Hangover Cures Myth or Fact

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Hangover Cures- Myth or Fact?
Burnt toast- Although charcoal can help filter
out poisons, unfortunately its not the type of
charcoal you get from burnt toast

• American Indians eat almonds

Africans eat peanut butter

• Black CoffeeSince coffee contains a high amount
  of the stimulant caffeine it helps fight fatigue.
  But when the caffeine wears off, a drinker may be
  even more tired than before.
• Unfortunately, caffeine is also a diuretic like
  alcohol and can make a drinker even more
  dehydrated than before, thereby increasing the
  severity of the hangover.
• Overall, coffee is not a good hangover cure.

Healthy food guide, April 2006 p 83
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Human Nutrition Lecture 19 Alcohol II

• Organs affected by alcohol
• Health benefits
• Mechanism of action

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Impact of EtOH on TCA cycle

• Consumption of large amount of EtOH ? increased
  ratio or NADH/NAD
• This depresses the TCA cycle and oxidation of
  fatty acids
• Favours triglyceride synthesis in the liver cells
• Get build up of fatty deposits in liver
• Also see elevated plasma Tgs due to the overflow
  from the liver

4
Organ Damage

• Nervous system
• Forebrain ? impaired judgment, lack of
  inhibitions, relaxed and euphoric
• Mid-brain ?? muscular coordination, reflexes,
  speech impaired
• All regions- stupor and coma and can lead to
  brain damage

5
Organ Damage

• Cardiovascular system
• U- shaped (or J-shaped) curve between EtOH
  consumption and death from CHD
• NO single beverage affords unique
  cardioprotective properties

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Organ Damage

• Cardiovascular system
• (excessive alcohol consumption)
• Elevated BP (Marmot et al 1994)
• Enlarged heart
• Cardiomyopathy
• Weakened walls of cardiac chamber? heart failure
• Coronary calcification (Pletcher et al. 2005)
• Stroke
• Subarachnoid haemorrhage

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Organ Damage

• Liver disease
• Hepatitis
• Fibrosis
• Cirrhosis
• Results in
• Reduced ability to function
• No metabolism of protein, CHO, fat
• Glycogen cant be stored
• Reduced synthesis of new proteins
• Can test for this by measuring liver enzymes
  stimulates by alcohol
• Liver cancer
• Cells already damaged
• Free radical formation

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Organ Damage

• Gastrointestinal system
• (excessive alcohol consumption)
• Gastritis (inflammation of stomach)
• Gastric or duodenal ulcers
• Tearing of oesophagus during vomiting
• Pancreatitis
• Increased risk of colorectal cancer (Cho et al.
  2004)
• risk colorectal cancer with gt30g/day alcohol
  intake
• ?? risk if 30-45g EtOH/day
• ?? ? risk if gt45g EtOH/day

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Organ Damage

• Bone Damage
• (excessive alcohol consumption)
• Reduced bone density
• Poor vitamin D intake and absorption
• Reduced formation of 25-hydroxy vitamin D in the
  liver
• Excessive excretion of calcium

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Fetal Alcohol Syndrome

• Fetal abnormalities associated with alcohol
  consumption during pregnancy
• Unknown what small alcohol intake side effects
  on the baby are
• Sulaiman et al (1998) reported that 1 standard
  drink /day had no detectable effect
• 60-80g alcohol per day linked to fetal alcohol
  syndrome
• Prenatal and postnatal growth retardation
• Characteristic facial features
• Thin lips and wide gap between eyes
• Small brain
• Heart disease

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Health benefits of alcohol

• Protective effect against CHD
• when consumed in moderation (30g EtOH/day)
• Effect observed with ALL alcohol but alcohol
  drunk as wine had a stronger inverse relationship

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Health benefits of alcohol

• Mechanisms involved
• improves cholesterol metabolism
• ? HDL concentration in blood
• no effect on LDL
• ? HDL ? reduces blood cholesterol due to
  increased reverse cholesterol transport

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Health benefits of alcohol

• Mechanisms involved
• Inhibition of thrombosis
• Decreased inhibition of platelets
• Polyphenolic compounds found in some beverages
• Antioxidant properties can reduce LDL oxidation

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Evidence for Wine (red wine)

• Epidemiological evidence
• Mediterranean societies have ?? incidence of
  atherosclerosis increased longevity
• moderate alcohol consumption
• 2-5 glasses wine/day (French studies)
• contains gt900 phenolic compounds
• See Table 2 of German and Walzem 2000 for
  comparison between red and white wine

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Evidence for Wine (red wine)
Cell culture study Compared red wine vs
de-alcoholised red wine on lipoprotein metabolism
Pal et al, 2003
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Evidence for Wine (red wine)

• Other mechanism involved in improved CV health
• Improved arterial function (NO mediated)
• Reduced blood pressure
• Improved aortic elasticity

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Health benefits of alcohol

• Insulin Sensitivity?
• EPIC study of 16330 women aged 49-70 years
• Linear inverse relationship between alcohol
  consumption and type 2 diabetes risk
• Beverage choice did not affect the association
• Clinical trials have mixed results
• Zilkens et al (2003) found no change in insulin
  sensitivity based on HOMA
• Davies et al (2002) reported beneficial effects
  on insulin sensitivity
• Differences may be due to duration of
  intervention, dose used, type of subjects

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Health benefits of alcohol

• Cancer
• At high intake EtOH is highly associated with
  increased cancer risk
• Mouth
• Larynx
• Esophagus
• Liver
• Possibly breast cancer (strong evidence both
  directions- Framingham against)
• Resveratrol has estrogen like properties and may
  be protective against developing breast cancer
  (German and Walzem 2000 )

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Recommended Reading

• 1. Whitney Rolfes
• Understanding Nutrition
• Chapter 7. Highlights. Alcohol and Nutrition
• 2. Wahlqvist ML
• Food and Nutrition (2nd Edition)
• Chapter 29 Alcohol and diseases related to
  alcohol
• 3. Embedded e-readers