The festive mood is in the air, its party time again and lots of goodies and wine going around. Papers and periodicals through the year give us news about research and findings in nutrition and one thing everybody seems curious to know is what’s the news about alcohol? Should we or should we not drink, is one liquor better than another and of course the biggest question is if you do decide to drink how much and how often.

My first statement is it is safest not to touch it at all. Centuries ago in history a man was offered the best wine and rich food from a kings table to build up and sharpen his intelligence and body. He refused to consume these and chose to eat simple vegetarian food and water and asked to be tested after a period of time. He proved to be 10 times smarter than his counterparts who had eaten the wine and rich food.

Neither your intelligence nor your physique is improved by consuming alcohol. Also alcohol does not have any particular nutrient value benefit. It is not rich in vitamins or minerals or protein etc. It however does contain a lot of calories which are like sugar calories i.e. 1 large whisky (60 ml) contains about 150 cal or is similar to 7-8 teaspoons of sugar. So when you drink 2-3 large drinks its similar to swallowing a bowl of 14-21 tsps of sugar.

Brandy, rum, vodka, etc., are approximately the same and so is a glass of beer. 100ml of wine is 120 cals but the issue is how many glasses of wine do you consume at a time or how big is your glass. The argument is that research says a little alcohol is good for health or my cardiologist or physician recommended it. Are you drinking only a little and for what are you drinking it? As I said earlier there is no specific nutritive value but some claim that it helps you to relax or de-stress, some say it helps to lower your blood pressure, etc., It however does not specifically improve your physical fitness or reduce the lipid levels in your blood nor does it help you to burn calories or lose weight. Infact a few drinks too many and you can have your triglyceride levels going up and this can lead to clogged arteries.

The worst danger about alcohol is that very few people in this world can drink just one large (60ml) or 1 glass wine and stop at that. This is a substance which has a great addiction power and the safest advice is to avoid it completely. If however one must drink, one to two large drinks 60-120ml or one large bottle beer or 100-200ml wine at one time is safe. Anything beyond this tends to convert to fat very easily. Try not to drink more than one to two times in a week and try to avoid drinking daily or on two consecutive days.