Drink?: The New Science of Alcohol and Your Health

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And to consult and lobby government to adopt more rational drug and alcohol policies based on evidence of individual and social harm.

Drink?: The New Science of Alcohol and Your Health

I would have loved more commentary on the social aspect of drinking, or more on the molecular effects in the brain, or more of how ethanol is involved in the brewing or fermenting processes. It is not uncommon to pick up a non-fiction book and notice that from the first chapter the author has a motive, especially in a book that speaks on drugs or substance abuse. First, for people who may not have crossed an "invisible line," not recommending Moderation Management or HAMS (or whatever there is in the UK) is not good. Nutt walks the line perfectly in his critique of alcohol while also speaking of the cultural benefits and minor protective benefits as well. Mixing factual and anecdotal evidence, Nutt discusses the UK response to alcohol, and the struggles he faced whilst attempting to advise the government on alcohol policy.David Nutt is Professor of Neuropsychopharmacology and director of the Neuropsychopharmacology Unit in the Division of Brain Sciences at Imperial College, London. Nutt identifies alcohol as one of the most, if not the most harmful drug (legal or illegal) in common use. My continuing trend of reading health, brain/body, or psych types book lead me to this one, which outlines the relationship of alcohol to an individual.

Drink? : The New Science of Alcohol and Health - Google Books

Nutt is a Neuropsychopharmacologist as well as a owner of a wine bar and uses that background to comment on alcohol. Yet, the 9 billion pounds spent by the UK’s National Health Services and police force on alcohol-related incidents per year are barely discussed. From denying its classification as a drug to allowing alcohol companies to make up 50% of alcohol advisory boards, politicians’ response to drinking is surprising, especially given the burdens it places on our national services. I've been reading about the dangers of alcohol multiple times, so this didn't really offer anything new.Without judgement, Nutt discusses alcohol’s negative impacts such as increased violence and addiction as well as less acknowledged problems like the mental health issues that are often caused, or at the very least intertwined, with alcohol abuse. He also lecturers widely to the public as well as to the scientific and medical communities; he has presented three time at the Cheltenham Science Festival and several times for Café Scientifiques. For example, in number 2 he describes beta blockers and ends that paragraph with, "Whether they do more than that, I'm not sure. He is the chairman of Drug Science, a non-profit which he founded in 2010 to provide independent, evidence-based information on drugs.

Drink? : The New Science of Alcohol and Your Health

However, the evidence is pretty damning, even though alcohol is associated with blue zone diets and minor improvements in cardiovascular health drinking any amount of alcohol has more negative effects than positive. Long chapters about different ways to talk about alcohol use, just very clumsy kitchen psychology and mundane. This is the first book I have read that comes from a purely balanced and scientific perspective, backed up with plenty of evidence. You are less likely to know what you're taking when you're drunk, and you don't know how it will mix.Granted, one might never read the "why" section if they get through the "how" section, since the self-help portion is the reason one would obtain the book in the first place. Of course people do understand at the extreme of becoming an alcoholic, but short of that, what's the big deal?