1st Homebrew Store In Singapore

-	Call a cab
-	Catch a ride with a friend who hasn't been drinking
-	Call home and have a sober family member come and get you
-	Stay overnight
-	Better still, ensure that the designated driver for your group agrees ahead of time, not to drink on that occasion, so that he can drive your group home safely when the party ends.

Courtesy from Health Promotion Board

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How does alcohol affect our ability to drive? What is the legal limit of alcohol in the blood?

Alcohol impairs good judgment and dulls alertness. It results in a lack of muscle co-ordination and double vision in one's eyesight. Alcohol slows down reaction time. In Singapore, the legal limit of alcohol in the blood is 80mg of alcohol per 100ml of blood. In general, for a 60-70 kg person, about 1 ½ large bottle of beer (which is about 1000ml) consumed over half an hour can give rise to a blood alcohol concentration of 80mg of ethanol per 100ml of blood.
Courtesy from Health Promotion Board

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Sensible beer drinking is healthy

One 25 cl glass of beer is better than none. Two are even better, but more than three is ill advised.
Beer is not unhealthy. On the contrary, if drunk moderately it acts against the occurrence of heart and circulatory diseases, possibly plays a protective role against some forms of cancer, and reduces the general level of mortality. This has been shown by various scientific studies, the main ones of which you will find in this document.
That sensible beer drinking is also good for the soul does not need any scientific confirmation.

Beer also provides a number of important nutrients, including carbohydrates, amino acids, minerals and vitamins. It is not without reason that beer is called liquid bread. Beer does not make you fat either: 1 litre of lager contains fewer calories than the same quantity of wine or soft drink.

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Moderate beer drinking is good for the heart and blood vessels

In comparison to non-drinkers and heavy drinkers, moderate beer drinking reduces the risk of heart and circulatory diseases, and death due to heart and circulatory diseases. This has been demonstrated in dozens of studies that hundreds of thousands of people participated in.

This protective effect is very probably an effect of the alcohol itself because it is also found among wine drinkers and spirits drinkers. Whether this protective effect is more pronounced in the one drink or the other is difficult to say.
A number of studies have indeed made a distinction between the type of alcohol consumption - beer, wine or spirits - and the risk of heart and circulatory diseases. In general it can be said that the risk seems to be reduced just as much with the three types of alcoholic drink. It is not the type of drink, but the alcohol that provides the protective effect. The influence of other non-alcoholic drinks on heart and circulatory diseases is not yet clear on the other hand.

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Beer reduces the risk of cancer

Hops, the component of beer that gives it its bitter flavour, contain flavanoids, which belong to phyto-oestrogens. Phyto-oestrogens are biologically active substances of a vegetable origin that imitate the action of the female hormone oestrogen. Many kinds of favourable effects are attributed to phyto-oestrogens. Thus a diet rich in phyto-oestrogens protects against heart and circulatory diseases and cancer, and a high intake of these substances moderates menopausal complaints in older women.
These effects have been scientifically studied on a wide basis. Breast cancer occurs significantly less frequently in women with a diet rich in phyto-oestrogens (1) and the risk of cervical cancer is lower in women whose diet contains a lot of fibre and soya (2). Soya is rich in phyto-oestrogens. In population groups where a lot of soya is eaten, fewer men have prostate cancer (3).
The best known source of phyto-oestrogens is soya but hops are also rich in phyto-oestrogens. As hops are an important component in beer, the question arises as to whether beer drinkers also benefit from the favourable effects of phyto-oestrogens on health. Scientists are ready for a new challenge here. Studies are underway to examine whether beer reduces the risk of certain cancers as a result of the phyto-oestrogens.

References
(1)Case-control study of phyto-oestrogens and breast cancer. Ingram D. et al. Lancet 1997;350:990-994.
(2)Association of soy and fiber consumption with the risk of endometrial cancer. Goodman MT et al. Am. J. Epidemiol. 1997;146:294-306.
(3)Phyto-oestrogens and prostate cancer: possible preventive role. Stephens FO et al; Med. J. Aust. 1997;167:138-140.

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Beer, the remedy for all sorts of ailments

In Babylon and Egypt, long considered as the birthplace of beer, the drink was offered to the gods and was mainly used by kings and at important festivals. The Egyptians also attributed a therapeutic effect to beer, and women of the upper classes used it for cosmetic purposes, ie. to freshen their skin and reduce the risk of certain skin conditions.

In ancient Greece Hippocrates used beer as a remedy to facilitate diuresis and the drink was also considered to act against fever. Alcohol was also used at this time to heal wounds. Aretus of Capadocia recommended it for diabetes and migraine.

In the Middle Ages beer was used as a stimulant to improve mood. Appetite generating and calming properties were attributed to the hop, a component of beer. Up until a hundred years ago, hop-filled cushions were recommended for sleeping disorders.

In the beginning of this century, the harmful consequences of alcohol abuse came to light, and medicine adopted a sceptical attitude towards alcoholic drinks, including beer. The emergence of powerful medicines further pushed out the use of alcohol as a remedy. It is only in the last few years that there has been renewed interest for the beneficial effect of alcohol on health.

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Nutritional aspects of beer

For a large section of the Belgian population, beer is a not unimportant component of the diet. The alcohol in beer provides calories and influences the consumption of other nutrients.

Soft drinks contain twice as many calories as lager.

The energy value of alcohol is 7 kcal/g. Four 25 cl glasses of lager (around 40 g of alcohol) provide as many calories as 70 g of sugar. Four glasses of a soft drink, coke for example, contain as many calories as 132 g of sugar. This is around twice as much as four glasses of lager. But there is something special about the energy value of alcohol.
When alongside the basic intake of 2,200 kcal/day, a further 2000 kcal are added in the form of beer, then this person will not get as fat as if he had consumed the 2000 extra calories in the form of chocolate. This has been found experimentally, but there is currently no explanation for it. Presumably alcohol is broken down less efficiently than sugar. Moderate beer drinkers thus do not need to worry about getting fat straightaway.

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Is there such a thing as a beer belly?

Alcohol contains 7 kilocalories per gramme. Forty grammes of alcohol (which corresponds to four 25 cl glasses of lager) contains as many calories as 70 g of sugar. As a comparison, four glasses of soft drink (eg. coke) contain as many calories as 132 g of sugar, which is twice as many as four glasses of lager. Beers with a higher alcohol content contain more calories. Wines and spirits contain more calories than beer. Drinking beer in moderate quantities will not necessarily mean putting on weight, which has been confirmed in recent research on beer consumption and obesity. In a group of people who had drunk beer over the previous year there were fewer obese people (> 30 kg/m2) than in the group that had not drunk any beer at all. After correcting for all co-factors (such as smoking, age, sex, etc) it was found that beer consumption does not increase the amount of obesity. The data will be looked at later in this chapter.
An isocalorific diet means that the excessive drinker leaves out other (frequently essential) components of food and opts for a more “consistent” diet.

The idea that beer makes people fat probably has its origins in the lifestyle and eating habits that are often coupled with beer drinking. Drinking beer increases the appetite and alcohol also relaxes control over our eating behaviour. Heavy beer drinkers generally go for fatty calorific food (snacks, chips, sausages, nuts, etc) and generally do little exercise. Research has also shown that the bodies of people who drink a lot of beer burn less fat. The body is probably inclined to burn the alcohol first. The excess fat has to go somewhere and is accumulated above the abdominal muscles. The result is well known.

The so-called beer belly is thus not a direct effect of high beer consumption, but rather the unhealthy diet and lifestyle coupled with it, in combination with reduced fat combustion by the body. It is thus better to have beer as a component of the diet rather than a stimulant consumed separately from meals (beer already has this image).

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