According to researchers at Brigham Young University (BYU) in Provo, Utah, low social interaction twice as harmful as obesity and just as harmful as alcohol and smoking when it comes to longevity. The meta-analysis suggests that social ties have a very important but not widely recognized effect on health. Read more

The British drinking culture is costing U.K. double as much as it did five years ago, with the price tag of 2.7 billion pounds yearly for drink-related problems. Not only the cost of drink-related problems is on the rise, alcohol abuse death has doubled in 15 years, with 8758 deaths in 2006. The government is planning a launch public awareness campaigns, and raising the price for alcohol has also been under discussion. The current strain on the health care system is unacceptable, and UK is in need of an urgent change.

Just in time for the festive season, champagne is suggested as a heart healthy drink. By increasing the availability of nitric oxide, champagne can improve blood flow and thus decrease blood pressure, the researchers claim. The substance that produces this effect is polyphenols, the same substance that has given wine a heart-healthy rumour. Regardless of the positive effects, the suggested two glasses of champagne a day might have a detrimental effect on the body that can overshadow any potential positive effect. Moderate to heavy alcohol consumption (over three drinks a week), increases the risk of breast cancer reoccurrence according to another study. Until larger studies can backup the claim that heavy drinking (14 glasses of champagnea week) is beneficial for our health, alcohol should not be consumed on regular basis or in large quantities.

A new study reveals that the old wives tale is actually true. Congeners in dark liquor add taste and aroma to the liquor, but are also toxic and in the study gave the participants a more severe hangover. The content of congeners vary greatly, in both wine and beer.
Choosing wisely wont cure your hangover however, as the amount of alcohol consumed and tolerance level is usually what results in that unwell feeling the morning after.

While we all should know by now that smoking increases the risk of mouth cancer, by nine times, dental researchers say now that alcohol containing mouthwashes can also cause harm.
They claim that drinking alcohol and the use of mouthwash containing more than 20% alcohol increases the risk of oral cancer almost as much as smoking. A closer look at review literature (comparison of studies in that field), gave me no supporting evidence. Abuse of alcohol combined with smoking can enhance cancer risk, but ethanol itself is not carcinogenic (cancer-causing). There is no evidence that mouthwashes with alcohol increases cancer risk. Alcoholic beverages and smoking both increases cancer risk, both cancer of the mouth and other cancer types.

BBC news reports that the UK survey, YouGov survey, where 2,421 people participated, shows that many believe exercising can make up for a night of heavy drinking. But the fact is that exercise cant undo the damage of drinking, and it is worrying that people still haven’t understood the extent of alcohol damage. In UK 73% of men and 58% of women drink at least an alcohol drink a week, with 34 and 20% drinking more.
24% of men and 13% of women consume more than 21 and 14 units a week.

Today the FDA contacted nearly 30 manufacturers questioning the safety and legality of the caffeinated drinks. According to the law something that is added to food is considered unsafe unless approved by the FDA. Caffeine is actually not (yet) approved by the FDA and recent headlines such as the article I wrote at the beginning of this month, have highlighted the problems with the energy drinks.
I am curious to see what the results are going to be, but my guess is that the drinks will not be banned, but will maybe undergo heavy regulation. I am even more curious to see whether the Swedish government will pick up on this.
My suggestions are as following:
• There should be a 15 year age limit on drinks containing more than 20mg/dl of caffeine. This means that weak coffee, dark eat, green tea and coca cola makes the cut, but that Red bull, monster Dark dog and Battery would have to find a new target group.
• Restrictions on sponsoring of events that largely consists of underage participants and audience, and use of social networking sites to promote age-restricted drinks.
• There is also a great need for studies on the effect of energy drinks, and in particular ingredients such as taurine and glukuronolakton.
• Caffeinated drinks should never be mixed with alcohol, and premixes’ should undergo heavy restrictions.

The month long discussion on energydrinks and youngsters has again made headlines. A young man was rushed to the hospital after experiencing chestpains and heart palpitations. He had started the day with a cigarette and a energydrink. While its is interesting to see that the underaged smoking is ignored, the school is wondering now if energy drinks should be banned.
In 2006 a medical magazine discussed cases of death thought to be caused consumption of energydrinks, often mixed with alchohol. So far there has been little research on the effects of energy drinks, and there is a need for large randomized studies. Taurine, an aminoacid often used in energy drinks, is believed to be potentially dangerous in large amounts, although there is no evidence to back that up with, yet. While in Sweden the discussion has been whether the ingredients are suitable for kids/ youngsters or not, the international debate has been regarding the marketing of energy drinks. Energy drinks has been marketed to youngster at a higher degree according to Marylandinstitute energy drink report.
The question is wheter to put restricitions on marketing or an age limit on the energy drinks? Whilst old-type marketing of prudukts was through tv, radio and magazines, energy drinks are now marketing at “grassroot level” to get to the younger generation. This is done by sponsoring events, using mysoace, facebook and other socializing programs, textmessaging and creating a one-on-one relationship with the target group. The websites are also directly targeting a younger group, with slogans such as:”can you take the heat?”- Burn and “Unleash the monster”- Monster. While some of them do set a recommended age such as Monster that set the low agelimit of 11 years, while some drinks seem to mock age limits by comments such as “Caffeine 80 mg, not for babies”. This remark seems to ‘dare’ somebody into drinking the energy drink. Red bull claims to give you wings, and they do a large amount of sponsored events. Dark dog, “dark dog is good for you”, market their drink on their website with stunning girls in very skimpy outfits.
Marketing has so far not been affected by the new discussions, but some stores have already imposed their own age limits. All seven elevens and “Pressbyrån” have 15 year age limit, and a large grocery store (Maxi Ica Stormarknad i Borlänge ) has now 18 year age limit on sales of energy drinks.
The Food Agency has gone out and made a statement that energy drinks should not be used for rehydration. The marketing is however unrestricted- and the question remains whether to do something about that, or just forbid minors buying them.
Caffeine is a cardiac stimulant which the body adapts to very quickly, and so one will need more and more. I am worried that young minds are more affected by addictive drugs, and they are not able to see the consequences, and therefore I believe that a growing mind should not be using high dose caffeine drinks that can ultimately affect the heart in a negative way.
My suggestions are as following:
• There should be a 15 year age limit on drinks containing more than 20mg/dl of caffeine. This means that weak coffee, dark eat, green tea and coca cola makes the cut, but that Red bull, monster Dark dog and Battery would have to find a new target group.
• Restrictions on sponsoring of events that largely consists of underage participants and audience, and use of social networking sites to promote age-restricted drinks.
• There is also a great need for studies on the effect of energy drinks, and in particular ingredients such as taurine and glukuronolakton.
• Caffeinated drinks should never be mixed with alcohol, and premixes’ should undergo heavy restrictions.