Heavy Drinkers Still Can’t Hold Their Liquor

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2 years ago

June 22, 2023

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Share on Pinterest People who drink an excessive number of drinks will be impaired, even if they are heavy drinkers. Narcisa Palici / 500px/Getty ImagesA new study found that when people with alcohol-use disorder consumed the equivalent of seven to eight drinks they showed impairment on fine motor and cognitive tasks.This impairment was more than double what they experienced after consuming the smaller intoxicating amount of alcohol. Heavy drinkers and people with AUD both reported feeling less impaired than the light drinkers. Tolerance also does not reduce the damage that can be caused by alcohol, experts say.

While under some conditions, heavy drinkers may be better at holding their liquor, this is only true up to a certain level of alcohol intake, say researchers from the University of Chicago.

In a study published June 18 in Alcohol: Clinical and Experimental Research, they tested the effects of alcohol consumption on young adults with different patterns of alcohol use light and heavy social drinkers, and those with alcohol use disorder (or AUD, previously known as alcoholism). Differences between heavy and light drinkers

Researchers found that heavy drinkers and those with AUD showed less overall impairment on fine motor and cognitive tasks after consuming the equivalent of four to five drinks, compared to light drinkers.

This amount of alcohol is sufficient to produce a blood alcohol content (BAC) of 0.08-0.09%, the lower limit in the United States for drunk driving.

However, when people with AUD consumed the equivalent of seven to eight drinks which researchers say is more in line with their usual drinking habits, and produces a BAC of around 0.13% they showed impairment on both of those tasks.

In fact, this impairment was more than double what they experienced after consuming the smaller intoxicating amount of alcohol. Three hours after drinking, their performance on these tasks still hadnt returned to their baseline level.

In addition, people with AUD had greater impairment after consuming the larger amount of alcohol than what light drinkers experienced after drinking the lesser amount.

Theres a lot of thinking that when experienced drinkers (those with AUD) consume alcohol, they are tolerant to its impairing effects, study author Andrea King, PhD, a professor of psychiatry and behavioral neuroscience at the University of Chicago, said in a news release.

[Our study] supported that a bit, but with a lot of nuances, she added. When [young people with AUD] drank alcohol in our study at a dose similar to their usual drinking pattern, we saw significant impairments on both the fine motor and cognitive tests that was even more impairment than a light drinker gets at the intoxicating dose. Health effects of alcohol

Dr. Lawrence Weinstein, chief medical officer of American Addiction Centers, who was not involved in the new research, said the study highlights that technically, no one can handle their liquor.

There may be a marked difference in the amount of alcohol at which someone becomes intoxicated, which is a worrying issue in itself, but ethanol, acetaldehyde and other metabolites are toxicants that will affect anyone who consumes alcohol despite the tolerance theyve developed, he told Healthline.

Tolerance also does not reduce the damage that can be caused by alcohol, he said, adding: It is illogical to believe that one would remain unaffected by regular consumption [of alcohol].

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 140,000 people die from excessive alcohol use in the United States each year, making it the fourth-leading preventable cause of death in the country.

In addition, almost 30% of U.S. traffic fatalities in 2019 involved alcohol-impaired driving, reports the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

Over the long term, excessive alcohol use can increase the risk of high blood pressure, heart disease, stroke, liver disease, certain types of cancer and other health problems.

[Alcohol is] costly to our society for so many reasons, said King in the release. Im hoping we can educate people who are experienced high-intensity drinkers who think that theyre holding their liquor or that theyre tolerant and wont experience accidents or injury from drinking. Different drinking patterns

In the new study, researchers enrolled almost 400 young people, most in their 20s, with different drinking patterns:light drinkers: consumed six or fewer drinks per week, with few binge drinking episodesheavy drinkers: consumed at least 10 drinks per week, with one to five heavy drinking episodes during that timedrinkers with AUD: consumed 28 or more drinks per week (21 or more for women), with at least 11 heavy drinking episodes per month; they also had to meet two or more clinical criteria for AUD

Binge drinking means consuming five or more drinks within about two hours for men, and four or more drinks for women.

Participants underwent two rounds of testing, one after consuming a high alcohol dose (the equivalent of four to five drinks) and the other after consuming a placebo drink containing only 1% alcohol (to create a similar taste). Both contained a flavored drink mix.

Researchers told participants they would receive a drink containing alcohol, a stimulant, a sedative or a placebo. This was to reduce the effect that peoples expectations might have on the results.

Participants consumed each drink over a 15-minute period.

Before drinking the beverage, and 30, 60, 120 and 180 minutes after drinking, participants took a breathalyzer and completed two performance tasks.

One task involved inserting a grooved metal peg into randomly slotted holes; this measured fine motor skills. The other was a pencil-and-paper task designed to test cognitive skills.

At the 30- and 180-minute intervals, participants also reported how impaired they felt. Impacts of higher alcohol intake

Heavy drinkers and people with AUD both reported feeling less impaired than the light drinkers.

In addition, these two groups showed less overall alcohol impairment on the fine motor and cognitive tests; although all groups had similar impairment on the fine motor test at the 30-minute interval.

The performance of heavy drinkers and people with AUD returned to baseline more quickly than that of light drinkers, suggesting they may have greater alcohol tolerance.

However, people with AUD often drink more than four or five drinks in a session. So researchers asked a subset of participants with AUD to repeat the tasks after consuming the equivalent of seven to eight drinks.

At this dose, they had more than double the impairment they experienced at the lower intoxicating dose. Their performance also did not return to baseline during the testing, even after three hours.

They also experienced greater impairment from that higher dose than light drinkers did after the lower intoxicating dose.

I was surprised at how much impairment that group had to that larger dose, because while its 50% more [alcohol] than the first dose, were seeing more than double the impairment, King said in the release.

UK

PM warns of ‘era of radical uncertainty’ – and says UK will increase defence spending

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2 hours ago

June 24, 2025

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PM warns of 'era of radical uncertainty' - and says UK will increase defence spending

Sir Keir Starmer said the UK is set to increase spending on defence, security and resilience to 5% of GDP by 2035 to meet an “era of radical uncertainty” – but without promising any additional cash.

The move – part of a new spending pledge by the NATO alliance – was panned as deceptive “smoke and mirrors” by critics, who pointed to the very real risk of escalating conflict between Iran, the US and Israel, as well as Russia’s full-scale war in Ukraine.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy told Sky News the timeline for the increase was “very slow” and warned Russia could attack a NATO country within five years.

“In my view, this is slow because we believe that starting from 2030, Putin can have significantly greater capabilities,” he told chief presenter Mark Austin.

The prime minister, Donald Trump and the other leaders of NATO’s 32 member states are expected to approve the investment goal when they meet at a summit in The Hague, which opens later today.

It replaces a previous target to spend 2% of GDP purely on defence.

The announcement will be celebrated as a win for the US president, who has been demanding his allies spend more on their own defences instead of relying on American firepower.

Overnight, he claimed to have secured another success, declaring that Iran and Israel have agreed to a ceasefire – just hours after Iran launched missiles against two American military bases in retaliation to a US decision to attack three Iranian nuclear sites over the weekend.

Perhaps it will mean he will switch attention back to achieving a goal to end Russia’s war in Ukraine, which will be another key focus of the gathering in the Dutch capital.

NATO planners have crunched the summit down to a short main session tomorrow, with a final communique much briefer than usual – all steps designed to reduce the chance of the US president leaving early.

He is already scheduled to arrive late and last this evening, provided he turns up.

There is huge nervousness about Mr Trump’s commitment to an alliance that has been the bedrock of European security since it was founded more than 75 years ago.

He is not a fan though, and has previously accused Europe and Canada of an overreliance on American firepower for their own security, calling for them to do more to defend themselves.

This pressure has arguably been a bigger motivator in prompting certain allies to agree to spend more on their militaries than the threat they say is posed by Russia, Iran, China and North Korea.

Spain’s position could create friction this week. The Spanish prime minister, while agreeing to the new investment goal, has said his country is not obliged to meet it.

The UK was also slow to say yes – a stance that was at odds with a defence review endorsed by Sir Keir that was centred around a “NATO-first” policy.

As well as agreeing to the defence and security investment goal, the British government is also publishing a new national security strategy on Tuesday that will highlight the importance of a wider definition of what constitutes security, including energy, food and borders.

There will also be a focus on a whole-of-society approach to resilience in an echo of the UK’s Cold War past.

It described the commitment to invest in defence, security and national resilience as an aligning of “national security objectives and plans for economic growth in a way not seen since 1945”.

Sir Keir said: “We must navigate this era of radical uncertainty with agility, speed and a clear-eyed sense of the national interest to deliver security for working people and keep them safe.

“That’s why I have made the commitment to spend 5% of GDP on national security. This is an opportunity to deepen our commitment to NATO and drive greater investment in the nation’s wider security and resilience.”

The funding will be split, with 3.5% of GDP going on core defence and 1.5% on homeland security and national resilience – a new and so far less clearly defined criteria.

Progress on investment will be reviewed in 2029.

The defence goal is higher than the government’s current ambition to lift defence expenditure to 3% of GDP by 2034, from 2.3% currently.

The only solid commitment is to spend 2.6% on defence by 2027 – a figure that has been boosted by the addition of the whole of the budget for the intelligence agencies.

This level of intelligence spending had not previously been included and has drawn criticism from defence experts because it is not the same as tanks, artillery and troops.

The government, in its statement, is now focusing on an even higher-sounding number, claiming that it will hit 4.1% of the new NATO target by 2027.

However, this is merely based on adding the new 1.5% spending goal for “resilience and security” to the already stated 2.6% defence spending pledge.

A Downing Street spokesperson was unable immediately to say how much of GDP is currently spent on whatever is included in the new resilience category.

It could include pre-announced investment in civil nuclear energy as well as infrastructure projects such as roads and railways.

For the UK, 1.5% of GDP is about £40bn – a significant chunk of national income.

Sir Ben Wallace, a former Conservative defence secretary, accused the government of “spin” over its spending pledge because it does not include any new money anytime soon.

“The threat to our country is real not spin,” he told Sky News.

“This government thinks it can use smoke and mirrors to deceive the public and Donald Trump. This is an insult to our troops who will see no significant new money. It fools no one.”

Politics

Japan proposes reclassifying crypto, paving way for ETFs and lower taxes

Published

2 hours ago

June 24, 2025

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Japan proposes reclassifying crypto, paving way for ETFs and lower taxes

Japan’s FSA proposes classifying crypto as financial products, paving the way for ETFs and a flat 20% capital gains tax.

Science

Axiom Mission 4 Faces Delay Again; NASA Reschedules Launch for June 25

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2 hours ago

June 24, 2025

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Axiom Mission 4 Faces Delay Again; NASA Reschedules Launch for June 25

NASA, the US Space agency, have just announced the delay of the Axiom Mission 4 because of operational issues and concerns. It was scheduled to be launched on June 22, 2025; however, there is a delay again. SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon are at the launchpad stage at Kennedy Space Centre in Florida. This mission is going to be India, Poland and Hungary’s first government-sponsored flight in 40 years and also the second human flight of the three countries in the past.

Crew Members

As per ISRO, Peggy Whitson, Pilot Shubhanshu Shukla, and Sławosz Uznański-Wiśniewski and Tibor Kamu, the mission specialists and crew of the Commander, are set to be in quarantine in Florida, where the launch date is finalised. The crew will spend up to 14 days on the International Space Station and perform scientific experiments.

Mission Delays

This mission is going to be the first time for India in 40 years that an Indian is going to space after Rakesh Sharma. Shubhanshu Shukla is going to be the first man to step onto the ISS. There have been seven delays till now. The first launch was scheduled on May 29, but was delayed to June 8 because of the electrical harness observations. This date was later transferred to June 9. Then there occurred a delay due to weather till June 10.

After June 10, the delay occurred till June 11 because of the oxygen leak in the engine, which was anticipated by ISRO. This date again got delayed because NASA announced work with the Russian Space Agency and was evaluating a new pressure signature. The launch was scheduled on June 19, where the discussion regarding weather and health of the crew took place, and the date was again shifted to June 22.

Final Date

NASA has found a new and final date for the launch of the Axiom 4 mission. All three nations are excited, and the new date of launch is expected to arrive on June 25, 2025, at 12:01 PM IST as per a post announced on X by ISS.