Ho ho hold back … why you should go easy on the festive cheer this year

Christmas without a drink is a more or less unthinkable, but excess is a real danger. So how much alcohol is safe? And can it ever be good for you?

Can you imagine a Dry December? The very thought of getting through the grim, grey days, manic bouts of shopping and emotional overload of the festive holidays without a drop of alcohol is surely unbearable for many. So, is there any such thing as safe drinking? Can we ensure we don’t slide into addiction? And is it true that it is actually bad to be teetotal?

I love a drink but don’t want to end up addicted. What do you suggest?
The only way to avoid being dependent on alcohol is not to drink at all, says David Nutt, professor of neuropsychopharmacology at Imperial College London. “We talk about capture rate, the percentage of users who end up addicted to a substance. Tobacco is the most addictive, with a capture rate of about 40%, then heroin at 30%, crack cocaine about 25% and alcohol at 12%. But you can’t know if you’re going to be one of the 12% who is susceptible to becoming addicted to alcohol. And in the UK, 85% of adults drink alcohol, so that’s potentially around 4 million people who are at risk of addiction.”

Continue reading... December 11, 2017 at 11:30AM