Ramanisblog

Tag: drinking

  • Alcohol takes its toll on Russians’ health-CNN.

    Dedicated to Drinkers, including social ones.
    Story:
    London, England (CNN) — In Russia, where the government has designated alcoholism a “national disaster,” men have an average life expectancy of just 60 years — one of the lowest in Europe.
    Life expectancy for Russian men is well below that of western European countries like Germany, where men have an average life span of 77 years, according to World Health Organization figures.
    “The biggest health problem facing Russia is the very high level of mortality among working aged men,” says Martin McKee, an expert in Russian public health at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.
    A new dynamism appears to be taking hold of Russia as it aims to raise its prominence on the world stage. Despite having benefited from a boom in commodities prices before the global economy hit the skids, health indicators like life expectancy have shown marginal improvement.
    Life expectancy for men has stagnated for quite some time, and a major culprit has been high levels of alcohol consumption. Since the breakup of the Soviet Union, alcohol and tobacco use have risen, as Russians have struggled to adapt to economic change, health experts say.
    The transition from a system of state ownership to a market-oriented economy has not been easy for many Russians, according to Mireia Jofre-Bonet, a health economist at City University London.
    FACT BOX: RUSSIA
    Population: 142.5 million

    Life expectancy (males): 60

    Life expectancy (females): 73

    Gross national income per capita: $12,740

    Per capita total expenditure on health: $638

    Sources: UN, World Bank, WHO
    When the Soviet Union fell and the state disappeared, unemployment soared, and a significant portion of the population was pushed into poverty, she told CNN.
    Research suggests that those most vulnerable to alcoholism tend to be men with the lowest levels of education and the unemployed.
    A typical 18-year-old in the West has a 90 percent probability of reaching retirement age, but for young men in Russia the odds are reduced to 50 percent, says McKee.
    Alcoholism tends to be less of a problem among Russian women — who have a higher average life expectancy of 73 — but they face an equally worrisome health threat.
    There has been a big increase in smoking among women, who are being targeted by tobacco companies, says McKee. Traditionally, rates of smoking among Russian women have been very low, but now, he says, almost 30 percent among those under 30 smoke.
    “Ten years of adjusting to a new regime created lots of stress,” says Jofre-Bonet. The resulting rise in alcohol and tobacco abuse have led to ailments like heart disease and cancer.
    Besides chronic conditions, epidemics of infectious disease, including tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS, have added to the country’s health woes.
    In the 1990s, Russia experienced a resurgence of tuberculosis, considered a disease of poverty. Since then the growth of new cases has slowed, but strains of the disease that can’t be treated with the usual drugs continue to pose a serious public health threat.
    Meanwhile, the number of people living with HIV in Russia has more than doubled since 2001. While largely confined to injecting drug users, HIV remains a challenge.
    Lack of needle exchange programs has curbed efforts to combat the spread of the disease, says Annabel Kanabus, director of international AIDS charity AVERT. “The crisis is still going on. Efforts at prevention are not really working.”
    The Russian government is attempting to tackle its health challenges. The alcohol problem improved briefly in 2006 after federal restrictions were applied to the sale of non-beverage alcohols, such as aftershave, which are commonly drunk, McKee says.
    But he added, there is a major challenge in ensuring that law is enforced everywhere. And while the Kremlin has invested in upgrading technical equipment in recent years, facilities are still not well equipped to deal with high levels of chronic conditions such as high blood pressure.
    The economic downturn isn’t helping. Anxiety levels are rising as a result of soaring unemployment, and the government doesn’t have enough funds to meet the needs of the health system.
    “There is no money. It’s a big mess,” says Jofre-Bonet. “The health care system cannot pay for what it needs and there is a lot of corruption in the way of under the table payments for medicines or doctors that legally people should get for free.”
    http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/11/30/russia.alcohol.health/index.html

  • Effects of Drining-Hang over Problem.-Guardian UK.

    Hang overs and effects. You may read my blog on liver filed under Health.
    Story;
    My hangovers are much worse than they used to be, and they are also more delayed. These days, after a heavy night, I wake up feeling OK-ish, but then get progressively worse during the day, ending up with a migraine at around 3pm followed by vomiting until 7pm, and no desire to eat or drink. It used to be white wine that had this effect, but now it’s sadly all types of alcohol in excess. Why should this be?
    It sounds as if your liver is being damaged by your excessive alcohol consumption – no hunger, no thirst, nausea and vomiting are all possible indicators of liver problems. The delay in getting over the hangovers is almost certainly because your liver is no longer as efficient as it was in dealing with alcohol. Alcohol in excess is a poison – sorry, but there is no other way of looking at it. As such, you must seek out medical advice on the state of your general health, and on that of your liver in particular. In the meantime, soft drinks can taste as good as alcoholic ones, and don’t give you hangovers
    http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2009/nov/28/hangovers-cold-numb-fingers

  • Police catch parents buying booze for Gold Coast Schoolies-CourierMail , Australia.

    Drinking for any reason whatsoever is not good.Families are ruined because of Drinking.
    Many take shelter under the argument that social drinking is good for it improves their business contacts and non drinkers are not accepted in the elite group.Those who drink are not elite but irresponsible people,at least in terms of health and and their families.
    Others say it is good for health citing few researches.But there are other ways to improve health including taking healthy food and and going to bed early.
    If parents, under the illusion of giving freedom to children, encourage drinking, are ruining their children and their families.

    Parents, be Adults, not adolescents >.
    PARENTS of Schoolies revellers are ignoring pleas from police, politicians and welfare leaders to stop buying alcohol for their underage children.
    Police were forced to issue a $750 fine to the father of a former student of St Joseph’s Nudgee College who defied an order to tip out the alcohol bought for his underage son.

    Police spotted the man unloading alcohol outside a Surfers Paradise apartment on Saturday afternoon, first issuing him with a caution, then ordering him to tip out the alcohol, before he defiantly declared: ”I’ll just go and get some more”.

    Gold Coast police superintendent Jim Keogh described the incident as ”extremely disappointing”.

    ”It is irresponsible and in one instance, certainly, you had a parent who just openly defied police instruction and that is a real concern,” he said.

    A number of tip-out orders were also issued against other parents.

    Nudgee College dean of students Paul Begg said the incident was disappointing as students were taught about the impacts of alcohol and violence.

    New figures show parents worry more about their children being bullied and the amount of time spent in front of the computer than drinking alcohol.

    The Australia-wide survey commissioned by parenting group Generation Next found nearly half of all parents think it is OK to sometimes serve alcohol to a 16-year-old.

    But alcohol and drug experts said children are too young to drink alcohol at 16 years of age, mostly because their brains were yet to be fully developed.

    ”In terms of brain development, it’s a key time and the evidence says quite clearly you should delay the onset of drinking for as long as possible.”

    Asked about their concerns for their children, 60 per cent of parents were worried about bullying, 42 per cent feared their children were on the computer too long, 41 per cent were anxious about children having sex at a young age and 37 per cent worried about children using illegal drugs, while just 33 per cent nominated drinking alcohol.

    Australian Medical Association Queensland President Dr Mason Stevenson said parents appeared to have their priorities wrong.

    ”It concerns me if any survey puts alcohol misuse further down the list when, medically speaking, it needs to be top of the list,” he said.

    ”It is our number one drug problem in Australia. Parents are grossly underestimating the problem and . . . the young person’s risk of harm.”

    Gold Coast Schoolies Advisory Board chairman Mark Reaburn said parents had to set a better example.

    ”One parent paid a very expensive price,” he said. ”We know kids are going to consume alcohol at Schoolies, but the parents have to accept some responsibility as well.”

    Police and Schoolies officials were happy with the overall behaviour of revellers on the Gold Coast. Of the 30 schoolies arrested on Saturday’s traditionally wild opening night, most were for drunk and disorderly or public nuisance offences, with just three drug arrests and none for violent crime.

    Schoolies organisers issued about 20,000 wristbands for the exclusive schoolies-only entertainment hub, but only about 12,000 attended the venue, an alcohol-free beachfront area fenced off from ”Toolies” (older hangers-on) and other troublemakers.

    There were 88 non-schoolies arrests on Saturday night, though Supt Keogh did not label them Toolies.
    http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0,23739,26385812-952,00.html?referrer=email&source=CM_email_nl

  • Tippling through the ages

    Long Live Bacchus!
    Story:
    Among the few cultural traditions shared by human populations across time and geography is the abiding urge to make and consume alcoholic beverages. Alcohol was also one of the first medicines as well as a component of many early religious practices. But modern humans’ choices are limited to a few alcoholic staples — beer, wine, and “hard” liquor. Many of the beverages enjoyed by cultures past have been lost to the historical record.

    Patrick McGovern, a University of Pennsylvania researcher who describes himself as a biomolecular archeologist, and Sam Calagione, founder and president of Delaware-based Dogfish Head Brewery, aim to rescue some of these forgotten brews using a mixture of science and craftsmanship
    The story of their collaboration began, McGovern said at a recent lecture at the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Anthropology and Archaeology, with the discovery of a burial mound — called a tumulus — marking the eternal resting place of one of history’s most famous kings. “Right upstairs, the debris from the Midas tumulus was waiting for me in small paper bags,” he said. Fifty years ago University of Pennsylvania archaeologists had excavated the tumulus, located in eastern Turkey, and stored debris from vessels upstairs at the Philadelphia museum.

    “[I was interested in analyzing] the intense yellowish residue in a sort of reverse engineering to try and resurrect old ingredients,” McGovern explained. Using mass spectrometry and liquid chromatography, he determined that the ancient residue was a mixture of barley, honey and grapes. Since the subject of ancient beverages is dear to his heart and his palate, he explained, the next step was obvious — “Why not try to recreate some of these ancient beverages?” For help, he turned to Calagione, who used equal proportions of the ingredients with saffron as the bittering agent to brew Midas Touch, which approximates the drink that likely flowed at celebrations or funerals during the time of the ancient king. McGovern suggested the use of saffron because hops would not have been used in Midas’ time, and he thought the spice might account for the intense yellow in the residue. Midas Touch is an ale beautiful to behold and with a complex set of flavors; King Midas would have found it more than acceptable.

    This first success merely whetted McGovern’s thirst for reconstructing ancient fermented beverages. “The story of early mankind is humans figuring out how to chew all kinds of carbohydrates: stems, grains, roots, fruit, [looking for] what’s fermentable, and that’s led to a whole slew of beverages around the world,” he noted. Specifically, it led McGovern to chicha — a corn beer that’s been consumed in South America for centuries — which Calagione has also recreated at Dogfish Head. Chicha is brewed with corn that’s first been chewed, human saliva acting as a fermenting agent in the brewing process. (The brewing process destroys harmful bacteria.)

    McGovern and Calagione have also recreated a 3,200-year-old cacao-based ale called Theobroma, the recipe for which McGovern unearthed in Honduras. It does not taste chocolatey; rather it has an earthy flavor, a good fall brew that would pair nicely with stews or soups.

    http://www.the-scientist.com/blog/display/56124/

  • Police want pubs to close earlier to combat violence-Do It.

    Correct move.Drink related violence increases as night goes by.When families go quietly to bed, drifters and unattached bums frequent bars, create a problems for neighbors as well as to people who may happen to be passing on urgent personal business.Those who like to drink late into night may do it in their homes.
    Story:
    POLICE are hoping to convince the State Government to slash trading hours for licensed premises as part of its inquiry into alcohol-related violence.

    The Queensland Police Union has released its submission to the Law, Justice and Safety Committee, which seeks to have nightclubs close at 2am and a midnight curfew for suburban hotels.

    QPU general president Ian Leavers said there was plenty of evidence that selling liquor until sunrise was taking a high toll on Queensland’s youth.
    http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0,23739,26266106-952,00.html?referrer=email&source=CM_email_nl