Alcademics.com

Good Booze, Bad Booze: Two Beers, Three Times The Cancer

 
One day science says drinking will make you live forever. The next day science says it will kill you tomorrow. Good Booze, Bad Booze is an Alcademics category where I put all these stories together. 

2/6/12:  Two glasses of wine a day 'triples mouth cancer risk' [link] 

From the Guardian: "Regularly drinking two large glasses of wine or two strong pints of beer a day triples the risk of developing mouth cancer, a government campaign will warn."

 

Previous Good Booze, Bad Booze

2/1/12:  Daily glass of red wine might not be good for you [link] 

1/19/12:  Science Proves that Alcohol is Fun [link] 

1/19/12:  The Personality Trait Linking Alcohol to Aggression [link] 

1/19/12:  10 Surprising Health Benefits of Beer [link] 

 12/27/11:  Prevention: Beer and Martinis: As Healthy as Wine? [link] 

 12/6/11:  A Sobering Look at Alcohol: 10-Year Study Finds High Death Rate [link] 

12/6/11:  Is a Daily Glass of Red Wine Good For Your Heart? Maybe Not [link] 

 12/3/11:  Moderate Alcohol Intake Linked To Lower Female Diabetes Risk[link] 

 11/16/11:  Wine is no Better Than Beer in Benefits [link]

 11/4/11:  Substance in red wine shows promise in first human study [link] 

 11/1/11:  Raising the Chance of Some Cancers With Two Drinks a Day [link] 

10/28/11:  Alcohol linked to better survival after heart attack [link] 

 

 

see plenty more news stories after the jump...

Trying Two Hangover Helpers

I advocate and try to practice drinking in moderation as the best way to avoid a hangover. That's why I nearly never write about hangover prevention/cures. 

Recently though I had two hangover prevention products arrive in the mail. Normally they'd just sit there but I was going on a bar-hopping vacation to New Orleans where I knew these might actually come in handy. So I brought them along for the test. 

First I tried Rebootizer, which is a "detox shaker" with tons of anti-oxidant ingredients. It is a water pouch with a separate compartment for a powder. You squeeze the pouch to release the powder into the water, and shake it so it mixes. Then you drink it- no glass needed.

"In addition to long-term effects, temporary oxidative stress generated by junk food, alcohol, caffeine and smoking also has harmful short-term effects. The morning after price of this imbalance can include a pounding headache, fatigue, cotton mouth, queasy stomach and a weakened immune system. By drinking at bedtime, Rebootizer’s powerful antioxidants and digestive properties can support your body to fight oxidative stress by helping to clean toxins accumulated through excesses, before they become harmful. "

The ingredients it contains are dandelion, licorice, angelica, artichoke, lemon balm, lemon, acerola, sucrose, maltodextrin, and water. 

This product is designed for more than just hangovers, but if that's what you're trying to prevent you drink it at night before bed after consuming. So that's what I did.

The next day, I felt a bit hungover anyway, perhaps with less of a headache than might otherwise be the case. 

 The next night I tried Bytox, which is a patch like a smoking patch, loaded with a bunch of vitamins. 

 

"The specially-formulated Bytox hangover remedy patch effectively replenishes the vital levels of vitamins and nutrients your body loses when you consume alcohol. By enhancing and restoring these levels, Bytox reduces the physical side effects of alcohol consumption. Use the patch before during or after your night out for maximum relief from hangovers. The patch is 100% safe and really works!* Bytox has zero calories and won’t irritate your stomach, so you can party in style."

 

Amount Per Serving	 % Daily Value
Acai Berry – 20 mg.	 †
Vitamin A – 1    mg	 100%
Vitamin B12 – 1000 mcg.	4160%
Vitamin B2 - 1.7 mg	 130%
Vitamin B3 – 19mg	 119%
Pantothenic Acid - 5 mg	 100%
Vitamin B6 – 2 mg	 150%
Folic Acid – 4000 mcg	 100%
Vitamin D – 5 mcg	 100%
Vitamin E - 10 mg	 100%
Vitamin K - 80 mcg	 100%
Thiamin B1 - 150 mg.	 10000%
† Daily Value Not Established 

 You put on the patch while drinking and keep it on for eight hours afterward. So that's what I did. The next day I woke up completely stinking of vitamins, like the smell of your pee after you take some jumbo multivitamin. It was disgusting. 

As far as the hangover that I had probably earned: I still felt drained and slow, but didn't have much of a headache and that "If I open my eyes the pain will start" feeling, or any stomach sickness (that I don't usually get anyway). So perhaps it helped.

 Conclusions

In my experience it's hard to predict exactly the level of hangover you're going to have, so it's even more difficult to say how effective a prevention method is. Both of these products may have helped a bit. That's about as much as I can say. 

GMO-Free Liquor? Not As Far As You Know

So the TTB released the little bombshell below. Basically, you can't put "GMO-free" or something similar on an alcoholic beverage label, even if the product is.

For the most part if you're drinking anything made from corn in the US (all bourbon, some vodkas) you're drinking genetically modified corn. Spirits from other crops too. In many (most? all?) export markets, however, you can't use this. Thus many (all?) bourbons make a GMO-free version for export.

Because most of Four Roses bourbon is sold in Japan, however, their product is GMO-free, even in the US. However, distiller Jim Rutledge said he didn't think there would be enough GMO-free corn left in a few years so things might change. 

Now, does anything from the GMO crop pass through distillation? I don't know; I'd guess probably not. But people may want to support non-GMO farming. It's the same with organic booze - you probably can't taste the difference, but you're putting your support behind organic farming. 

News From TTB
Sep 1st
WHAT IS TTB'S POSITION REGARDING THE LABELING STATEMENTS ABOUT ALCOHOL BEVERAGE PRODUCTS THAT ARE NOT BIOENGINEERED OR THAT DO NOT CONTAIN INGREDIENTS PRODUCED FROM BIOENGINEERED FOOD? (FOR EXAMPLE, "CONTAINS NO GMOs," "GMO FREE-ZONE," OR A SIMILAR REFERENCES ON ALCOHOL BEVERAGES.)

TTB has received several Certificates of Label Approval (COLA) applications proposing to display bioengineered-related information on alcohol beverage labels. Terms frequently mentioned in discussions about labeling alcohol beverages with respect to bioengineering include "GMO free" and "GM free." "GMO" is an acronym for "genetically modified organism" and "GM" means "genetically modified." The terms "genetically modified organism" and "genetically modified" are not synonymous with the term "bioengineered foods." Plants can be genetically modified using any number of techniques, new or traditional.

TTB believes it is not necessary to mandate any bioengineered food labeling requirements at this time. We also find that it is misleading to refer voluntarily to those bioengineered food labeling terms or any similar references on alcohol beverage labels. This is consistent with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's position. (See Draft Guidance: Voluntary Labeling Indicating Whether Foods Have or Have Not Been Developed Using Bioengineering-January 2001 at FDA.gov.)

TTB will continue to monitor the domestic and international impact of the use of bioengineered foods on the labeling of alcohol beverages, as well as any international trade barriers that occur because of the mixed reactions surrounding the use and potential use of bioengineered foods.

Interestingly, they say their guidelines are in agreement with FDA labelling rules for food, but I seem to recall seeing non-GMO written on food labels. Am I wrong? According to this story, there is a "Non GMO-Project Verified" label available. 

They also say that it could be misleading to refer to these terms on the label, and I could certainly see that. For example, if your rye whiskey was labelled as "from GMO-free rye" yet the corn in the mashbill were GMO-rich Monsanto corn, that would certainly be misleading.  

On the other hand, if you buy certified organic foods, they should not contain GMO ingredients. Here's a good story on the labelling issues with GMO foods and the potential or negligible health risks. Of course the health risk to the planet is another issue that could be taken into consideration. 

The Safety of Milk Thistle

A few months ago, founder Mike McAdams of Drinkwel reached out to me. This product is meant to be a vitamin for drinkers rather than just a hangover cure.

I told them that I was unsure about one of the ingredients in the mixture, milk thistle, as I'd heard reports that rather than being good for the liver it may actually cause harm.  

This caused a conversation that I thought I'd share. McAdams replied:

It's also funny you mention milk thistle because that was really our only ingredient that had an interaction paper on it. I've taken it on and off for a couple years but make sure my dosages are not too high. 

In case you're interested, here is what our doctor who helped formulate had to say (unfiltered): 

Milk thistle is probably the most well known liver protectant on the market. As far as alcohol intake, new studies have shown that milk thistle has both liver toxicity protection from ethanol [18] and protects against liver fibrosis in non-human primates [19]. 

Safety

There is the possibility of an adverse reaction with milk thistle (possible Pk interactions regarding the decrease of CYP, UGT, and P-Gp activity) [20]. These decreases seem limited so should not be a concern. Therefore, I believe this drug to be a safe and positive addition to the formulation.

and:

The biggest concern would be Milk thistle with only one interaction paper. I think for the most part its use in this formulation would be fine. It has been used for this type of treatment for numerous years without a major side effect case report being brought to light.

18.       Song, Z., et al., Silymarin protects against acute ethanol-induced hepatotoxicity in mice. Alcohol Clin Exp Res, 2006. 30(3): p. 407-13.

19.       Lieber, C.S., et al., Silymarin retards the progression of alcohol-induced hepatic fibrosis in baboons. J Clin Gastroenterol, 2003. 37(4): p. 336-9.

20.       Wu, J.W., L.C. Lin, and T.H. Tsai, Drug-drug interactions of silymarin on the perspective of pharmacokinetics. J Ethnopharmacol, 2009. 121(2): p. 185-93.

I followed up with McAdams and he send some more information. Then I followed up with the National Institutes of Health. This is all below the jump. 

Still Creamy?

This site features expiration information for food and more importantly, beverages.

StillTasty.com will tell you how long that Amarula cream liqueur will last once it's opened. Also, lime cordial, Margarita mix, mescal, port, sake schnapps, tonic water, and vermouth.