there's some hard to swallow truths about the reality of nutrition there's some things out there that no matter how good they taste or how good they make you feel you're better off without them now I'm going to get this point out of the way early this time live your life enjoy your life what good is a functioning body that you go out of your way to take care of if you don't do anything with it so move and Adventure push your limits and celebrate your victories the way you like to but understand what poisons are
going to make life a lot less fun today we've got a nutrient that can feel great in the right amounts and can ruin everything when you indulge past it it's time to bring to light another one of the real killers ladies and gentlemen we are gathered here to talk about the greatest Temptation the devil ever made alcohol let me know if you get the reference but the truth is alcohol is a very unique beast in the world of nutrition alcohol is the quote unquote fourth macronutrient meaning that it contributes calories when consumed alcohol is 7even
calories per gram which is noticeably more than the four in protein and carbohydrates but a bit less than the nine in fat I do feel the need to mention that not all seven calories from alcohol are typically absorbed usually the more you have at once exponentially the less you absorb but that doesn't really feel like a helpful solution if you think about it for more than 2 seconds the thing is due to most products containing alcohol being liquid this can make it very quick and easy to consume unwanted or unnoticed calories unlike other macronutrients calories
from alcohol are truly useless in and of themselves they offer no consistent tangible benefits of their own and no nutrients with Benefits that come with them on top of this the body is shown to prioritize metabolizing alcohol at the expense of other more valuable nutrients including proteins fats carbs vitamins and minerals now the main active ingredient in alcoholic products is ethanol this is the substance that contributes to drunkenness it's produced by yeast that digests sugars and it's what's known as a psychoactive ingredient having a potentially powerful effect on your mood and mental state and alcohol
consumption is shown to contribute to a lot of other things too with most of them not being very positive the interesting thing is alcohol is not as much of an epidemic as the other nutrients that I've given the title of killer it's been more of a slow burn of use throughout history and in R killer Tradition at this point I'd like to take a minute to review how we got to where we are with it alcohol is believed by many to have existed as early as 7,000 BC fermented grain and fruit juice have been used
to make alcoholic drinks for thousands of years there's evidence of the ancient civilization of Mesopotamia making beer at roughly 3,000 BC and many other prosperous civilizations at the time seem to follow not long after including ancient China India and ancient Egypt in fact in ancient Egypt beer was literally considered the drink of the Gods as early as 2,000 BC Greek wine makers were fully cashing in on their Vineyards there were literally deities for wine in many cultures notably Greece ironically Greek literature has many warnings against success of drinking that everyone including them seem to have
actively ignored all of this to nail home the point that alcohol has been around forever and has been a problem for nearly as long in more recent history multiple Native American peoples developed fermented beverages from corn and certain fruits in pre-colombian times just in case you were getting the idea that this was just an old world phenomenon in the 16th century alcohol under the name of spirits were used medically of all things did I say it right this time starting around 1550 excessive use of distilled Spirits started in England though it wasn't until the 18th
century when British law was passed effectively encouraging the use of grain for distilling Spirits not long after Chiefs Spirit purches peaked this is when it was believed that alcoholism became a more common and widespread concept at least in the Western World in the 19th century the temperance movement began promoting moderation of alcohol this eventually culminated in 1919 when the US passed an amendment prohibiting everything alcohol related they then not long after in 1933 passed another one to repeal this now for me the takeaway from all of this is that alcohol is a beast that cannot
be killed and it is instead one that must be caged it's a mountain that you can climb but it would be a Fool's errand to try and move it unlike the added sugars or trans fats that we've covered in the past where public awareness or government intervention can play a big role in fixing the problem alcohol as a Killer really comes down to the individual it's the little devil whispering in your ear that despite knowing what it does beckons what's one more shot it's the personal Pandora's box of the nutritional world that once you open
it it can be pretty tough to close and it can be just as much a real killer as anything else we'll ever talk about on this channel allow me to explain while for most people alcohol is the go-to aid for a good time there's a lot going on under the surface in terms of what it can do to your body now first I want to mention that at several points throughout this segment and the next I will be referring to drinking in moderation according to the CDC this means one drink a day for women and
two for men a standard drink being roughly 14 G of pure alcohol and now the bad because let's face it you knew that was going to be most of it arguably the most important way that alcohol can negatively affect your body is what it can do to the liver one of your liver's main functions is to neutralize toxic substances it's more vulnerable when compared to other vital organs to damage from alcohol potentially leading to alcoholic liver diseases that make you more susceptible to other potentially hazardous things that end up in your body the first of
these you're likely to encounter is fatty liver disease this is defined as an increase of fat in the liver cells and it develops in more than 90% of people who consume at least four standard drinks a day when taken a step further heavy drinking can lead to liver inflammation and eventually curosis this is where liver cells die are replaced by Scar Tissue and a liver transplant is most likely necessary alcohol can also have a pretty big impact on the health of your brain ethanol can inhibit communication between brain cells short-term symptoms are just potential memory
loss and worse in decision-making but chronic alcohol consumption can have more permanent effects impairing cognitive function this may eventually lead to Dementia or brain shrinkage realistically there's no cap on the negatives here the more you abuse it the worse it can get Abus of alcohol can also have a negative effect on your mental health alcohol intake and depression have a very linear Association both ways those who abuse alcohol are more likely to be depressed and those who are depressed or face higher levels of anxiety are more likely to abuse alcohol it seems to be a
pretty vicious cycle I however am going to avoid discussing any other psychological effects as that is straying a bit out of my Lane but don't worry there's plenty more that alcohol messes up that I can talk about like its effects on your heart funny enough light drinking is shown to have little negative effect to possibly even a reduced risk of heart disease though anything past that is shown to exponentially increase the risk and heavier drinking May contribute to an increased risk of high blood pressure and type 2 diabetes the general suggestion by both the American
Heart Association and anyone with two remaining brain cells is that if you currently Don't drink don't start and all of this is before considering the contributions to cancer even light to moderate alcohol consumption is a risk factor for mouth throat colon breast and liver cancers one drink per day is linked to a 20% increased risk of mouth and throat Cancers and obvious ly the more you consume the more the risk increases this is one of those negative factors involving alcohol consumption that's pretty irrefutable at this point and as previously mentioned alcohol contains seven calories per
gram leading to many alcoholic drinks containing as many calories as sugary drinks like sodas and again these calories are not doing you any good whatsoever now that's all the big negatives associated with excessive alcohol consumption but trust me there's plenty more that just aren't quite so detrimental other potential long-term effects include anxiety or irritability insomnia a weakened immune system a change in appetite trouble concentrating worsened memory gastrointestinal issues decreased bone density pancreatic inflammation potentially leading to insufficient insulin release alterations in libido and related functions and alcohol during pregnancy is shown to increase the risk of
birth defects basically if you think of a random negative Health effect alcohol probably does something related to that now the last thing I want to cover is are there any positives to alcohol consumption while certainly not the most backed benefits some Studies have shown Light alcohol consumption May raise HDL cholesterol levels slightly and reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes slightly the key words here being May and slightly let's be real this is me Playing devil's advocate here some studies even go as far as to say that Light alcohol consumption May reduce the risk of
an early death I distinctly remember in the news I believe it was a British gentleman who said that his secret to living past 100 was every day he would walk down to a local pub and order a whiskey now I'm sure the regular walking did him a lot of good as well as the friends that he made while he was there but the whiskey whatever you need to tell yourself bud maybe it does actually help you know assuming you get past the liver diseases brain diseases heart diseases diabetes risk cancer risk depression and the risk
of a terrible accident while drinking go ahead roll the dice now normally in these videos I'd go over sources of our culprit nutrients but let's be honest you know where to find alcohol it's pretty hard to deny that alcohol belongs in the series but again the the methods to beating it aren't so cut and dry this is a nutrient that's going to come down to personal control you have access to the data but only you can find the balance and this is just my personal PSA if you struggle with finding that balance don't hesitate to
reach out to those around you for help there are some demons that the quicker you HT them down the better off you'll be and this is definitely one of them now if you enjoyed the video or at the very least learned a little something I encourage you to subscribe as I've got plenty more of these on the way go ahead and let me know down in the comments what other nutrients good or bad you think deserve an entire in-depth breakdown video like this and remember that all I ask is that you do your own research
and advocate for your body you only get the one
