Introduction
Ahhh, alcohol. The drink that is the cause of many problems in the world. Their are different types of alcohol: ethyl, methyl, and isopropyl alcohol. If you are into working out, and considering ethyl alcohol then understanding the effects is worth noting because it does have a influence on your performance and aesthetics. Ethanol is not a essential nutrient so it offers no benefit other than a excuse for decent adults to have a escape from reality.
Alcohol Absorption
So ethanol is created through the fermentation of glucose, and as we know is not a essential nutrient and is considered a foreign object/threat to the body. Alcohol is roughly 7 calories/gram.
Ethanol is highly water soluble, which means it can pass through into the stomach and small intestine very easily. The rate of absorption depends on a variety of factors: age, sex, body mass, whether food is present or not. If you have some food in you the ethanol is slower to be absorbed into the bloodstream. Keep in mind different alcoholic drinks have different percentages of of alcohol in it.
Alcohol and Weight Loss
Frequent ethanol consumption is counterproductive when it comes to it’s relationship with losing weight. Ethanol is broken down in the body with the help of a enzyme called alcohol dehyogenase (ADH), and this then transforms the ethanol into acetaldehyde which is a toxic compound and is also known as a carcinogen. Carcinogen is any substance that is known to cause cancer. Other known carcinogens are asbestos,* cadmium (which I spoke of in a a substack post, cadmium is found in MANY dark chocolate brands, nickel, radon, vinyl chloride, benzidene, and benzene. Asbestos,* is a popular topic in real estate, and the irony is that it is strictly enforced, usually, before a seller sells their home yet the acetaldehyde is also a carcinogen and isn’t marked as “bad?” How does that work?....Simple word: Money.
Alcohol and Money
Alcohol brings a lot of dinero. So now if you put the pieces together you might understand why alcohol stores were considered “essential” businesses during COVID-19, but gyms weren’t? A lot of alcohol stores were open during the COVID-19 shut down, but gyms weren’t? I can understand it’s because in gyms people are breathing heavily during exercise, and yet with the masks it didn’t seem enough to justify keeping them open. Not to mention my colleagues who had their own gyms and were forced to shut down? Looks like their kids will have to end up being social media influencers because now they can’t afford to put their kids through college, thanks COVID. When people would argue with me when I say i’m now convinced COVID-19 was all a scam, and they’d iterate that the gyms are the last place you’d want to go during COVID-19… Well I think just like anything in life, it all depends on how you look at the situation. So this is my response to them:
Ethanol Metabolism
Anyways…below is a great read more about metabolism of ethanol. Click here for full paper.
Throughout the world, ethanol is both an important commercial commodity and a source of major medical and social problems. Ethanol readily passes through biological membranes and distributes throughout the body. It is oxidized, first to acetaldehyde and then to acetate, and finally by the citric acid cycle in virtually all tissues. The oxidation of ethanol is irreversible and unregulated, making the rate dependent only on local concentration and enzyme activity. This unregulated input of reducing equivalents increases reduction of both cytoplasmic and intramitochondrial NAD and, through the latter, cellular energy state {[ATP]/([ADP][Pi])}. In brain, this increase in energy state stimulates dopaminergic neural activity signalling reward and a sense of well being, while suppressing glutamatergic neural activity signalling anxiety and unease. These positive responses to ethanol ingestion are important to social alcohol consumption. Importantly, decreased free [AMP] decreases AMP-dependent protein kinase (AMPK) activity, an important regulator of cellular energy metabolism. Oxidation of substrates used for energy metabolism in the absence of ethanol is down regulated to accommodate the input from ethanol. In liver, chronic ethanol metabolism results in fatty liver and general metabolic dysfunction. In brain, transport of other oxidizable metabolites through the blood-brain barrier and the enzymes for their oxidation are both down regulated. For exposures of short duration, ethanol induced regulatory changes are rapid and reversible, recovering completely when the concentrations of ethanol and acetate fall again. Longer periods of ethanol exposure and associated chronic suppression of AMPK activity activates regulatory mechanisms, including gene expression, that operate over longer time scales, both in onset and reversal. If chronic alcohol consumption is abruptly ended, metabolism is no longer able to respond rapidly enough to compensate. Glutamatergic neural activity adapts to chronic dysregulation of glutamate metabolism and suppression of glutamatergic neural activity by increasing excitatory and decreasing inhibitory amino acid receptors. A point is reached (ethanol dependence) where withdrawal of ethanol results in significant metabolic energy depletion in neurons and other brain cells as well as hyperexcitation of the glutamatergic system. The extent and regional specificity of energy depletion in the brain, combined with hyperactivity of the glutamatergic neuronal system, largely determines the severity of withdrawal symptoms.
David F. Wilson, Franz M. Matschinsky,
Ethanol metabolism: The good, the bad, and the ugly,
Medical Hypotheses,
Volume 140
Obviously anything in moderation and with careful decision making is fine, and if you choose to drink then a little won’t hurt; I still don’t see the point in drinking though. I mean if you really need a drink to socialize with others then you probably should work on your social skills. If you have a drink to “fit in,” then it’s time you maybe look into working on your self confidence.
It’s also worth mentioning that alcohol is a depressant. So sure you feel the dopamine effects from alcohol to make you feel good when socializing, but are the effects really worth it? Memory loss, possible addiction depending on your personality and genetics, mental confusion….according to this study the damage is irreparable (Ridley, Draper, & Withall, 2013).
Ethanol Helps Protect Against Cardiovascular System
Wow…
According to this study, it is suggested that light to moderate amounts of ethanol may help protect against cardiovascular events (Agarwal, 2002)...Keep in mind that research is conducted by people…people have feelings and opinions…these feelings and opinions can be manipulated to convince a audience that something may be inherently good or bad; it usually depends on how much the researcher was able to get to conduct the research.
Another study came out that challenged the first study, and may even challenge that the “recommended” alcohol intake it actually inaccurate. (Knott, Coombs, Stamatakis, & Biddulph, 2015; Stockwell et al., 2016).
Oh and by the way if you drink alcohol before bed know that it increases non-REM sleep and decrease growth hormone secretion. If you want to stay gorgeous then avoid this; sleep is the most important habit you need to stay youthful.
Conclusion
Well that’s all for now. The choice is yours… the bottom line is that ethanol is a TOXIN and a CARCINOGEN that is regularly available at your “health store.” The irony is real, a real health store doesn’t sell you alcohol nor nicotine, but I digress.
Be well.