Alcohol: More Dangerous Than Cocaine

Is alcohol worse than cocaine or marijuana? A recent study from England says that alcohol is worse than cocaine, marijuana, even heroin and LSD. But why?

The study published in the British medical journal, The Lancet, looked at the dangers to both the individual and to wider society and found that alcohol was the most dangerous substance.

The results fly in the face of long-held opinions about which drugs pose the greatest dangers, with the authors of the study claiming they demonstrate "the present drug classification systems have little relation to the evidence of harm."

The authors also agreed with the conclusions of previously published expert reports saying that aggressively targeting alcohol is both a valid and necessary public health procedure.

Heroin, crack cocaine and methamphetamine -- or crystal meth -- were found to be the most deadly. But when the wider social effects were factored in, alcohol was the most dangerous, followed by heroin and crack cocaine.

Substances were given a mark from zero to 100 based on certain criteria, with alcohol scoring 72 overall followed by 55 for heroin and 54 for crack.

While most people consider cocaine, LSD, marijuana and heroin drugs…most people and most governments unfortunately do not seem to consider alcohol to be a drug and that, in and of itself, may be the root of the problem.

Alcohol scored so high because it's so widely used and has devastating effects on the drinkers AND for those around them. Excessive drinking damages nearly all organ systems, and is also connected to higher death rates. It's also involved in a greater percentage of crime than most other drugs, including heroin. Perhaps it’s time, not only for ourselves but for our children too, to recognize that what we put in our bodies has consequences. A drug habit is a drug habit.

Habits

First, we create our habits and then our habits create us! As an example, we consume alcohol or tobacco and then, somewhere along the line, they start consuming us. A good habit disciplines our life while a bad habit jeopardizes us in many ways. Bad habits are hard to change. Good habits help people in the achievement of their goals. What habits do you have?

Be Aware: High Fructose Corn Syrup Danger

Two new studies have added more reason for concern that high-fructose corn syrup causes significantly more harm to the body than its sugar content would suggest.

In the first study, published in the 08/10 issue of the journal Pharmacology, Biochemistry and Behavior, researchers from Princeton University in New Jersey found that rats consuming high fructose corn syrup gained more weight and developed more risk factors for heart disease than rats consuming the same amount of sugar.

Every rat consuming high-fructose corn syrup became obese. In contrast, rats fed a high-fat diet did not become obese in all cases.

Another study, conducted by Duke University researchers, published in the 08/10 issue of the Journal of Hepatology, found that high-fructose corn syrup worsened the effects of a form of scarring of the liver known as non-alcoholic fatty liver disease.

The higher patients' fructose intake, the worse the scarring of their livers.

One of the researchers in this study stated, "we have identified an environmental risk factor that may contribute to the metabolic syndrome of insulin resistance and the complications of the metabolic syndrome, including liver injury."

Researchers have hypothesized that the negative effects come from the massive quantities in which high-fructose corn syrup is consumed -- BEWARE: high-fructose corn syrup is found in nearly all processed foods.

New Study: Vitamin C and Cancer

A study in the 08/10 issue of the journal Cancer Research supports Linus Pauling's claim that vitamin C has amazing healing and protective benefits. Vitamin C may put the brakes on the growth of cancer cells because tumors were less able to accumulate vitamin C when compared with normal healthy tissue and a lack of vitamin C allowed tumors to survive and grow more easily.

BL

Everyone knows the old bromide, "You are what you eat." And while I would use the word consume, the point is that with knowledge should come an increase in consciousness or at least an increase in awareness. With that new awareness, alterations in behavior should be self evident. If we know something is not good for us, we should avoid it and if we know something is good and would contribute to our health, we should embrace it and add it to our lifestyle!