in the body's number 1 priority is to get it out. It does this by metabolizing it into energy. When you drink just a little bit of alcohol 2 enzymes are used to break the alcohol down into something that looks like fuel for your body. The bad news is before it becomes fuel it becomes a toxic compound called acetaldehyde. This break down is mainly done in your liver which means something toxic is now in your liver which is essential if you want to live.
If you drink lots of alcohol (lots being more than 1-2 drinks) your body can no longer metabolize the alcohol with the 2 enzymes like we just talked about. This causes your liver to treat alcohol as a foreign substance and turns on your body's MEOS system ("microsomal ethanol oxidizing system" which is just a scientific term for "liver cells breaking down alcohol quickly" system) to help get rid of the alcohol asap. Basically you don't want this system to get too revved up because it can lead to drug toxicities because of the way it impacts your liver.
Not everyone metabolizes alcohol the same. For example Asian's don't have as much of the 2nd enzyme needed for alcohol breakdown so they are at more likely to have a build up of the toxic acetaldehyde. Women produce less of these enzymes all together which means they absorb 30-35% more of the unaltered alcohol directly into their blood which is why it is recommended women drink less. Too much alcohol in your body leads to your liver not being able to keep up, and when too much alcohol gets into your blood it can poison you. Alcohol is also a narcotic which means it depresses the central nervous system, aka it reduces your brain function which prevents you from feeling and may cause loss of consciousness. This is why people act weird and/or pass out when they drink too much; their brain just isn't working.
Health Benefits of Alcohol
You'd better not have skipped over the other sections just to get to the answer. You'll be lost if I start throwing around words like acetaldehyde and MEOS. Now back to the health benefits. It is thought that possibly alcohol can lower LDL ("bad" cholesterol) and rase HDL ("good" cholesterol) and help reduce the risk of heart disease (notice it does not boost your immune system). However, they currently think that has more to do with phytochemicals, specifically resveratrol, which are found in red whine, not beer. But basically what it comes down to is they don't really know yet if it has a benefit.
Which brings us back to this whole acetaldehyde and MEOS thing. Basically alcohol is a mild, toxic poison. Acetaldehyde is toxic, if the MEOS system can't keep up with the alcohol it causes a build up in your blood which poisons you, and it decreases your brain function. If that isn't a mild, toxic poison I don't know what is. What does this mean for potential health benefits? If there are any (which I highly doubt) they do not outweigh the risk. That really is the bottom line. Why do all the alcoholic Mexicans you know never get sick? (Really, that was a question). I don't know. Maybe they do get sick but are just too drunk to notice? Or maybe a little virus is a cinch to get rid of compared to trying to get rid mild, toxic poison day after day and therefore it feels like you are giving your body a break.? Or maybe you know your are slowly poisoning yourself but are looking for a way to justify your self destructive behavior because you like the narcotic aspect? I don't know. But I can tell you nutritionally alcohol has nothing to offer but 7 calories per gram.
Nutrition of Alcohol
First we need to talk about what alcohol provides nutritionally. Alcohol has about 7 calories per gram. Just for a point of reference fat has 9 calories per gram while protein and carbohydrates have 4 calories per gram. In other words it is not a diet food. Now lets take a look at what specific nutrients are provided by alcohol.
Whiskey (86 proof 1.5 oz)
- 105 calories
- 0.01 mg zinc
- 1 mg phosphorus
- 0.01 mg iron
- 0.006 mg coper
Basically there isn't a whole lot of anything in whiskey nutritionally speaking because it is distilled. If it wasn't in whiskey I left it off rather than put a zero which made the list really short. Lets try comparing it to beer. Beer is fermented instead of distilled. Everyone at health food stores is all about fermented foods and sprouted grains these days so maybe we'll find something more nutritionally significant there.
Beer (12 oz)
- 153 calories
- 12.6 carbohydrates
- 14 mg sodium
- 14 mg calcium
- 21 mg magnesium
- 0.04 mg zinc
- 0.02 mg thiamine
- 0.07 mg B12
- 1.6 g protein
- 96 mg potassium
- 50 mg phosphorus
- 0.07 mg iron
- 0.018 mg coper
- 2.1 mcg selenium
- 0.09 mg riboflavin
- 0.16 mg B6
- 21.4 mcg folate
So it has a little bit of something in it, but trust me when I say it is nothing nutritionally significant. It doesn't even really put a dent in any of your daily nutrient requirements. The reason it has more nutrients in it is because it is made from fermented grains and retains some of the nutrients from the wheat it was made out of. But lets be honest, no one would look at this list and call beer a fermented-sprouted-grain super food. Clearly any health benefit would not come from the nutrients provided from alcohol. So lets look at another idea; alcohol metabolism detoxifies and benefits the immune system.
Metabolism of Alcohol
First it is important to know that the body cannot store alcohol (too bad we aren't talking about fat, hm?). Therefore, when alcohol comes in the body's number 1 priority is to get it out. It does this by metabolizing it into energy. When you drink just a little bit of alcohol 2 enzymes are used to break the alcohol down into something that looks like fuel for your body. The bad news is before it becomes fuel it becomes a toxic compound called acetaldehyde. This break down is mainly done in your liver which means something toxic is now in your liver which is essential if you want to live.
If you drink lots of alcohol (lots being more than 1-2 drinks) your body can no longer metabolize the alcohol with the 2 enzymes like we just talked about. This causes your liver to treat alcohol as a foreign substance and turns on your body's MEOS system ("microsomal ethanol oxidizing system" which is just a scientific term for "liver cells breaking down alcohol quickly" system) to help get rid of the alcohol asap. Basically you don't want this system to get too revved up because it can lead to drug toxicities because of the way it impacts your liver.
Not everyone metabolizes alcohol the same. For example Asian's don't have as much of the 2nd enzyme needed for alcohol breakdown so they are at more likely to have a build up of the toxic acetaldehyde. Women produce less of these enzymes all together which means they absorb 30-35% more of the unaltered alcohol directly into their blood which is why it is recommended women drink less. Too much alcohol in your body leads to your liver not being able to keep up, and when too much alcohol gets into your blood it can poison you. Alcohol is also a narcotic which means it depresses the central nervous system, aka it reduces your brain function which prevents you from feeling and may cause loss of consciousness. This is why people act weird and/or pass out when they drink too much; their brain just isn't working.
Health Benefits of Alcohol
You'd better not have skipped over the other sections just to get to the answer. You'll be lost if I start throwing around words like acetaldehyde and MEOS. Now back to the health benefits. It is thought that possibly alcohol can lower LDL ("bad" cholesterol) and rase HDL ("good" cholesterol) and help reduce the risk of heart disease (notice it does not boost your immune system). However, they currently think that has more to do with phytochemicals, specifically resveratrol, which are found in red whine, not beer. But basically what it comes down to is they don't really know yet if it has a benefit.
Which brings us back to this whole acetaldehyde and MEOS thing. Basically alcohol is a mild, toxic poison. Acetaldehyde is toxic, if the MEOS system can't keep up with the alcohol it causes a build up in your blood which poisons you, and it decreases your brain function. If that isn't a mild, toxic poison I don't know what is. What does this mean for potential health benefits? If there are any (which I highly doubt) they do not outweigh the risk. That really is the bottom line. Why do all the alcoholic Mexicans you know never get sick? (Really, that was a question). I don't know. Maybe they do get sick but are just too drunk to notice? Or maybe a little virus is a cinch to get rid of compared to trying to get rid mild, toxic poison day after day and therefore it feels like you are giving your body a break.? Or maybe you know your are slowly poisoning yourself but are looking for a way to justify your self destructive behavior because you like the narcotic aspect? I don't know. But I can tell you nutritionally alcohol has nothing to offer but 7 calories per gram.