Heavy Drinkers Lack Omega-3 Nutrient

[kebaldwin]

Heavy Drinkers Lack Omega-3 Nutrient

WEDNESDAY, July 25 (HealthDay News) -- Men who binge drink have lower levels of disease-fighting omega-3 fatty acids than their peers, a new study finds.

This lack of a key essential fatty acid suggests that men who drink alcohol heavily also make poor dietary choices and could benefit from more fish in their diet, the researchers reported in the August issue of Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research.

"Essential fatty acids (EFAs) are important building blocks of living cells, making up a substantial part of cell walls," Norman Salem Jr., chief of the Laboratory of Membrane Biochemistry & Biophysics at the U.S. National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, said in a prepared statement. "EFAs also have many biological functions, and a lack of them leads to loss of growth and development, infertility, and a host of physiological and biochemical abnormalities," he noted.

In the study, Salem's group pored over data comparing the EFA levels and alcohol intake of almost 4,200 adults. The data was collected as part of the U.S. National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey.

Results indicate that EFA consumption falls as drinking levels rise, particularly among men.

The polyunsaturated fatty acids omega-6 linoleic acid, also known as n-6 fats, and omega-3 linolenic acid, or n-3 fats, are the most important EFAs, according to J. Thomas Brenna, professor of human nutrition and of chemistry and chemical biology at Cornell University.

"The changes we found indicate that those who drink alcohol make food selections in such a way as to decrease foods with this important nutrient. The binge-drinking men have decreases in the longer chain n-3 fatty acids, the ones we typically get from eating fish, and so this suggests they eat less fish," Salem said.

Alcohol has lasting negative effects on the brain and also negatively affects the way the body uses fatty acids, according to Salem.

"The brain depends on a supply of omega-3," Salem said. "The brains of men consuming high levels of alcohol, particularly those who regularly binge drink, are further compromised by a low intake of EFA. In summary, for those who drink, especially binge drinkers or those who drink more than one drink per day on average: Make sure that you obtain your sources of n-3 fatty acids in the diet, that is, eat more fish."

Binge drinking is commonly defined as drinking five or more drinks in one setting, or drinking for the purpose of becoming intoxicated.

-- Madeline Vann

SOURCE: Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research, news release, July 24, 2007

http://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=82809

[cs_carver]

"The changes we found indicate that those who drink alcohol make food selections in such a way as to decrease foods with this important nutrient. The binge-drinking men have decreases in the longer chain n-3 fatty acids, the ones we typically get from eating fish, and so this suggests they eat less fish," Salem said.

Alcohol has lasting negative effects on the brain and also negatively affects the way the body uses fatty acids, according to Salem.

"The brain depends on a supply of omega-3," Salem said. "The brains of men consuming high levels of alcohol, particularly those who regularly binge drink, are further compromised by a low intake of EFA. In summary, for those who drink, especially binge drinkers or those who drink more than one drink per day on average: Make sure that you obtain your sources of n-3 fatty acids in the diet, that is, eat more fish."

Wow, KEB. You got me on this one. Must be because it's Saturday morning and I don't have my work-face on.

As if eating fish is the biggest problem binge drinkers face... or that the prison system is going to care about the finer points of alcoholic recovery when they get picked up for DUI / DWI.

Quit drinking first. Then worry about the nutrition. Nothing does damage like binge drinking, except maybe for smoking, but nobody ever got AIDS from one too many cigarettes.

[kebaldwin]

I think it is a two way street (catch-22?). If people were doing good things nutritionaly - then maybe they would not have as many, or as bad, of problems.

There are a lot of articles talking about the links between fish and proper nutrition and behavior:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/food/Story/0,,1924088,00.html

http://www.fabresearch.org/

Granted it will not work 100% of the time - the best you can hope for is 80% of the time.

What if:

1. "Health experts" cut out the low fat & vegetarian garbage they have been spewing and talked about low glycemic.

2. We educated the public on this new view - as well as the dangers of drugs, alcohol, and smoking - like we have educated people on drugs, alcohol and smoking in the past.

[cs_carver]

while there may be some statistical validity to the concept of reducing the consequences of heavy drinking 80% across a society, when one thinks of individual drinkers, it's really still a 100% fix. Don't drink.

there are very few long-term successes with the programs that attempt to teach "moderation," and the fact that the founder of the best-known ended up doing four years in prison on manslaughter charges (DWI) made it hard to publicly advocate.

People who have trouble when they drink, and who keep drinking, need to quit. Nutrition can make that a slightly easier journey, but they still need to quit.

[kebaldwin]

I agree that people that can not quit drinking (or drugs or smoking or eating high glycemic foods) or can not do so in moderation are the 20%. And these people need to go "cold turkey".

BTW - I consider myself in the 20% of high glycemic food addiction - which is why I choose to go "cold turkey".

I am very concerned about when I start eating carbs again. I would imagine my carb addication just like a smoker, drug user, or alcoholic would. The problem with our eating addiction is that at some point we have to go back to eating carbs in moderation. An alcoholic does not have to go back to drinking moderately, and a smoker go back to smoking moderately, and a drug user go back to using drugs only moderately.

But I digress.

I think they have shown that the best education programs and deterrent programs only work for 80% of the people.

My point is - to get these people to stop the bad habits is good. They will feel slightly better.

But if you take that one step further and get them to also practice proper nutrition - it (1) makes them feel a whole lot better (than just stopping the bad habit) and (2) takes their mind off of the bad habit and refocuses it on the good habit.

[method]

I wonder if its at all possible that Omega3s just get sucked out of the bodies of heavy drinkers, just like Vitamin C and Vitamin B12 get depleted extra fast when you drink, especially when one drinks heavily. Probably not but you never know.

[kebaldwin]

I wonder if its at all possible that Omega3s just get sucked out of the bodies of heavy drinkers, just like Vitamin C and Vitamin B12 get depleted extra fast when you drink, especially when one drinks heavily. Probably not but you never know.

I'm willing to do a study to try to find out. Meet me at the bar in 5 minutes. :-)

[PS Diva]

I think if you are consuming more of your calories in the form of alcoholic drinks there isn't a whole lot of room for the nutritious stuff. Now if they were thinking that the lack of omega 3s CAUSES the alcoholism, that would be really interesting! (That's what I thought the title implied, but the article didn't seem to indicate that at all.)

[Dodger]

Alcoholics lack many nutrients. Alcohol is similar to sugar in that all it provides is energy without the other nutrients needed to use the energy.

[dectra]

Alcohol also slows your metabolism, so that's another reason to go to the Gym instead of Moe's Bar and Grill. Not only do you get fatter, you get slower and a poisoned liver to boot.

Now if I can slip in a nice piece of fish into my meal plan each day, I'm that much closer to my goals

[donna916ga]

I have never known a fat alcoholic the ones I've know are always skinny. I always thought that men drink away their problems while women eat to cover our problems or disalusionment with life.

[oakdryad]

Alcoholics lack many nutrients. Alcohol is similar to sugar in that all it provides is energy without the other nutrients needed to use the energy.

Alcohol is more or less sugar, and is treated as a sort of preferential sugar by the body. And when people stop drinking, they often (not always, but often) compensate by eating much, much more sugar. Which doesn't help the nutrition problems either. Watch people at an AA meeting...generally they're eating cookies and drinking TONS of (heavily) sweetened coffee.

[PS Diva]

The alcoholic in my life is a fat woman. She doesn't watch what she is eating at all when she is drinking which is waaaay too often!

[MandalayVA]

Alcohol is more or less sugar, and is treated as a sort of preferential sugar by the body. And when people stop drinking, they often (not always, but often) compensate by eating much, much more sugar. Which doesn't help the nutrition problems either. Watch people at an AA meeting...generally they're eating cookies and drinking TONS of (heavily) sweetened coffee.

They're also smoking up a storm.

I remember a couple of years ago during the low-carb craze that Bacardi rum had a little ad in liquor stores noting that a rum and diet Coke had only 60 calories and no carbs. Yeah--maybe with one ounce of rum. My rum and diet cokes were more like 8-9 ounces of rum. I can speak from experience that if you eat low-carb but drink heavily you can maintain, but you can't lose weight. Also when you down as much as I did there's not a lot of room for anything else. :D

[oakdryad]

I remember a couple of years ago during the low-carb craze that Bacardi rum had a little ad in liquor stores noting that a rum and diet Coke had only 60 calories and no carbs. Yeah--maybe with one ounce of rum. My rum and diet cokes were more like 8-9 ounces of rum. I can speak from experience that if you eat low-carb but drink heavily you can maintain, but you can't lose weight. Also when you down as much as I did there's not a lot of room for anything else. :D

Ain't that the truth...there was that time that I played quarters with rum and Tab. :Puke: There wasn't much room for good nutrition back when I was drinking. Luckily, I found out how to stop.

Now I'm working on the concomitant sugar addiction (or maybe it was the underlying addiction all the time), and working on getting proper nutrition, including addressing the Omega-3/Omega-6 fatty acid ratio.

:lol: