“First you take a drink, then the drink takes a drink, then the drink takes you.” - F. Scott Fitzgerald.

Imp and the Devil story

I remember the famous story by Leo Tolstoy 'The imp and the crust'  that says it all about drinks and drinkers The first peg makes them behave as cunning as foxes, then the second makes the sly as wolves and third makes them lose control and if they go on drinking further they behave like swine. That perhaps is the best example of how a good person can become bad if he drinks alcohol. Although drinkers always support their drinking habit by telling benefits of drinking but most of the excuses are falls. 

People in many countries have a custom to drink with lunch and dinner as a routine on regular basis. I can see people drinking bear in many countries as calorie supplement, for example in Australia the most popular beer style is lager than anywhere in the world where dry and cedar are as popular. Beer is an alcoholic beverage produced by the help of saccharification (the process of breaking complex carbohydrate) of starch and fermentation of sugar. They believe, beer can remain safe for longer periods compared to grain or bread and gives equal or more energy, keeps their teeth strong or even safe from water-born diseases. According to supporters of beer and other alcoholic drinks, these drinks are useful in getting rid of bacteria from our system.

Drinks and Pegs

Maybe their way of thinking is true to some extent but the fact remains that consuming alcoholic drinks is harmful for your overall health. In some cases, consumption of alcohol may be beneficial but only when consumed in very small quantity but the limited consumption is very rare because it is hard to resist once someone begins drinking. For instance, Red Wine made of grapes or other fruit juices, is considered a beneficial alcoholic drink for health purpose. Incidentally, other drinks contain chemical ingredients like spirit or country made (term used for Indian liquor) commonly known as Desi Daru contains different ingredients. I must remind our readers at this point that the measurement is an important factor in consumption of alcohol, perhaps that is the reason they invented a standard measurement to serve alcohol called ‘Peg’ single or double, having 30 or 60 ml respectively. Although another measurement called ‘Patiyala Peg’ is another standard measurement for us Indians that has ‘No Limit’  

Wine- Pros and Cons 

There are people who have a common belief about Red Wine’s positive affects, which says it is safe for consumption and saves you from dangerous diseases provided the wine consumed in limited quantity. They think that by consuming Red Wine you can stay away from heart problems, Cancer, and other nerves related diseases. There are certain studies which reveal that women with limited intake of red wine suffer far lesser with hypertension. Likewise people over fifty-five suffer lesser with nerves related problem especially from their lower limbs of the body, keeping the obstacles away. 

The people who drink regularly along with their meals have a common belief that wine thus taken kills the bacteria present in their food. Then there is big number of people who believe that the wine keeps their mind work better, people drinking 60 ml per day become mentally better and stand two to three times more chances to succeed in competitions. Nerves of people with regular intake of red wine in a limited quantity become wider with lesser chances of obstacles blocking blood circulation.  They believe that intake of wine in a certain quantity can add good cholesterol in our system.

The other school of thought about Red Wine drinkers feel that consumption of wine does not make any effect on drinkers neither it makes any harmful effects but it only reduces side effects on their nerves system due to a certain chemical found in grapes made wine which activates enzymes related with nerves system. People who drink red wine in limited quantity face lesser chances of heart attacks or even if they face an attack their chances of survival is more in case they are used to drinking in a limited quantity. Most athletes drink wine to keep their cholesterol level within a recommended level. 

However, most studies suggest that drinking alcohol in big quantity is not advisable, as it can reduce reproduction capacity of both men and women. The impact of drinks hits directly the circulation of blood which is one of the main reasons for impotency in men and delayed capacity to conceive in women. The over drinking can even make big changes to hormonal imbalance resulting in enhanced shape of chest in men or excessive growth of hair and pimples. Cancer of lungs or brain is another dangerous disease that can be a result of over drinking.

How wine can harm you

I am unsure if there are any benefits but I know for sure that there are many harmful effects of alcoholic drinks. Drinking can result in stomach related diseases like cirrhosis of the liver, hepatitis and pancreatic cancer which all are dangerous and can lead to death. One who drinks regularly for 10 or more years may face kidney related problems. There are exceptions who can survive the bad consequences of over drinking but most people fall victim in the end and women drinking out of limit have more chances to suffer kidney diseases compared to men. Although there is no safe limit but drinking more than 30-60 ml for men and 15-30 ml for women is considered within dangerous limits. 

Damaged Kidney 

Kidney, the main organ responsible for metabolism by eliminating waste from our body receives some of the food absorbed by small intestine and then goes to different parts of the body. It happens with alcohol which goes to kidney through small intestine and burns most of the energy in food meant for supply through kidney to other parts of the body. Alcohol also increases the need of oxygen in our body and disturbs the process of production of glucose. At a later stage, alcohol causes oxidation of fatty acids causing deposition of fats which in turn expends the size of kidney. If a person detected timely and quitting immediately can control the damage but if not, the kidney faces serious changes due to increased pressure on arteries and veins. This may cause an unusual expansion on undeveloped veins causing a burst out and blood reaching to intestines. 

This stage is known as Alcoholic Hepatitis which can cause damage to kidney and liver and is a fatal disease. The patients of hepatitis may suffer from liver cirrhosis also having main symptoms as jaundice, fever, vomiting, stomachache and bad digestion. In case of cirrhosis, the condition of the patient becomes more serious due to blood discharge through anus and vomiting. This all can be caused by over drinking of alcohol. However, if we look at the side effects of whiskey or wine on people in general it will always be as if Red Wine is lesser harmful compared to whiskey because wine contains more sugar but if you have to reach on one particular conclusion “alcohol is bad for human consumption on the whole”  

Alcohol is dangerous 

Increase of carbohydrate cause paucity of oxygen in our system, which is one of the main bad effects of consumption of tobacco and alcohol. If you compare different products of alcohol Brandy, Rum, Scotch whisky, Gin, Red wine, dry wine, single malt and beer these all have a different level of impact on consumers but none of the effect is useful in the end despite all the advocacies in favor of drinks. Only difference is their degree of harm depending from person to person on the quantities consumed. Although drinks are not advisable in any form but if one must drink, the maximum quantity suggested for safe drinking should not exceed one unit of hard drink that is about 30 ml within a day. 

Drinking alcohol in excess quantity than suggested can effect adversely eyes, nerves and brain besides kidney, pancreas and liver. Although some alcoholic drinks leave lesser bad affects than other drinks. People who are used to alcoholic drinks find it hard to quit drinking but if they only keep their consumption within prescribed limits, they can save themselves from harm’s way. That is why almost every country has fixed a standard limit for deciding whether a person is within ‘sober’ limit or ‘drunk’ they use a breath testing meter to measure his consumption quantity. It is good to reach home safe after consuming alcohol because your family is waiting for you eagerly there.

Alcohol and religion

Hindus use wines as medicine as per the oldest Indian medicinal system of Ayurveda. Most of the Asavas are fermented juices which contain 8 to 14% of alcohol. Other religions as Christian also forbid use of alcohol as they consider drinking it as sinful or negative. Islam considers consumption of alcohol as Haram that means against religious law and prohibits all fermented drinks including wine. Sikhs also cannot use intoxicating drinks including alcohol but religions perhaps never come into way when alcohol is in play. People from all religions use alcohol on all occasions, joy or sorrow.

Use of alcohol in medicines

Despite the fact that alcohol is dangerous for our body but there is no denying that alcohol has medicinal value as well and used in almost every form of medicines including homeopathy and Ayurveda. Asavas contain as stated above a quantity of up to 14 % alcohol made of Latifolia or Mahua which is not as harmful for human consumption. Medicines made of using Asavas for treatment of cough, digestion improvement, stress relieving, skin related diseases and enhancing body’s resistance capacity are very common in Ayurveda. However, excess of everything is bad and it is applicable for these medicines. According to allopathic practitioners, these medicines are not safe although there are many allopathic medicines which contain intoxicating ingredients including alcohol.  

Types of Alcoholic drinks

The type of wine is ascertained by the percentage of alcohol available in a particular type of drink. The type of drinks with lesser quantity of alcohol are result of fermentation of sugar or starch where as the more quantity of alcohol is due distillation of low fermented alcohol. The process of manufacturing different types of alcoholic drinks is a complicated process and differs in different parts of the world although manufacturing process remains the same but fruits, grains and chemicals used are not the same. We can classify drinks in to two categories to give you an idea of few of these 

A- Fermented Type- Beer, Barley wine, Ale, Bitter Ale, Milled Ale, Porter, Stout, Cask, Stock Ale, Fruit beer, Lager beer, Dry, Wheat, Chincha or maize, Pilsner, Cedar, Table wine, Wine, Champagne, Sparkling wine, Fortified wine, Port wine, Vermouth drinks, Marsala drinks etc  

B- Distilled type- Spirit, Brandy, Cognac, Gin, Rum, Vodka, Whiskey, Bourbon, Scotch, Tequila etc 

C- Cocktails – Based on mixture of different wines

To understand this classification better we can put the first category 'A' which is an incomplete process of fermentation, consisting of 3 to 9% alcohol which takes a week or two to prepare at the most. The category B takes a comparatively longer process of distillation completed in months or even in years.  

Wine

We know every alcoholic drink commonly as wine in India but the fact is that wine is perhaps the most costly and sophisticated among all available alcoholic drinks. Wine is made of grapes and especially originates from France. Wine is known with kind of grapes it is prepared as Red wine and White wine. Incidentally, we have our own royal brands famous allover the world. I would like to mention one of them here known as Shahi Wine (Royal Wine) from Rajasthan which is made of eighty different items including dates, prunes, raisin, trifla, Almonds, watermelon, oranges, mint, rose petals, cinnamon, green cardamom, long pepper, nutmeg, saffron, Paan etc. 

The end line

The excessive use of Alcohol has become a social evil allover the world and still increasing. People including women and younger lot have taken to drinking to the extent where they consider it as their status symbol. Alcohol has become part of every occasion without any hesitation which used to be considered a bad habit a few decades back. People drink it for celebrating a happy occasion as well to forget their sorrows. Let me finish with a quote –

“That's the problem with drinking, I thought, as I poured myself a drink. If something bad happens you drink in an attempt to forget; if something good happens you drink in order to celebrate; and if nothing happens you drink to make something happen.” by - Charles Bukowski 

Disclaimer - The author or this website is in no way responsible for facts provided in this article These facts are based on hearsay or random surveys conducted on people but cannot be taken for granted therefore not advised to consider as authentic or suggestions of author. Please follow your own physician’s suggestion in this regard.   


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