How To Make Drinking Less Harmful

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Making Drinking Less Harmful

We often talk of the many ways alcohol harms our health, and we advocate for reducing (or eliminating) its consumption. However, it’s not necessarily as easy as all that, and it might not even be a goal that everyone has. So, if you’re going to imbibe, what can you do to mitigate the harmful effects of alcohol?

There is no magical solution

Sadly. If you drink alcohol, there will be some harmful effects, and nothing will completely undo that. But there are some things that can at least help—read on to learn more!

Coffee

It’s not the magical sober-upperer that some would like it to be, but it is good against the symptoms of alcohol intoxication, and slightly reduces the harm to your body, because it is:

  • Hydrating (whereas alcohol is dehydrating)
  • A source of antioxidants (whereas alcohol causes oxidative stress, which has nothing to do with psychological stress, and is a kind of cellular damage)
  • A stimulant, assuming it is not decaffeinated (it’s worth noting that its stimulant effects work partly by triggering vasoconstriction, which is the opposite of the vasodilation caused by alcohol)

To this end, the best coffee for anti-alcohol effects should be:

  • Caffeinated, and strong
  • Long (we love espresso, but we need hydration here and that comes from volume!)
  • Without sugar (you don’t want to create an adverse osmotic gradient to leech water from your body)

As for milk/cream/whatever, have it or don’t, per your usual preference. It won’t make any difference to the alcohol in your system.

Antioxidants, polyphenols, flavonoids, and things with similar mechanisms

We mentioned that coffee contains antioxidants, but if you want to really bring out the heavy guns, taking more powerful antioxidants can help a lot. If you don’t have the luxury of enjoying berries and cacao nibs by the handful, supplements that have some similar benefits are a perfectly respectable choice.

For example, you might want to consider green tea extract:

L-theanine 200mg (available on Amazon)

Specialist anti-alcohol drugs

These are somewhat new and the research is still ongoing, but for example:

Dihydromyricetin (DHM) as a novel anti-alcohol intoxication medication

In short, DHM is a flavonoid (protects against the oxidative stress caused by alcohol, and has been found to reduce liver damage—see the above link) and also works on GABA-receptors (reduces alcohol withdrawal symptoms after cessation of drinking, and thus also reduces hangovers).

Once again: the marketing claims of such drugs may be bold, but there’s a lot that’s not known and they’re not a magic pill. They do NOT mean you can take them alongside drinking and drink what you like with impunity. However, they may help mitigate some of the harmful effects of alcohol. If you wish to try them, these can be purchased at pharmacies or online, for example:

Alcohol Defense Capsules (available on Amazon)

Bottom line

Alcohol is bad for your health and none of the above will eliminate the health risks. But, if you’re going to have alcohol, then having the above things as well may at least somewhat reduce the harm done.

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  • Seven Steps to Managing Your Memory – by Dr. Andrew Budson & Dr. Maureen O’Connor

    10almonds is reader-supported. We may, at no cost to you, receive a portion of sales if you purchase a product through a link in this article.

    First, what this is not: a “how to improve your memory” book of the kind marketed to students and/or people who want to do memory-themed party tricks.

    What this book actually is: exactly what the title and subtitle claim it to be: seven steps to managing your memory: what’s normal, what’s not, and what to do about it.

    Drs. Budson & O’Connor cover:

    • which memory errors can (and usually do) happen at any age
    • how memory changes with normal aging, and
    • what kinds of memory problems are not normal.

    One thing that sets this book aside from a lot of its genre is that it also covers which kinds of memory loss are reversible—and, where appropriate, what can be undertaken to effect such a reversal.

    The authors talk about what things have (and what things haven’t!) been shown to strengthen memory and reduce cognitive decline, and in the worst case scenario, what medications can help against Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias.

    The style is halfway between pop-science and a science textbook. The structure of the book, with its headings, subheadings, bullet points, summaries, etc, helps the reader to process and remember the information.

    Bottom line: if you’d like to get on top of managing your memory before you forget, then this book is for you.

    Click here to check out Seven Steps to Managing Your Memory, and safeguard what’s most important to you!

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  • What Your Eyes Say About Your Health (If You Have A Mirror, You Can Do This Now!)

    10almonds is reader-supported. We may, at no cost to you, receive a portion of sales if you purchase a product through a link in this article.

    In an age when doctors are increasingly pressed to get you out of their office quickly and not take the time to do thorough tests, having a good basic knowledge of signs and symptoms of disease has become more important than ever for all of us:

    The eyes have it:

    Dr. Siobhan Deshauer is back, this time working with Dr. Maria Howard, a Canadian optometrist, who advised behind-the-scenes to ensure the best information about these signs and symptoms and what they tell us:

    1. Color blindness test: Ishihara color test identifies color blindness; in the version in the video, seeing “74” is normal, “12” indicates red-green color blindness, and no numbers suggest complete color blindness due to genetics or retinal/optic nerve issues.
    2. Yellow sclera (scleral icterus): yellow sclera indicates high bilirubin from excessive red blood cell breakdown, liver damage, bile duct blockage, or Gilbert syndrome.
    3. Blue sclera: indicates thin collagen in the sclera, which can be linked to osteogenesis imperfecta, Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, and Marfan syndrome.
    4. Pink eye: caused by infections, autoimmune diseases, or trauma; persistent symptoms or associated pain/vision changes need medical evaluation.
    5. Physiologic diplopia (double vision): normal test where fingers appear doubled when focusing on different planes; absence may indicate amblyopia.
    6. Pinhole test (visual acuity): looking through a small pinhole can determine if glasses are needed for clearer vision.
    7. Nearsighted vs farsighted: nearsightedness risks retinal tears and night vision issues, while farsightedness increases the risk of glaucoma.
    8. Eye color and health: brown eyes lower cancer risk but higher cataract risk; light eyes higher cancer risk but lower cataract risk; sudden changes may indicate a condition.
    9. Kayser-Fleischer rings: golden-brown rings around the iris suggest copper buildup from Wilson disease, treatable with chelation therapy.
    10. Corneal arcus: gray/white ring around the iris indicates cholesterol buildup, normal with aging but concerning in younger individuals, signaling hypercholesterolemia or artery narrowing.
    11. Limbal rings: dark rings around the iris are generally aesthetic and not health-related.
    12. Red desaturation test: a difference in red color perception between eyes may indicate optic nerve or retinal issues.
    13. Eye twitching: often linked to stress, sleep deprivation, or caffeine; persistent twitching or muscle involvement requires medical attention.
    14. Pupillary reflex: pupil constriction in light; abnormal responses suggest trauma, overdose, or poisoning.
    15. Cataracts: lens cloudiness due to age, UV exposure, smoking, diabetes, or prednisone; also occurs sometimes in youth due to conditions like diabetes.
    16. Yellow spots (pinguecula and pterygium): sun damage, wind, and dust exposure cause yellow spots; protect with sunglasses to prevent progression impacting vision.
    17. Dark spots in the eye: includes freckles, moles (nevi), and melanoma; changes require medical evaluation.
    18. Hypnotic induction profile: eye roll test assesses susceptibility to hypnosis.
    19. Floaters: normal clumps in the eye; sudden increases, flashes, or curtain-like effects may signal retinal detachment.
    20. Retinal detachment: caused by aging-related vitreous shrinkage; treated with lasers, gas bubbles, or retinal buckles.
    21. Macular degeneration (Amsler grid test): wavy, fuzzy lines or missing vision spots may indicate this condition.
    22. Giant cell arteritis: no, that’s not a typo: rather it is about blood vessel inflammation that can cause blindness; treated with prednisone, symptoms include headaches and vision changes.
    23. Near point of convergence: focus test to detect convergence issues common with excessive screen time.
    24. Blepharitis: eyelid inflammation causing itchiness, burning, or flaky skin; treated with hygiene, antibiotics, or tea tree oil.
    25. Proptosis (Graves’ disease): bulging eyes due to hyperthyroidism; treatable with medications, radiation, or surgery.
    26. Ptosis (droopy eyelids): indicates myasthenia gravis, temporarily improved with the ice pack test.
    27. Night vision issues: caused by retinal problems or high myopia, not typically vitamin A deficiency in developed countries.
    28. Dry eyes: caused by screen time, smoking, medications, or autoimmune diseases; managed with lubricating drops, reduced screen time, and adjustments.
    29. Watery eyes: caused by irritation or blocked tear ducts; treated with lubricating drops or surgery.
    30. Retinoblastoma: rare childhood cancer detectable through flash photography showing one white pupil; early detection enables treatment.

    For more on all of these plus visual demonstrations, enjoy:

    Click Here If The Embedded Video Doesn’t Load Automatically!

    Want to learn more?

    You might also like:

    What Your Hands Can Tell You About Your Health

    Take care!

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  • The Power Foods Diet – by Dr. Neal Barnard

    10almonds is reader-supported. We may, at no cost to you, receive a portion of sales if you purchase a product through a link in this article.

    First, what this is not: it’s not a cookbook. There are recipes, more than a hundred if we consider such things as “barbecue sauce” as a standalone recipe, and if we overlook such things as how “perfect hot oatmeal” is followed on the next page by a recipe for “perfect hot oatmeal with berries”.

    However, as we say, it’s not a cookbook; it’s first and foremost an educational text on the topic of nutrition.

    Here we will learn about good eating for general health, which foods are natural appetite-suppressants, which foods reduce our body’s absorption of sugars from foods (not merely slowing, but flushing them away so they cannot be absorbed at all), and which foods actually boost metabolism for a few hours after the meal.

    Dr. Barnard also talks about some foods that are more healthy, or less healthy, than popularly believed, and how to use all this information to craft a good, optimized, dietary plan for you.

    Bottom line: there’s a lot of good information here, and the recipes are simply a bonus.

    Click here to check out The Power Foods Diet, and optimize yours!

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Related Posts

  • How Processed Is The Food You Buy, Really?
  • Machine-Dispensed Coffee & Heart Health

    10almonds is reader-supported. We may, at no cost to you, receive a portion of sales if you purchase a product through a link in this article.

    We have written before about the health benefits (and risks) of coffee; for most people, the benefits far outweigh the risks, but individual cases may vary:

    The Bitter Truth About Coffee (or is it?) ← this is a mythbusting edition

    Speaking of bitterness; coffee has abundant polyphenols, which means…

    See also: Why Bitter Is Better: Enjoy Bitter Foods For Your Heart & Brain ← while it says foods in the title, this does cover coffee too.

    For mythbusting on caffeine specifically, enjoy: Caffeine: Cognitive Enhancer Or Brain-Wrecker?

    There are also gut health benefits from drinking coffee, and what’s good for our gut is invariably good for our heart and brain:

    Coffee & Your Gut ← gut bacteria do not, by the way, have a preference about how you make your coffee or whether it is caffeinated or not

    The latest science on coffee and heart health

    Specifically, on coffee and cholesterol levels, so for a quick primer on cholesterol, check out: Demystifying Cholesterol

    High total cholesterol, and especially high LDL (“bad” cholesterol) is generally associated with cardiovascular disease, for the reasons outlined in the link above.

    Recently, researchers at Uppsala University in Sweden examined the levels of cafestol and kahweol, which are both diterpenes, substances known to increase cholesterol levels, in coffee made by various methods, including those dispensed from coffee machines in workplaces.

    Two samples were taken from each machine every 2–3 weeks, and the most common kinds of machines produced the highest concentrations of diterpenes. These machines are the ones that push hot water through a small amount of ground coffee, through a wide-gauge filter, dispensing coffee into a cup in about 30 seconds.

    Actual espresso machines, which work on the same principle but usually with a finer filter, higher pressure, and slower dispensing of the drink, had widely varying results, quite possibly because there is (in most machines) a human element in how tightly the ground coffee is packed into the metal filter basket.

    Simple filter coffee, whether made in a coffee percolator machine or made using the pour-over method, had the lowest concentrations of diterpenes.

    You can read about this study here:

    Cafestol and kahweol concentrations in workplace machine coffee compared with conventional brewing methods

    However!

    We were curious as to how, exactly, cafestol and kahweol increase cholesterol levels.

    It turns out that research in this area has been scant, because most mice aren’t affected by it in the way that most humans are, which has limited mouse model studies.

    Scant does not mean non-existent, though, and the answer came by virtue of transgenic mice (specifically, apolipoprotein (apo) E*3-Leiden transgenic mice, which do have the same reaction to cafestol as humans), the paper title sums it up nicely:

    Cafestol Increases Serum Cholesterol Levels in Apolipoprotein E*3-Leiden Transgenic Mice by Suppression of Bile Acid Synthesis

    You may be wondering: what does suppression of bile acid synthesis have to do with cholesterol levels?

    To oversimplify it a bit: cafestol messes with cholesterol metabolism by interfering with the enzymes involved in cholesterol metabolism (specifically, regulatory enzymes found in bile acid).

    As to what it actually does in that regard: it reduces LDLR (LDL receptor) mRNA levels by 37% (that figure’s an average of the specific enzymes, sterol 27-hydroxylase and oxysterol 7α-hydroxylase, which were reduced by 32% and 48%, respectively).

    Why this matters in practical terms: cafestol does not add any cholesterol to our systems, it inhibits our ability to clear LDL cholesterol, thus promoting raised LDL cholesterol levels.

    In other words: if you have little or no dietary cholesterol (no dietary cholesterol, for example, if you are vegan), then your body will only have the cholesterol that it made for itself because it needed it, and as such, the body won’t need to do the same kind of clean-up job that it would if you had that coffee with a double cheeseburger with extra bacon.

    As such, if you have little or no dietary cholesterol, cafestol is unlikely to have anything like the same effect on cholesterol levels.

    Disclaimer: this latter is technically a hypothesis, but based on sound reasoning:

    It’s the same logic that says “if you do not drink alcohol, then eating a durian fruit, which inhibits aldehyde dehydrogenase, which the body uses to metabolize alcohol, will not cause alcohol-related problems for you”.

    Want to know more?

    We wrote previously on coffee and cafestol, along with some suggestions:

    Health-Hack Your Coffee To Make Your Coffee Heart-Healthier!

    Enjoy!

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  • Life Extension Multivitamins vs Centrum Multivitamins – Which is Healthier

    10almonds is reader-supported. We may, at no cost to you, receive a portion of sales if you purchase a product through a link in this article.

    Our Verdict

    When comparing Life Extension Multivitamins to Centrum Multivitamins, we picked the Life Extension.

    Why?

    The clue here was on the label: “two per day”. It’s not so that they can sell extra filler! It’s because they couldn’t fit it all into one.

    While the Centrum Multivitamins is a (respectably) run-of-the-mill multivitamin (and multimineral) containing reasonable quantities of most vitamins and minerals that people supplement, the Life Extension product has the same plus more:

    • More of the vitamins and minerals; i.e. more of them are hitting 100%+ of the RDA
    • More beneficial supplements, including:
      • Inositol, Alpha lipoic acid, Bio-Quercetin phytosome, phosphatidylcholine complex, Marigold extract, Apigenin, Lycopene, and more that we won’t list here because it starts to get complicated if we do.

    We’ll have to write some main features on some of those that we haven’t written about before, but suffice it to say, they’re all good things.

    Main take-away for today: sometimes more is better; it just necessitates then reading the label to check.

    Want to get some Life Extension Multivitamins (and/or perhaps just read the label on the back)? Here they are on Amazon

    PS: it bears mentioning, since we are sometimes running brands against each other head-to-head in this section: nothing you see here is an advertisement/sponsor unless it’s clearly marked as such. We haven’t, for example, been paid by Life Extension or any agent of theirs, to write the above. It’s just our own research and conclusion.

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  • Which Sugars Are Healthier, And Which Are Just The Same?

    10almonds is reader-supported. We may, at no cost to you, receive a portion of sales if you purchase a product through a link in this article.

    From Apples to Bees, and High-Fructose Cs

    We asked you for your (health-related) policy on sugar. The trends were as follows:

    • About half of all respondents voted for “I try to limit sugar intake, but struggle because it’s in everything”
    • About a quarter of all respondents voted for “Refined sugar is terrible; natural sugars (e.g. honey, agave) are fine”
    • About a quarter of all respondents voted for “Sugar is sugar and sugar is bad; I avoid it entirely”
    • One (1) respondent voted for “Sugar is an important source of energy, so I consume plenty”

    Writer’s note: I always forget to vote in these, but I’d have voted for “I try to limit sugar intake, but struggle because it’s in everything”.

    Sometimes I would like to make my own [whatever] to not have the sugar, but it takes so much more time, and often money too.

    So while I make most things from scratch (and typically spend about an hour cooking each day), sometimes store-bought is the regretfully practical timesaver/moneysaver (especially when it comes to condiments).

    So, where does the science stand?

    There has, of course, been a lot of research into the health impact of sugar.

    Unfortunately, a lot of it has been funded by sugar companies, which has not helped. Conversely, there are also studies funded by other institutions with other agendas to push, and some of them will seek to make sugar out to be worse than it is.

    So for today’s mythbusting overview, we’ve done our best to quality-control studies for not having financial conflicts of interest. And of course, the usual considerations of favoring high quality studies where possible Large sample sizes, good method, human subjects, that sort of thing.

    Sugar is sugar and sugar is bad: True or False?

    False and True, respectively.

    • Sucrose is sucrose, and is generally bad.
    • Fructose is fructose, and is worse.

    Both ultimately get converted into glycogen (if not used immediately for energy), but for fructose, this happens mostly* in the liver, which a) taxes it b) goes very unregulated by the pancreas, causing potentially dangerous blood sugar spikes.

    This has several interesting effects:

    • Because fructose doesn’t directly affect insulin levels, it doesn’t cause insulin insensitivity (yay)
    • Because fructose doesn’t directly affect insulin levels, this leaves hyperglycemia untreated (oh dear)
    • Because fructose is metabolized by the liver and converted to glycogen which is stored there, it’s one of the main contributors to non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (at this point, we’re retracting our “yay”)

    Read more: Fructose and sugar: a major mediator of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease

    *”Mostly” in the liver being about 80% in the liver. The remaining 20%ish is processed by the kidneys, where it contributes to kidney stones instead. So, still not fabulous.

    Fructose is very bad, so we shouldn’t eat too much fruit: True or False?

    False! Fruit is really not the bad guy here. Fruit is good for you!

    Fruit does contain fructose yes, but not actually that much in the grand scheme of things, and moreover, fruit contains (unless you have done something unnatural to it) plenty of fiber, which mitigates the impact of the fructose.

    • A medium-sized apple (one of the most sugary fruits there is) might contain around 11g of fructose
    • A tablespoon of high-fructose corn syrup can have about 27g of fructose (plus about 3g glucose)

    Read more about it: Effects of high-fructose (90%) corn syrup on plasma glucose, insulin, and C-peptide in non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus and normal subjects

    However! The fiber content (in fruit) mitigates the impact of the fructose almost entirely anyway.

    And if you take fruits that are high in sugar and/but high in polyphenols, like berries, they now have a considerable net positive impact on glycemic health:

    You may be wondering: what was that about “unless you have done something unnatural to it”?

    That’s mostly about juicing. Juicing removes much (or all) of the fiber, and if you do that, you’re basically back to shooting fructose into your veins:

    Natural sugars like honey, agave, and maple syrup, are healthier than refined sugars: True or False?

    TrueSometimes, and sometimes marginally.

    This is partly because of the glycemic index and glycemic load. The glycemic index scores tail off thus:

    • table sugar = 65
    • maple syrup = 54
    • honey = 46
    • agave syrup = 15

    So, that’s a big difference there between agave syrup and maple syrup, for example… But it might not matter if you’re using a very small amount, which means it may have a high glycemic index but a low glycemic load.

    Note, incidentally, that table sugar, sucrose, is a disaccharide, and is 50% glucose and 50% fructose.

    The other more marginal health benefits come from that fact that natural sugars are usually found in foods high in other nutrients. Maple syrup is very high in manganese, for example, and also a fair source of other minerals.

    But… Because of its GI, you really don’t want to be relying on it for your nutrients.

    Wait, why is sugar bad again?

    We’ve been covering mostly the more “mythbusting” aspects of different forms of sugar, rather than the less controversial harms it does, but let’s give at least a cursory nod to the health risks of sugar overall:

    That last one, by the way, was a huge systematic review of 37 large longitudinal cohort studies. Results varied depending on what, specifically, was being examined (e.g. total sugar, fructose content, sugary beverages, etc), and gave up to 200% increased cancer risk in some studies on sugary beverages, but 95% increased risk is a respectable example figure to cite here, pertaining to added sugars in foods.

    And finally…

    The 56 Most Common Names for Sugar (Some Are Tricky)

    How many did you know?

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