Technically, any liquid intended for drinking is a beverage so named by a word derived from French and Latin verbs meaning ‘to drink.’ Healthy beverages are beverages with health benefits that attribute by its nutritional value. The use of healthy beverage for promoting health and relieving symptom is as old as the practice of medicine.

Sunday, October 08, 2006

Alcoholic beverages

The production and consumption of alcoholic beverages is one of man’s oldest activity.

Today brewing, wine making and distilling are of major commercial importance in many non Islamic countries and through taxation, can be importance source of government revenue.

And at the same time it must be recognized that excess consumption of alcohol leads to serious social and medical problems for individual as well as loss to national economy through loss of productivity, cost of medical treatment, etc.

The word alcohol is the any form of hydroxyl compounds and is the simplest derivatives of the saturated hydrocarbons of CnH2n+1OH general formula, including ethanol and methanol.

Grain alcohol or Ethanol and wood alcohol or methanol is the best alcohols containing only one hydroxyl group.

Alcohols normally have smell that dangles in nasal passages and the alcoholic beverages are consuming by the humans which is ethanol form. Man is consuming alcoholic beverages for different hygienic, religious, dietary, medicinal, and recreational purposes.

Alcohol consumption is beneficial if taken in little amount and in proper time but if people starts consuming it frequently and becoming addiction is very harmful to health.

Intoxication or addiction on alcoholic beverages lead to acute respiratory malfunction or death as well as chronic utilization has medical consequences. Other alcoholic beverages produce more toxics and require longer duration in metabolizing in the body.

The worst effect of alcoholic beverages is in case of the wood alcohol or methanol which can be oxidized by an enzyme in the live called alcohol dehydrogenase enzymes forming poisonous formaldehyde resulting to blindness or fatality.

Administration of ethanol is the only solution to prevent and treat formaldehyde toxicity on methanol consumption but all people are not aware of the fact. Ethanol acts as substrate preventing methanol from binding to alcohol dehydrogenase.

Alcohol is usually taken in social occasions like a party or meal and in such occasions people mix with some amount of water to avoid overindulging.

At the same time people undergoing weight loss treat must refrain from consuming alcoholic beverages as it contains a soaring concentration of detrimental sugars and bare calories and alcohol consumption generally drives to compromise ones habits, that might disturbed the control over certain foods. Therefore the alcoholic beverage consumers must always try to stick on self control and restraint from over consumption.

The alcohol content of a beverage is designated by proof. Proof is used primarily for distilled spirits and is equal to twice the percentage of alcohol by volume.

Accordingly, a beverage that is 43% alcohol by volume is 86%.
Alcoholic beverages

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