#092 The Truth About Alcohol: Risks, Benefits, and Everything In-Between | Dr. Rhonda Patrick
FoundMyFitness
Rhonda Patrick, Ph.D.
4.8 • 5.5K Ratings
🗓️ 1 July 2024
⏱️ 204 minutes
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In this special solo episode of FoundMyFitness, we’re taking a deep dive into alcohol. We’ll explore the science, misconceptions, controversies, and health effects of this widely used drug. I believe that a nuanced, scientific discussion on alcohol is the best way to provide you with the information you need to make an informed decision about alcohol use.
Timestamps
- (00:00) Introduction
- (08:03) What does it mean to "have a drink"?
- (09:39) Drinking frequency definitions
- (12:39) How alcohol is metabolized
- (18:25) Can alcoholism be inherited?
- (19:41) How food affects alcohol metabolism
- (21:40) Does age affect alcohol metabolism?
- (22:29) How alcohol affects nutrient absorption
- (27:04) How alcohol affects gut health
- (28:57) Alcohol elevates circulating LPS levels
- (31:51) Gut health & alcohol use disorders
- (36:30) Sick quitter & healthy user biases
- (39:38) How alcohol impacts the brain
- (43:34) Alcohol's effects on anxiety
- (49:56) Alcohol facilitates thiamine deficiency
- (51:39) Alcohol promotes brain inflammation
- (52:56) Dementia & Alzheimer's disease risk
- (1:06:50) Is resveratrol in red wine beneficial?
- (1:11:28) How alcohol impacts sleep
- (1:19:47) Mitigating alcohol's impact on sleep
- (1:22:13) Hangover symptoms & causes
- (1:26:33) How congeners affect hangover severity
- (1:27:58) Treating hangovers with fruit
- (1:30:40) Zinc, vitamin B3, & hangovers
- (1:31:41) Managing hangovers with NSAIDs
- (1:32:22) "Hair of the dog” for hangovers
- (1:32:40) Liposomal glutathione, NAC, & hangovers
- (1:35:56) Does ZBiotics prevent hangovers?
- (1:38:18) Dihydromyricetin (DHM) for hangovers
- (1:39:15) Exercise & sauna for treating hangovers
- (1:40:21) Alcohol's effect on mortality risk
- (1:44:28) Alcohol consumption in Blue Zones
- (1:49:07) Does alcohol increase cancer risk?
- (2:00:43) Can quitting alcohol lower cancer risk?
- (2:09:46) Alcohol & cardiovascular disease (CVD)
- (2:23:24) Alcohol and type 2 diabetes risk
- (2:28:28) Alcohol's impact on your waistline
- (2:31:33) Why alcohol facilitates weight gain
- (2:34:06) How alcohol impacts reproductive health
- (2:44:31) Preconception alcohol risks
- (2:47:12) How alcohol affects testosterone in men
- (2:48:55) Pre-pregnancy alcohol consumption risks
- (2:53:17) Is red wine the healthiest option?
- (2:57:47) Alcohol & post-exercise recovery
- (3:01:34) Does alcohol "blunt your gains"?
- (3:04:11) The BEER-HIIT study
- (3:05:03) Can exercise lessen alcohol cravings?
- (3:12:57) Alcohol damage control tactics
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello friends. In today's episode we're taking a deep dive into alcohol. |
| 0:04.4 | Instead of one of my usual guest interviews, this is a solo episode where you get to hear |
| 0:08.7 | me talk at length about the science of alcohol, the most pressing topics related to how it affects your health, |
| 0:14.9 | and the controversies over whether there is a safe dose of alcohol for anyone. |
| 0:19.4 | Why do a podcast on alcohol? |
| 0:21.3 | Well for one it's a topic that everyone can relate to and |
| 0:23.8 | something that many people have been impacted by on a social or personal level. |
| 0:27.4 | A lot of emotion and anecdotes get involved when alcohol comes up. Some people |
| 0:32.2 | avoid it at all costs. Others choose to engage |
| 0:35.0 | in responsible moderate drinking. Some people may struggle with issues related to |
| 0:38.9 | alcohol abuse. No matter which of these groups you fall into, it's important to understand the effects of this drug that's so ubiquitous in cultures around the world. |
| 0:47.0 | I believe that a nuanced scientific discussion on alcohol is the best way to provide you with the information you need to make an informed |
| 0:55.3 | decision about alcohol use. That's my primary goal for this episode. In this episode you will |
| 1:01.6 | learn why consuming fructose with alcohol could mitigate |
| 1:05.1 | hangover symptoms, alcohol damage control strategies, whether there is a safe |
| 1:09.8 | maximum weekly alcohol dose before increasing disease risk. |
| 1:14.2 | And whether there is any truth to red wine being beneficial. |
| 1:17.6 | Why consuming five drinks a week could be like smoking 10 cigarettes a week for women. |
| 1:23.6 | How one to three drinks per day can double the risk |
| 1:27.1 | of breast and colon cancer in men and women. |
| 1:30.5 | The detrimental effects of alcohol on male and female fertility. |
| 1:35.0 | Why you should avoid taking NSAids like ibuprofen or a synaminophen to reduce hangover symptoms. |
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