Alcohol
Ethyl alcohol (ethanol) is consumed in vast
quantities all over the world, indicating just how pleasurable most people find
mild degrees of intoxication. There is little doubt that a meal without wine
doesn’t have the same warm glow that is so important to easing social tensions.
The problem comes when this goes too far; excessive intake impairs your health.
Short-term side-effects of drinking, such as
hangover, are said to depend on ‘impurities’, particularly the presence of
other alcohols such as iso-amyl alcohol, which are
known as congeners. Brandy contains the highest percentage of congeners and
this gives it its rich aromatic smell – enhanced by gently warming, which
increases vaporization of these secondary alcohols. Clinical ecologists
believe, however, that allergic reactions to foodstuffs contained in
intoxicating drinks such as yeast, wheat, corn, sugar and other ingredients are
also a major cause of the negative after-effects of drinking.
FOOD ALLERGY AND ALCOHOL
The great doyen of clinical ecology, Theron Randolph, likens alcoholic beverages to ‘jet
propelled food allergy’. Food allergics seem to
suffer far worse reactions to drink than the rest of the population; indeed,
for years I have regarded this as a fast rule-of-thumb criterion for food
allergy. Wheat, for example, may be tolerated in some forms by a
wheat-allergic, but when part of a small tot of whisky can put the patient in
bed!
All
alcoholic beverages contain yeast by definition. Also, there are many potential ‘additives’,
including sulphites and other antiseptics, letting
down agents in wine such as ethylene glycol (anti-freeze), asbestos, clay, seaweed, polyvinylpyrrolidine,
citric acid, tannic acid, fumaric acid, sorbates, arsenic and monosodium glutamate. This doesn’t
mean all drinks include these substances, of course; simply that they may.
The real trouble seems to comes
from the foodstuffs themselves. For that reason I have reproduced Theron Randolph’s important table of ingredients for most
common alcoholic beverages (see figure below). Re-member, this is only a guide;
individual products vary greatly. This is meant to help you to know what to
look for.
Certain general observations will also help you make
the right choice. Beers and stouts are the worst tolerated of all. Dry cider and
dry white wine (including champagne), without contaminants, are the best
tolerated. Red wine is usually disastrous since it may contain a hundred times
the amount of histamine found n similar white wines. Spirits are surprisingly
well taken, but people vary.
Experiment for yourself and be honest about what you
find and the limitations this imposes on you.