Cheers: Happy and Healthy 2020

Cheers: Happy and Healthy 2020

Dr KK Aggarwal

President CMAAO ands Past National President IMA

Beware of Alcoholic Drinks during New Year

Cheers but just because there are few studies indicating that moderate alcohol consumption is good for heart it should not be a reason for nondrinkers to start drinking. You can do cheers that with a non-alcoholic drink to.

Indulging into alcohol for the first time is common during New Year's Eve. Once started it invariably leads to a habit. Along with that, during New Year people also indulge into smoking and drugs as experimentation.

Consuming six drinks in one sitting in men (180 ml of 80 proof whisky) and in women (90 ml of 80 proof whisky) is considered health hazard and can precipitate dangerous rise in blood pressure, uncontrolled diabetes leading to sudden cardiac death in susceptible individuals.

For those who drink, the safest limit of alcohol is 6 gm per day. However, the current recommendation is, in the absence of contraindication, is that one can take 10 gm of alcohol in one hour, 20 gm in a day and 80 gm in a week.

10 gm of alcohol is present in 30 ml of whisky, 50 ml of wine and one bottle of beer. One peg lasts in the body for one hour, therefore, it is safe to drive only one hour after taking a peg. The rough formula is number of pegs taken should be equal to number of hours after which a person can drive. Alcohol and smoking together is more harmful.

Women should beware of rape date drugs which can be given to them in the drinks. Nobody should take any drinks offered by strangers. Date rape drugs are odorless and colorless drugs which if added to drinks can cause a state of mind where the person cooperates for everything but develops complete amnesia after the effect of the drug has gone for the period the person was drunk.