Alcohol & weight loss - it may be OK

[Analog6]

I found this article at the link below. http://smh.com.au/news/national/have...823281921.html I've reproduced the text below for those who might not be able to see the link.

Naturally, this is not for those on Induction or very early stages, but I am having a 4oz glass of white wine every 3 days or so - looks like I should drink it first!

The text of the article:

Drinking alcohol before a meal may help keep the fat away, according to new research which contradicts the popularly held view that alcohol contributes to obesity.
"If you have a pre-dinner drink - beer, wine or spirits - it tends to reduce the blood-sugar response to the next meal," said Professor Jennie Brand-Miller, a renowned expert on the glycaemic index who announced her findings yesterday.
The research, discussed at the launch of a weight-loss product targeted at men, may explain why alcohol helps fend off cardiovascular disease. "We know alcohol tends to increase levels of your good cholesterol," said Professor Brand-Miller, from the school of human nutrition at the University of Sydney. "But that only explains about half the [protective] effect."
Professor Brand-Miller's research, which will be presented at a Nutrition Society of Australia meeting this month, involved three studies of 38 young, lean people with an average age of 22. The subjects drank about an hour before eating, quaffing beer, wine, spirits and water in random order. Their blood-sugar and insulin levels were measured afterwards.
The alcohol seemed to produce a "priming" effect, kicking off the metabolism process and keeping blood-sugar levels low as the meal was consumed. As a toxin, alcohol is burned with great urgency by the body, and this urgency seemed to transfer to food consumed two to three hours after drinking.
"The lower the rise in blood sugar, the better your health," Professor Brand-Miller said. As well as fighting fat, the effects of the alcohol could be beneficial to those at risk of Type 2 diabetes, or about one in four Australians, she said. These people have high blood-sugar levels, which can harm organs including the heart, the eyes, the kidney and nervous tissue.
Professor Stephan Rossner, a director of an obesity research program at Luddinge Hospital in Stockholm, said the initial research results were fascinating.
"Alcohol has a thermogenic effect. It speeds up the metabolism of the body," he said.
Alcohol was associated with weight gain because people tended to lose control when drinking, and eat fatty foods, Professor Rossner said.

[2big4mysize]

if you read your DANDR you will see alcohol is a part of Atkins Phase 2 better known as OWL if one wants to inbib. Rung 5 is the alcohol rung.

One thing your article doesn't deal with is the fact that as that toxin is burned first it stops fatburning for Atkineers until the alcohol is all gone. The blood sugar issues aren't problems for those eating a controlled carb WOE like Atkins.

[Alienore]

I've found that I've become considerably less tolerant of alcohol since I started Atkins - if I have a glass of wine when out with friends I can't sleep that night and feel lousy. Will see how I feel about alcohol when I start moving up the OWL rungs properly.


Deborah

[not2late]

Also, the article doesn't mention the amount of alcohol consumption will increase the good cholesterol. According to the National Cholesterol Education Program, it's 1 serving for a woman and 2 servings for a man, daily. Any amount over that you won't see any benefits.

1 serving of alcohol:
12 fluid ounces beer OR
3 ounces fortified wine (sherry, port, etc.) OR
5 ounces wine (chablis, merlot, sirah, etc.) OR
1.5 ounces hard liquor

http://www.webmd.com/hw/cholesterol_...t/hw207814.asp

[2big4mysize]

one thing you dod need to watch out for is alcohol will allow you to allow yourself other not low carb foods if you aren't careful

[Brook]

Originally Posted by 2big4mysize

one thing you dod need to watch out for is alcohol will allow you to allow yourself other not low carb foods if you aren't careful

:::raises guilty hand:::

Yeah, but bit by the "screw-its" while drinking on more than one occasion. LOL

Careful with that one. It's not necessarily the alcohol that'll bite you so much as the lack of inhibition to bite everything else!