After listening to Edward Slingerland’s audiobook, Drunk, and reviewing that a couple weeks ago, I was curious to learn more about the latest research on alcohol and health. David Nutt is on a mission to explain the most significant alcohol-related research findings from the last 50 years. What I enjoyed most about his pragmatic approach is that he explains the impact of ANY amount of alcohol consumption. This is about making informed decisions, not moral judgements. He clarifies the differences that various levels of alcohol consumption have on our mental health, sleep, hormones, fertility, and propensity toward addiction. However, the evidence is pretty damning, even though alcohol is associated with blue zone diets and minor improvements in cardiovascular health drinking any amount of alcohol has more negative effects than positive. But just how bad is alcohol? Well Nutt dives into the brain and bodily science to describe it's implications in over 200 diseases. Nutt evens names alcohol as the most damaging drug to society. I didn't realize that in the old days, beer and wine had much less alcohol in them than they do today (3-4% vs 5-8% today for beer). In middle ages I think it was even less, which is why people could drink it so often.

Drink? : The New Science of Alcohol and Your Health

I've been reading about the dangers of alcohol multiple times, so this didn't really offer anything new. Still: it had good stuff in it, here and there. And if you know nothing about the subject, maybe you can start with this. Finally this book finishes up with a section on how to identify if you or a loved one has a problem with alcohol and what tactics and tools you can use to beat addiction.The best part of the book is headed, "How to Talk to Your Children about Booze." I can easily see this portion of the book being used with PTO/PTA groups. It was logical and could be easily implemented as a workshop program to support children and teens from succumbing to peer pressure, social norms, and advertising. While I did learn some things throughout the book, I'm not sure that much else is new or particularly persuasive that could convince an alcoholic to change their behavior; they'd just now be able to tell you why they are doing what they do. French people lead the world in psoriasis and other alcohol related diseases before reforming their alcohol related laws to reduce drinking. I am particularly amused by the effects alcohol has on our sex hormones. Drinking appears to be something that in our society is part of the “lad culture”. Yet alcohol has been shown to reduce levels of testosterone whilst increasing levels of oestrogen. So much so that if you drink enough, a man can become feminised, developing male breasts, losing muscle mass and facial hair, and seeing reductions in sperm count. Alcohol makes a man less of a man, not more. The irony!

Drink?: The New Science of Alcohol and Your Health - Goodreads

I realize this has turned into more of a critique than a book review. You may just want to read the first three and last three of the following paragraphs if you want the short version of my review. Two days in a row of drinking is extremely bad for you as your body doesn't have time to recover and you don't sleep well, it's a downward spiral. Avoid this if at all possible, and go light the second day if you decide to drink. Drink? holds the key to all the questions you want (and need) to know the answers to, covering mental health, sleep, hormones, fertility and addiction. Present an unvarnished, spin free account of the scientific evidence regarding the health ramifications and social impact of alcohol consumption. Drinking has become your hobby or the only way you socialize. This often happens with retirees or expats."

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Nutt has spent a good part of his career attempting to educate the general public regarding drug and alcohol use. And to consult and lobby government to adopt more rational drug and alcohol policies based on evidence of individual and social harm. Provide a nonjudgmental willingness to assist the reader in minimizing harm if they decide to drink once informed. We all are aware of some the dangers of alcohol, from short-term ones such as alcohol poisoning to the longer term ones like liver cirrhosis. But we learn here about all the other impacts alcohol has too, from alcohol’s effects on our brain’s neurotransmitters, our hormones, mental health, cancer risks, sleep quality and quantity, other physical health effects, economics, politics, and more.

Drink?: The New Science of Alcohol and Health - Harvard Book

Nutt helps the reader self-assess the level you may be at, and gives tips and advice for how to limit your drinking, and how to talk to others about their drinking. He also discusses talking to your children about drinking. Tell them: Never mix drinking with drugs. You are less likely to know what you're taking when you're drunk, and you don't know how it will mix. This was very British. And felt extremely careful. Like the writer had in mind his audience of football hooligans. Maybe that was true.

It’s by far the most harmful food product in the grocery store. And that’s really saying something. Read the introduction; it contains some of the 'truths' about alcohol. "Marketing has altered our perception," "...its's absurd that coming of age should still be about alcohol," and "Would you take a new drug if you were told it would increase your risk of cancer, dementia, heart disease, or that it would shorten your life?" I think that some further information on counterfactual opportunity cost, based on time/money spent related to alcohol, could have been a helpful addition to this book, albeit difficult to acquire overly didactic data on such factors. Nutt identifies alcohol as one of the most, if not the most harmful drug (legal or illegal) in common use.