USDA Guidelines on Alcohol Consumption

via Join Together

A USDA advisory committee has proposed new Dietary Guidelines for Americans including substantial changes about alcohol that concern many public health and addiction experts.

The real-world effect of the proposed new alcohol guidelines would likely be to encourage greater daily drinking, discourage appropriate caution about using alcohol for health benefits, and open the door for the alcohol industry to misrepresent federal alcohol consumption guidelines to consumers. ...The USDA is inviting online public comments about the proposed guidelines, but you must act very soon -- the deadline is Thursday, July 15.

...Read our blog post and Dr. Tim Naimi's excellent commentary, then follow the links to submit your comments to the USDA. We've linked to some helpful talking points from Marin Institute in the blog post.

What do you think about the USDA alcohol consumption guidelines?

“Magic drink” just an illusion

Fox News reports that a French product, Outox, is claiming to reduce reduce drunkenness and hangovers. It sounds like a miracle for over-imbibers of the legal drinking age. Could this product really work?

A study by the Institute for Legal Medicine in Innsbruck, Austria, has found that that it doesn’t. The research shows that Outox might delay absorption of alcohol by the body, but cannot change the rate at which the body processes alcohol.

In other words, any alcohol that you put in your body stays in your body—regardless of any magic drink that you might wish could help.

To safely enjoy alcohol, and prevent over-intoxication and subsequent hangovers, adults over 21 should follow these tips offered by Party Smarter:

Plan - Where are you going? Who are you going with? How are you getting home?

Prepare - Eat, drink water, and make sure you take just enough money to have a good time. Leave the credit cards at home!

Pace – Limit how much you drink in a night.