Alcohol is a social drug. Millions are addicted to it and thousands of families are spoiled. Social drinking is good, but some one must teach the people what social drinking is.

Is alcohol necessary for our metabolism?

It is a good question; alcohol is not at all necessary for our metabolism, it is a drug, a social drug that is all. With extra taxes in the Western countries, other form of tax income in emerging and developing countries, the industry, the government and the black market people are the one who benefit out of this. The extreme taxes for the alcoholic beverages are in the Scandinavian countries to avoid people to buy it, but there the consumption is extremely big because of their climate and the longest winter nights. If you do not like it, you are the luckiest one and it is damn cheap as well as very healthy for you and your whole family.

Do you drink, if yes, why?

I do drink now and then in my house or when we visit our friends or we go out to dinner parties, one or two glasses of dry red wine only, all the other alcoholic beverages I do not like. I have no problems to answer this question.

What is alcohol?

The particular alcohol present in our alcoholic beverages is ethanol which is normally called alcohol, the name of the whole group.

What are the effects if you take in small amounts?

Although alcohol is a depressant, small quantities make you happily relaxed, but in large quantities most of them lose their inhibitions completely and bring not only health problems to them but also many other problems to their families and the society.

Does it make you addict?

Although alcohol is legal, it is a strong drug in high amounts and makes one addict. In low amounts of consumption it is fun, but sometimes one has no control to stop the increasing amounts and thus the addiction. This addiction is in many countries recognized as a sickness and the addicts get the benefit of health insurance with all their rehabilitation and other programmes.

Is drinking alcohol harming my health now, or will it be harmful later in my life?

If you drink a safe and healthy amount, it is good for your health, but too much is harmful in your social as well as family life but also a big risk factor for your health. Hundreds of millions of people in our world irrespective of their social status and intelligence are alcoholics.

What is the safe pattern of drinking?

180 ml wine or 500 ml beer or one to two drinks for a man in a day and 150 ml wine or 300 ml beer or one drink for a woman, if she likes only and do not forget, social drinking does not mean that you must drink every day. Nowadays, alcohol free-beers are there which taste exactly like the normal beer, but it can contain up to 0.5% of alcohol that means it is also strictly prohibited to dry alcoholics and children.

You can drink red wine-water equally mixed like the French do or half beer and half Lemon juice, like the German drink as Alsterwasser. All these methods reduce the amount of alcohol in your beverages.

What are the side effects of alcohol?

Increased relaxation, sociability and reducing inhibitions are the initial effects. You feel well and want more and more to drink which leads to loss of control, dizziness, blurred vision, sickness and even unconsciousness. The worst problem comes in the next morning, the hangovers. Alcohol slows reaction times, so driving, bicycling and operating machinery may be dangerous. Your rational thinking is gone and you may take risky decisions. Domestic violence and other crimes are the social problems and the loss of inhibitions makes you aggressive, the result is problems with wife and children. Your inhibition to sexual violence is also mostly lost.

What are the health effects of alcohol?

Alcohol in low amounts can reduce the blood pressure because of the dilation of blood vessels, but the good effect turns negative if you drink more.

Increased weight, more alcohol intake and almost no physical activity increases the weight and the problems connected to it, high blood pressure, may be diabetes also.

Memory loss occurs after consumption of large amount and long term use can cause heart diseases, stomach cancer and liver damage.

Alcohol reduces the sensitivity to pain and it causes dehydration and taking it with ecstasy is very dangerous to health.

Is alcohol in cold winter useful or bad for our health?

The dilated vessels from alcohol consumption are near to the skin surface and the body loses heat to the environment. Do not give alcohol to warm up, one will feel warm but the body cools down actually. That means warm winter cloths are necessary to protect your whole body.

Alcohol with other drugs, is it dangerous?

Yes, alcohol with other drugs which are depressants like heroin, valium will increase the potential of each drug, thus drastically increasing the cumulative adverse effects. Alcohol and flunitrazepam (Rohypnol) is deadly as well as a date-rape combination.

Alcohol with Paracetamol spoils the liver and tens of lakhs are dying every year with this combination.

Alcohol consumption and driving, what is your opinion?

If you take alcohol, do not drive your car, it is dangerous not only for you but also for others. Whatever and how much you drink, per hour only 0.1 per mille will be excreted and here all are same, man, woman, young, old, white, black, brown or yellow races. Our reaction time is normally much higher, after alcohol consumption even if you have a low level of 0.30 per mille in your blood, your reaction time is affected drastically and accidents from your car could be considered as 100% your mistake in the court of law and you have to pay the victims life-long.

Many countries have 0.00 per mille for driving and others have 0.50 per mille limit, this to reach a glass of wine or beer or 1 or 2 drinks enough. Here there is no superman or superwoman and all the other theories and stories are not true.

Do not forget, as a host you have got the responsibility if you serve alcoholic beverages in your parties, in home or in the hotels, that you should not allow the person to drive his car to go to his house, if necessary, you have to snatch his car keys and send him in a taxi to his house. Otherwise, his problem, if there is an accident, may become also partly a problem of yours.

Are women become more quickly drunk than men?

Yes, it is; they absorb the alcohol quickly and alcohol reaches also swiftly to their brain and it is better to be very careful. It is also excreted slowly than men. Never drink the amount of a man. You must know your limit just above your individual lower level, this amount, with this enjoyment, is the social drinking. Above that, you blame yourself and spoil your health and wealth also.

Does pregnant woman drink alcohol?

It is better if she does not drink. But in Western countries some regular user could not stop it, it is better to drink 100 ml wine or 200 ml beer but nothing more. It is important to note that the total alcohol amount should be only within the range of 8 to 12 grams of pure alcohol, one or two times a week, more than that spoil the health of the child. I would like to say that in Western countries there are women who stop drinking immediately if they know they are pregnant. In India where social drinking in women is so low alcohol must be avoided during pregnancy and breastfeeding.

Young men boast, consumption of more alcohol shows their strength, is it correct?

I can only laugh, if you remember your earlier questions and my answers, you know that and I think this remark came after alcohol consumption, thereby with the loss of inhibition. I have seen so many people and their fates are so bad, I do not even wish my best enemy to suffer like this. Most of these persons have inferiority complex which they would like to hide with their habits, like drinking, abusing drugs or also driving costly cars. There are enough persons who utilize this to enjoy their life at others cost, but we should not forget; sometimes we have to pay for this joy heavily like diseases or sexual assault.

Are there any recommended amounts of intake for men and women?

Yes, there are some, but each individual must take this only as a recommended amount and find out the correct amount by himself. One to two units for women and two to three units for men a day is the recommended one for social drinking and it is not a must everyday. Three to four days in a week for men and two to three days for the women a week are the maximum and the rest days are alcohol free.

Almost all the good beer companies offer alcohol free beers, this taste exactly like the original beer, the alcohol content of these alcohol free-beers must be below 0.5% and you can consume this without any problem. There are alcohol free wines and champagne and this is good to drink, as you see there are possibilities to enjoy life, without alcohol.

What is a unit which in mostly written in connection with alcohol drinks?

One unit is 8 grams of pure alcohol, is one small glass of wine or a small glass of beer or one small glass of champagne or approximately 20 ml of other liquors which have 36% to 42% of alcohol. I give you as eight grams so that you could calculate exactly how much you can take and it is simple because every bottle contains the volume in % on the label.

What is Alco-pops?

Alco pops are alcoholic drinks, very sweet with lot of sugar; the alcohol content is 8.5%, which are also in all possible colours to attract the youth. When this drink came to the market, my colleague brought this to my table and asked me to taste it, I tried and told that it is not my taste, but it will attract youths to use, so to say, misuse the alcohol, as it is sweet in taste and above all very cheap. The alcohol industry wants more new customers, youth buy it and go on drinking till they become unconscious because of excess alcohol in short time. The industries and government have to face much critic and finally they raised the value added tax very drastically so that it is not cheap for the youth. It has brought some good results, but this problem could not be eradicated. That is why we have to start our teachings and explanations to our children to know the dangers waiting in every corner for them.

Our young and coming generations must be taught how to drink properly to use the social drinking positively in their lives. Never make this as a taboo theme in your family. It is advisable to allow your child to taste if you drink alcoholic beverages in your house.

Has alcohol any nutritive value?

No. Except resveratrol and other polyphenols as essential non-nutrients, there are no nutritive values of alcoholic beverages, sugar and traces of vitamins and trace elements have of only minor values. The calories from alcohol are only empty calories which makes only you fatty, try to avoid as much as possible.

Binge drinking, what is this?

Youth who drink lot of alcohol in short time till they become unconscious, they are admitted in the hospital and the problems are, then, for everybody in the family. This is binge drinking in English or coma drinking in German.

30 thousand youths from both sexes, between 18 and 24 years old, are the victims of this brutal drinking in Germany and the industry, government, parents and school have equal share in this tragical development because the youth have not enough possibilities to spend their time usefully, parents also have no time, the tension from the schools are high and the industry wants only more and quick profit without any moral values, the result is this unnecessary, adverse and unhealthy effect to our youngsters who are the future of our society.

The brains are affected very often and this is not a fun. The worst health effect is uptake of urine and its waste from the bladder back to our blood and the rupture of bladder in men and women with serious health problems. Binge drinking is most prevalent in USA, UK and in Germany. It is the important duty of our society to punish this profit mongering devils.

What are the evils of binge drinking?

Binge drinking is self destructive one which adds more problems like absenting from their work, ignoring their duties and responsibilities, wasting money, fighting with others or having risky sex that may lead to HIV infection.

Oh, very hard critic, could you tell me how can I drink more than normal?

You are putting such a question to me, today is my non-violence day and you are lucky. There are some tips and they belong to me only, smile.