wine,beer, spirits

Question
Tasha
Of these three, assuming we already know that alcohol in excess is unhealthy, which one would be the healthiest or least unhealthy, to consume on a regular basis?
I am 50 and a Joe sixpack guy, but the bloating and burping and hangovers (and other icky stuff) after watching 'the game with my buddies' have me thinking about making wine my drink of choice.
My wife(a very intelligent nurse) says I am allergic to hops because of my reactions after a night of drinking beer(sneezing,lingering headcold like symptoms)-even after just a few. Researching this, I discovered that hops are also estrogenic (yuck).
As for spirits, I discovered that concentrated alcohol is hardest on the liver, and we know how unhealthy pop is.
So, with that in mind I am becoming a wino.
I cant find any info on the relative merits of one over the other, I am hoping your experiance might help.
You dont hear much about beer and spirits healthwise, but wine is mentioned sometimes,and I have noticed that more affluent and well educated people favor wine. This could be a hint...
Thanks for your thoughts!

Answer
Dear Bud,

Thank you for contacting allexperts.com. I hope that I can assist you with your question.

First, we need to establish that alcohol is alcohol.  Your liver does not have any comprehension as to whether this substance originated as wine, beer or hard liquor. The reason that many people believe that hard liquor is harder on the liver is that, in most cases, people tend to drink MORE hard liquor than beer or wine.  For instance one ounce of 100 proof whisky is 50 percent pure alcohol.  Whereas, one ounce of regular beer is 6 percent alcohol, and one ounce of wine is approximatel 12 percent alcohol.  You can see that you would have to consume a lot of beer and wine to approximate the same amount of alcohol consumption that you get from one shot of whisky.  Since, typically, when drinking, a person would consume more than one shot or mixed drink containing hard liquor, you can see that the level of alcohol consumption would be much HIGHER, thus effectively causing  more damage to the liver and other organs.  If the levels of alcohol consumption were identical, hard liquor would be no more harmful than any other type of liquor.

That having been said, with the information that you are giving me, it sounds like you could have a yeast sensitivity.  This would also be apparent whenever you consumed any product that contains yeast, including bread. Many people have yeast overgrowth in their bodies which can lead to many unpleasant side effects including those that you mention  As for allergies, I suppose you could be allergic to the hops in beer, however, my guess would be that it is the yeast that is giving you the problem.

As for recommendations...well, being a licensed nutritional consultant it is difficult for me to recommend any alcohol product.  Although, some of the components in red wine have been shown to be healthful, these components are also available in other products so the consumption of red wine is not necessary to obtain them. Also, just to be fair, beer does have some B Vitamins present which would be beneficial to a person.  However, I cannot recommend beer as a good dietary choice since B Vitamins are available through other foods as well.

Personally, I do not have a problem with anyone consuming alcohol.  As a matter of fact, 100 years ago in this country, we were consuming significantly greater quantities of alcohol on a daily basis.  It was not unusual for adults to drink several alcohoic drinks throughout the day routinely and even for breakfast!  As long as alcohol is consumed in moderation and does not replace other nutrients in the diet, there is really no problem.  The liver has a fanastic ability to regenerate and replace cellular damage.  In fact, every cell in your liver is replaced every 6 weeks, and as many as two million cells per HOUR are being replaced.  

The secret to remaining healthy is to make certain that you are eating well so that your body can provide the liver (and all organs) with the nutrients that they need to replace and repair damaged cells.  This can ony be accomplished by eating natural, whole, unprocessed vegetables, fruits, grains, seeds, nuts and vegetale oils.  Preferably raw and preferably organic.

Regarding your hangover symptoms, I would suggest that you make certain you drink PLENTY OF WATER before retiring for the evening and even consider taking a few aspirins before going to bed. Hangovers are caused primarily from dehydration.

As for your other symptoms, you might try drinking a different brand of beer.  Each company's forumations are slightly different and you may find one that is more agreeable to your unique physiology.  If you continue to experience unpleasant side effects, then perhaps switching to wine might be more beneficial to you.  You are going to have to experiment to find out which works best.

Please feel free to contact me any time.

Tasha

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