Fun Facts
Did you know that the human body produces its
own supply of alcohol naturally on a continous
basis, 24 hours a day, seven days a week? Did
you know that the world's oldest known recipe
is for beer?
Alcohol and Drinking Facts in States across the US
Enjoy these interesting facts about alcohol and drinking in
different states.
Alcohol Trivia
The word "toast," meaning a wish of good health, started in ancient
Rome, where a piece of toasted bread was dropped into wine.
Would You Believe...
Vikings used the skulls of their enemies as drinking vessels
It's The Law!
Anyone under the age of 21 who takes out household trash
containing even a single empty alcohol beverage container can be
charged with illegal possession of alcohol in Missouri.
Cavemen to Columbus
The early Church declared that alcohol was an inherently good gift
of God to be used and enjoyed. While individuals might choose not
to drink, to despise alcohol was heresy
Puritans to Prohibition
While there wasn't any cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, sweet
potatoes, or pumpkin pie to eat at the first Thanksgiving, there was
beer, brandy, gin, and wine to drink
Prohibition: The Noble Experiment
During Prohibition, temperance activists hired a scholar to rewrite
the Bible by removing all references to alcohol beverage.
Beverages: Ales to Zombies
Bourbon takes its name from Bourbon County in Kentucky, where
it was first produced in 1789 by a Baptist minister
Health and Safety
The alcohol in drinks of either low alcohol content (below 15%) or
high alcohol content (over 30%) tend to be absorbed into the body
more slowly.
Facts & Fiction
This page corrects common alcohol and drinking myths, with research based facts and
statistics.
Myth
Alcohol destroys brain cells.
Fact
The moderate consumption of alcohol does not destroy brain cells. In fact it is
often associated with improved cognitive (mental) functioning.
Myth
White wine is a good choice for a person who wants a light drink with less
alcohol.
Fact
Standard Drinks
Standard Drinks graphically illustrates information on the equivalence of standard
drinks of beer, wine and distilled spirits or liquor. Its accuracy has been
established by medical and other health professionals.
A glass of white or red wine, a bottle of beer, and a shot of whiskey or other
distilled spirits all contain equivalent amounts of alcohol and are they same to a
Breathalyzer. [see Alcohol Equivalence and visit Standard Drinks] A standard
drink is:
A 12-ounce bottle or can of regular beer
A 5-ounce glass of wine
A one and 1/2 ounce of 80 proof distilled spirits (either straight or in a
mixed drink). 2
Myth
A "beer belly" is caused by drinking beer.
Fact
A "beer belly" is caused by eating too much food. No beer or other alcohol
beverage is necessary
Myth
Switching between beer, wine and spirits will lead to intoxication more quickly
than sticking to one type of alcohol beverage.
Fact
The level of blood alcohol content (BAC) is what determines sobriety or
intoxication. Remember that a standard drink of beer, wine, or spirits contain
equivalent amounts of alcohol. Alcohol is alcohol and a drink is a drink.
Myth
Drinking coffee will help a drunk person sober up.
Fact
Only time can sober up a person...not black coffee, cold showers, exercise, or any
other common "cures." Alcohol leaves the body of virtually everyone at a
constant rate of about .015 percent of blood alcohol content (BAC) per hour.
Thus, a person with a BAC of .015 would be completely sober in an hour while a
person with a BAC of ten times that (.15) would require 10 hours to become
completely sober. This is true regardless of sex, age, weight, and similar factors.
Myth
Drinking long enough will cause a person to become alcoholic.
Fact
There is simply no scientific basis for this misperception, which appears to have
its origin in temperance and prohibitionist ideology
Myth
Drinking alcohol causes weight gain.
Fact
This is a very commonly believed myth, even among medical professionals,
because alcohol has caloric value. However, extensive research around the world
has found alcohol consumption be does not cause weight gain in men and is often
associated with a small weight loss in women.
Myth
Alcohol stunts the growth of children and retards their development.
Fact
Scientific medical research does not support this old temperance scare tactic
promoted by the Women's Christian Temperance Union, the Anti-Saloon League,
the Prohibition Party, and similar groups
Myth
Binge drinking is an epidemic problem on college campuses.
Fact
Binge drinking is clinically and commonly viewed as a period of extended
intoxication lasting at least several days during which time the binger drops out of
usual life activities. Few university students engage in such bingeing behavior.
However, a number sometimes consume at least four drinks in day (or at least five
for men). Although many of these young people may never even become
intoxicated, they are branded as binge drinkers by some researchers. This practice
deceptively inflates the number of apparent binge drinkers. In reality, the
proportion of college students who drink continues to decline, as does the
percentage of those who drink heavily.
Myth
Men and women of the same height and weight can drink the same.
Fact
Women are affected more rapidly because they tend to have a slightly higher
proportion of fat to lean muscle tissue, thus concentrating alcohol a little more
easily in their lower percentage of body water. They also have less of an enzyme
(dehydrogenase) that metabolizes or breaks down alcohol, 9 and hormonal
changes during their menstrual cycle might also affect alcohol absorption to some
degree
Myth
A single sip of alcohol by a pregnant woman can cause her child to have fetal
alcohol syndrome (FAS).
Fact
Extensive medical research studying hundreds of thousands of women from
around the world fails to find scientific evidence that light drinking, much less a
sip of alcohol by an expectant mother, can cause fetal alcohol syndrome. Of
course, the very safest choice would be to abstain during the period of gestation.
Myth
People who abstain from alcohol are "alcohol-free."
Fact
Every person produces alcohol normally in the body 24 hours each and every day
from birth until death. Therefore, we always have alcohol in our bodies
Myth
Alcohol abuse is an increasing problem among young people.
Fact
Heavy alcohol use among people in the US 17 years of age or younger actually
dropped by an amazing two-thirds (65.9 percent) between 1985 and 1997,
according to federal government research. The proportion of young people who
consumed any alcohol within the previous month dropped from 50% to 19% in
about the same period. Other federally funded research also documents the
continuing decline in both drinking and drinking abuse among young people.
Similarly, alcohol-related traffic injuries and fatalities among young people
continue to drop. Deaths associated with young drinking drivers aged 16 to 24
decreased almost half (47%) in a recent 15-year period
Top 10 Alcohol Consuming Countries
1. Portugal 2.98
2. Luxembourg 2.95
3. France 2.87
4. Hungary 2.66
5. Spain 2.66
6. Czech Republic 2.64
7. Denmark 2.61
8. Germany 2.50
9. Austria 2.50
10. Switzerland 2.43
Myth
People in the US are generally heavy consumers of alcohol.
Fact
The US isn't even among the top ten alcohol consuming countries. Top 10
Alcohol Consuming Countries on per capita Basis Country / Consumption in
Gallons of absolute or pure alcohol: At a consumption rate of only 1.74 per
person, the US falls far down at 32nd on the list.
Myth
The US has very lenient underage drinking laws.
Fact
The US has the most strict youth drinking laws in the Western world, including
the highest minimum drinking age in the entire world. And this is buttressed by a
public policy of Zero Tolerance.
Myth
Alcohol advertising increases drinking problems.
Fact
Hundreds of scientific research studies around the world have clearly
demonstrated that alcohol advertising does not lead to increases in drinking abuse
or drinking problems. Alcohol advertising continues because effective ads can
increase a brand's share of the total market.
Myth
Bottles of tequila contain a worm.
Fact
There is no worm in tequila. It's in mescal, a spirit beverage distilled from a
different plant. And it's not actually a worm, but a butterfly caterpillar (Hipopta
Agavis) called a gurano.
Myth
People who can "hold their liquor" are to be envied.
Fact
People who can drink heavily without becoming intoxicated have probably
developed a tolerance for alcohol, which can indicate the onset of dependency.
Myth
Many lives would be saved if everyone abstained from alcohol.
Fact
Some lives would be saved from accidents now caused by intoxication and from
health problems caused by alcohol abuse. However, many other lives would be
lost from increases in coronary heart disease. For example, estimates from 13
studies suggest that as many as 135,884 additional deaths would occur each year
in the US from coronary heart disease alone because of abstinence.
Myth
Drunkenness and alcoholism are the same thing.
Fact
Many non-alcoholics on occasion become intoxicated or drunk. However, if they
are not addicted to alcohol, they are not alcoholic. Of course, intoxication is never
completely safe or risk-free and should be avoided. It is better either to abstain or
to drink in moderation. While consuming alcohol sensibly is associated with
better health and longer life, the abuse of alcohol is associated with many
undesirable health outcomes.
Myth
Alcohol is the cause of alcoholism.
Fact
As a governmental alcohol agency has explained, "Alcohol no more causes
alcoholism than sugar causes diabetes." The agency points out that if alcohol
caused alcoholism then all drinkers would be alcoholics. In fact, a belief common
among members of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) is that people are born alcoholic
and are not caused to be alcoholic by alcohol or anything in their experience.
They argue that many people are born and die alcoholic without ever having had a
sip of alcohol. Of course, a person can't be a drinking or practicing alcoholic
without alcohol.
Prohibition Problems
Unfortunately, prohibition leads to a number of alcohol and other problems such as death
and disability from contaminated illegal alcohol, the growth of organized crime, an
increase in heavy drinking when alcohol can be obtained, a serious loss of tax revenue,
the discouragement of moderation in consumption, a widespread disrespect for the law,
and many other social ills. Even if it were somehow possible to prohibit the consumption
of alcohol, people who have emotional or psychological problems and need a "crutch"
would simply turn to the abuse of other, frequently illegal, substances
Myth
If alcohol were less available there would be fewer alcoholics.
Fact
This is an idea that has been tested through prohibition in the US and a number of
other countries. There is no association between the availability of alcohol and
alcoholism.
Myth
College life leads to drinking by most students who enter as abstainers
Fact
According to Federal statistics, most students arrive at college with prior drinking
experience and te proportion of drinkers doesn't increase greatly during college.
Myth
Although not totally incorrect, but certainly not the whole truth, is the assertion
that the younger children are when they have their first drink the more likely they
are to experience drinking problems
Fact
Generally speaking, people who on their own begin drinking either much earlier
or much later than their peers begin are more likely to experience subsequent
drinking problems. This appears to result from the fact that either behavior tends
to reflect a tendency to be deviant. Therefore, delaying the age of first drink
would not influence the incidence of drinking problems because it would not
change the underlying predisposition to be deviant and to experience drinking
problems. And, of course, children who are taught moderation by their parents are
less likely to abuse alcohol or have drinking problems.