Comment Confusing paper. (Score 1) 305
For a long time folk have said that moderation and alcohol go hand in hand.
For a number of reasons the first 1/2 to 1 standard drinks has a place at the table in my mind.
About the second standard drink most of the advantage is undone and by the 4th for sure
the only advantage might be social lubrication. But that is a slippery slope that gets
increasingly dangerous.
Adding the smallest amount of alcohol vastly changes the way water and
common fats interact. Surface tension changes and the ability to emulsify
fats so a lot of surface area for digestion is available improves. This solubility/ surface
interaction can also apply to fats in motion in the blood and how they interact
with plaque in the arteries. Mostly it has interaction with bile and the fat in the gut.
A number of common bacteria in the gut generate some alcohol but as a rule
this is quite small. Some cases of walking intoxication from gut bacteria are known.
Given the legal consequences of alcohol I find this biologic reality and lack of data on
this combined with wanting instrumentation precision and accuracy to be appalling.
The lack of science in this area is deafening.
Anyone that has noticed the burbling of a beer fermenter or the tooting of a
person with lots of healthy fiber in their diet should realize that bacteria
and bacteria byproducts happen.