The Spring Festival is coming, and the family sits around the table to eat some favorite dishes, which is the most anticipated time of the year. After the meal, many people will pour a few glasses of wine and chat while drinking to enhance the relationship between each other. At this time, in order to alleviate the effects of alcohol, someone will choose some snacks to accompany the drink.
Peanuts, as a traditional side dish, are often present on the dinner table on such occasions. However, you may not know that it is not wise to drink with peanuts, not only can it not help you "fight alcohol", but it may not be good for your health, do you know the reason behind it?
1. Drinking alcohol and eating peanuts is not good for our health?
In many cultures, it is a Xi to drink with snacks, but not all foods are suitable with alcohol, especially peanuts, a seemingly innocuous snack that can actually pose a hidden threat to health.
Peanuts contain a lot of fat, and when peanuts are fried, the unsaturated fats in them can be converted into saturated fats that are even more unhealthy. When enjoying good wine, the liver is already trying to process alcohol, and if you consume high-fat foods at this time, it will additionally increase the metabolic burden on the liver.
Over time, cholesterol levels will continue to rise, which is not good for our body.
In addition, oil-rich foods stay in the stomach for more time when they enter the digestive system.
This means that the alcohol also stays in the stomach like these foods, because the stomach needs to process these fats at the same time, and in this process, the alcohol is constantly absorbed by the stomach wall instead of directly into the small intestine, which absorbs alcohol more slowly than the small intestine, which can lead to a more concentrated and persistent concentration of alcohol in the body.
Moreover, the digestion of peanuts in the small intestine increases the secretion of bile, which may further slow down the movement of food, so that the alcohol has more time to be absorbed by the small intestine after entering the small intestine, so that the concentration of alcohol in the blood will be higher, exacerbating the feeling of drunkenness.
On the other hand, peanuts are one of the high-risk foods for aflatoxin contamination.
Yellow yeast toxin is a strong carcinogen produced by some yellow yeast molds, especially more common in tropical and subtropical regions, this toxin is difficult to completely eliminate even during heating, they are metabolized in the body mainly by the liver, and can form adducts with guanine in DNA, causing DNA damage and apoptosis.
Long-term intake of aflatoxin, especially when consumed with alcohol, may increase the risk of liver cancer to some extent.
Therefore, although eating peanuts while drinking alcohol may make people feel more "carrying alcohol", in fact, this is because alcohol is absorbed more slowly, but the overall amount of alcohol absorbed is more, and long-term such Xi a diet may cause a greater burden on the liver and increase the risk of liver disease.
2. The doctor reminds: It is best not to touch these 4 foods when drinking!
When drinking, many people like to accompany some snacks, thinking that this can increase their appetite and avoid the embarrassment of drunkenness, but this is actually a wrong concept. Some foods that are consumed with alcohol not only fail to have this effect, but can be counterproductive.
1. Barbecue
As a favorite of many food lovers, barbecue has a unique taste that is indeed irresistible, however, the rich oil and charred ingredients in barbecue are not small to our health. These substances can drastically increase the metabolic burden on the liver, resulting in an increase in blood lipids, putting additional stress on the liver.
Previous studies have found that people who eat barbecue and drink alcohol regularly have a more than 3 times higher risk of liver cancer than those who do not eat or drink. This may be because meat in barbecue will produce acetaldehyde if ingested at the same time as alcohol, which is extremely toxic to the liver and may cause damage to liver cells, which in turn can induce serious diseases such as hepatitis, cirrhosis and even liver cancer.
2. Seafood
Seafood contains a substance called purine, which is converted into uric acid in our body, and it is worth noting that if seafood is ingested at the same time as alcohol, this combination can interfere with the normal excretion of uric acid, which may cause uric acid levels in the blood to rise.
This condition can trigger gout, or exacerbate the condition of those who already have gout, which is known to be an inflammatory disease caused by the deposition of uric acid in the joints, which manifests as swollen and painful joints, red heat and stiffness, and the impact on the quality of daily life is obvious, especially for the elderly.
3. Braised pork
Braised pork is favored by many food lovers for its fragrant flavor and soft texture, however, just like fried peanuts, braised pork is also a high-fat, high-energy food, and the rich fat in it will bring additional burden to the liver, which may lead to the accumulation of fat cells in the liver, which can cause damage to our liver.
4. Jelly
Although the jelly is delicious, it contains an additive called alum, which may slow down the normal peristalsis of the stomach and intestines in our body, thereby increasing the risk of drunkenness. We need to break the perception that drunkenness is not just a dizzying discomfort, it is a "poisoning" phenomenon caused by the accumulation of excessive alcohol in the body, which may trigger a series of adverse reactions, such as nausea, vomiting, loss of balance, etc.
These conditions can affect our physical health, as well as our mental state, and the jelly itself is also a cold food, if ingested with alcohol, it may affect the temperature balance of the gastrointestinal tract, causing diarrhea or stomach pain.
Therefore, all things considered, the food that you accompany when drinking alcohol should be light and healthy, and reduce the burden on the body, such as steamed or grilled dishes, as well as fresh vegetables and fruits, which are relatively healthier choices. But it's important to remember that you should drink alcohol in moderation.
3. The latest research of The Lancet: young people drink more harm!
Drinking alcohol is a way for many people to relax, especially for young people, it can be said that it is the most comfortable to ask friends to go out on weekends and drink some alcohol by the way. However, did you know that for young men, drinking alcohol can lead to several diseases and can even be life-threatening?
In 2022, the Lancet published a striking study that revealed an important finding:
• Younger people have higher health risks from alcohol consumption compared to older people, especially men aged 15 to 39 years.
According to the data, in 2020, the number of deaths caused by alcohol consumption was as high as 1.78 million in the world, which is the seventh leading cause of death and disability in the world. Among men aged 15 to 49, alcohol consumption is the leading cause of death, accounting for 11.8% of all deaths.
In other words, 1 in 9 young and middle-aged men die from alcohol-related causes.
Notably, the study also overturns a common belief that moderate alcohol consumption is beneficial to the cardiovascular system.
The results of the study show that drinking a small amount of alcohol does not prove that it reduces the risk of cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes. This may take into account the fact that when alcohol is consumed, it enters the bloodstream and travels to various organs throughout the body along the blood vessels, and when alcohol crosses the blood-brain barrier, it can also interfere with the normal release of neurotransmitters and receptor binding in the brain, resulting in abnormal nerve signaling, which affects our thinking, behavior and emotions.
In addition, alcohol can also enhance the action of the inhibitory neurotransmitter GABA in the brain, weakening brain electrical activity, affecting judgment and emotional control, and the brain's reward center releases more dopamine when drinking, causing feelings of pleasure, which sounds happier but also exacerbates alcohol dependence.
Therefore, for the sake of physical health, avoiding alcohol is the wisest choice.
If you do need to drink alcohol, you should also limit the amount, and research suggests that adults should consume between 0 and 1.87 standard glasses of alcohol per day, which is about the equivalent of 100 ml of red wine at 13 proof or a can of 375 ml of beer at 3.5 degrees, and for men between the ages of 15 and 39, alcohol should be even less, preferably at all.
Bibliography:
1. Wang Hui, Chen Xiaojuan. The Effect of Alcohol on the Brain and Its Mechanism[J]. Chinese Pharmacological Bulletin, 2019, 35(8): 1017-1024.
2. GBD 2020 Alcohol Collaborators. Population-level risks of alcohol consumption by amount, geography, age, sex, and year: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2020. Lancet. 2022 Jul 16; 400 (10347):185-235