EXTENDING AGE: DRINKING OF ALCOHOL
Are You Drinking Too Much?
One in 10 people who drink will become an alcoholic. While moderate drinking yields health benefits, problem drinking wrecks lives. If you have trouble with alcohol, you should not drink at all, states the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence. Check yourself for the following signs that you may or could develop a problem with alcohol.
• Heredity. If your mother or father had a drinking problem, your risk is fourfold.
• Drinking mom than two. The national government and other experts draw the line at two drinks a day for men. Drink more than that and you put yourself at higher risk for developing a problem.
• High tolerance. If you drink excessively without really feeling any ill effects, you also may have a drinking problem.
• Secret drinking. If you’re sneaking drinks, won’t talk about your drinking, feel loss of control, or have blackouts, you need help with your drinking.
The cancer connection
Though heavy drinkers have higher risks for cancers in areas like the mouth, esophagus, and liver, people who drink less – six or fewer drinks a week-show no increased risk. And those who drink moderately may actually lessen their risk for lung, prostate, and other cancers, say scientists.
Researchers in Chicago found that one particularly potent wine compound, resveratrol, not only fought cancer at several stages but also actually seemed to reverse it. In a similar study, researchers from the University of California, Davis, found that when they fed dehydrated wine solids to mice who had been genetically altered to develop cancer, those who ate the wine feed took approximately 40 percent longer to develop tumors than the mice who didn’t eat the wine solids. “The antioxidant properties of the phenolic compounds like catechin and quercetin may play a major role in this cancer prevention,” says researcher Susan E. Ebeler, Ph.D., of the University of California, Davis. “But we need more research to know for sure.”
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