Vodka always seemed to me like the chameleon of drinks: flavorless and odorless, taking on the taste of whatever mixer was splashed in. In the January/February issue of Health magazine, I learned that this versatile spirit can be used for a myriad of tasks. Pie-crust helper, facial astringent?  Who knew?

Good Housekeeping‘s Daily Green site had even more practical uses for vodka:

1. Treat poison ivy: After coming into contact with poison ivy, immediately pour vodka on skin. Caveat: Some say that the vodka needs to be at least 100 proof to work.

2. Freshen up your laundry: Spritz your clothes with vodka. The spirit kills odor-causing bacteria. Don’t worry: you won’t smell like a distillery: vodka doesn’t leave a smell when it dries.

3. Make your knobs and fixtures shine: Spritz some vodka on a soft, clean cloth and polish chrome, glass and porcelain with it.

4. Keep flowers fresh: Add a few drops of vodka and a teaspoon of sugar to the water in the vase. Repeat every day.

5. Repel insects:  Put some vodka in a spray bottle and squirt those mosquitoes away, or squirt it on your skin.

6. Soothe Jellyfish Stings: Vodka disinfects and alleviates some of the pain from a jellyfish sting.

7. Get Healthy Hair: Add vodka to your shampoo for shiny, luscious hair.

8. Banish Mold: Fill a spray bottle with some bottom-shelf vodka. Spritz on the affected area, and let sit 15 minutes. Scrub clean with an old toothbrush.

9. Make a soothing tincture: Fill a clean glass jar with fresh lavender flowers, then top off with vodka. Seal the lid tightly and place in the sun for three days. Strain the resulting liquid through a coffee filter. Rub the tincture into achy areas.

10. Ease a Toothache: Swish a shot of vodka over the affected area. It should numb some of the pain in your gums (Of course, if you’re in incredible pain, you could always just take a few shots, but then you’d be in lala land).

You can find even more uses for vodka here.

And here are some unusual uses for beer.

Of course, if you can’t drink vodka or beer, you probably shouldn’t tempt fate by spritzing it all over your house and your clothing.

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Question: Is it okay to serve Coq Au Vin–or other alcohol-soaked dishes–to someone in recovery?

Answer: Not necessarily.

Holiday season is houseguest season, which means cooking for a crowd, which means knowing your guests’ food allergies, aversions and issues.

While most of us understand that it’s important to have a selection of nonalcoholic beverages for those who don’t, or can’t, drink, many of us wouldn’t think twice about serving alcohol-soaked dishes to those same people. “The alcohol’s cooked in!” we say. But is it really?

In a recent post for the Diner’s Journal blog on the New York Times website, Tara Parker-Pope explored the issue. When she asked Dr. Harry Haroutunian, physician director of the Betty Ford Center, he said, “Alcohol’s boiling point is lower than that of water, and many cooks assume that little or none of its potency remains after cooking…that is simply not true and quite dangerous thinking for anyone in recovery.” Cooked food, according to Dr. Haroutunian, can retain from 5 to 85 percent of the original alcohol, depending on the cooking method and how much alcohol was used in the preparation.

You can read Parker-Pope’s entire discussion here.

What has your experience been—have you served dishes prepared with alcohol to people in recovery? Why or why not? If so, what was their reaction?

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It seems that the Lehigh University Women’s Center  is taking an important stand, opening up a much-needed conversation about the pressures college-aged women sometimes feel surrounding alcohol, according to an article on the Lehigh Valley Live website.

A part of the university’s Women and Health Speakers & Events Series–and as a follow-up to the screening of the documentary Miss Representation, which addressed the pressures surrounding the ideal of successful women–the event focused on issues such as body image, the prominence of alcohol on campus, and why women are now choosing to consume hard liquor instead of beer.

Rita Jones, the Director of the Women’s Center, said the event was meant to offer a space for conversation, and that it did, as students and faculty in attendance spoke candidly about the pressures and effects of alcohol on women in Lehigh’s community.

Apparently, many women are opting to drink hard liquor because it has fewer calories, validating that body image and calorie counting are affecting women’s choices. Most students at the event agreed that the “loudest social voice on campus is often one advocating partying,” and that alcohol has become a “social crutch since ”there’s there is nothing to do at a party but drink.”

Some students suggested they’d like to see more non-alcohol activities on campus and explained that when libraries closes early, “it practically encourages students to go out and consume alcohol on the weekends.”

For student-athletes, those at the event said that their team’s longest meetings focused on discussions of dry policies, which determine the times athletes cannot consume alcohol before and after sporting events.

Kudos to Lehigh for bringing these issues about women and alcohol to light and offering students a chance to speak out. Let’s hope that other colleges and universities follow suit.

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I always thought it was kind of naive to set the minimum legal drinking age at 21–as if that ever stopped teens from experimenting. It’s the perennial debate: Are we better off lowering the drinking age to 18, since people are going to drink anyway, and they’ll just use fake ids to do it (case in point: college freshmen), or are there solid reasons to keep it at 21?

According to the Atlantic online, several studies have validated the higher drinking age, linking the previous drinking age of 18 to higher rates of suicides, homicides, DUI accidents, and alcohol- and drug-use disorders.

Researchers, led by Washington University epidemiologist Richard A. Grucza, analyzed information on more than 200,000 suicides and 130,000 homicides for people who turned 18 between 1967 and 1989, the years that the legal drinking age was changing. The data came from the U.S. Census and American Community Survey as well as records from the U.S. Multiple Cause of Death files, 1990-2004. When they lumped men’s and women’s data together, there seemed to be no association between minimum drinking age and homicide or suicide.

But here’s the fascinating part: When they separated the data on men and women, they found an increased risk for both homicide and suicide for women, when the drinking age was 18. They concluded that higher minimum drinking ages may lower rates of suicides and homicides among women later in life. The key words here are later in life, meaning, the longer we can keep young women away from alcohol, the better chance they have of avoiding serious problems later in life: addiction and depression, for example.

The authors estimate that the current national drinking age of 21 may be preventing around 600 suicides and 600 homicides a year. That’s 1200 lives saved–a powerful finding  that may make some (like me) rethink their position on the drinking age.

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On November 1, the Journal of the American Medical Association (AMA) released a new study, “Alcohol Consumption Over a Woman’s Lifetime Associated with Risk of Breast Cancer.” The study looked at the cumulative effect of low to moderate alcohol consumption among more than 100,000 women, ages 30 to 55, who were followed for 28 years.

In its aftermath, the study results were all over the press with headlines causing a frenzy among women who consume only a couple of glasses of a wine a week. They read:

“Women who drink three to six glasses of alcohol per week have a 15 percent higher risk of getting breast cancer than women who do not drink”

“A Few Drinks a Week Raises Breast Cancer Risk”

“Women: Even a Little Alcohol Ups Breast Cancer Risk, Research Finds”

“Even Small Amount of Alcohol Increases Risk of Breast Cancer”

Although the headlines are not inaccurate, they may be provoking unnecessary alarm. Ten days after the study results were released, the AARP posted an article titled: “Alcohol and Breast Cancer Link: Is Wine Really Bad for Women?” With a subtitle that reads, “The Risk May Not Be As Bad As You Think–or Fear,” the article calls on readers to take a closer look at the study’s statistics before adopting a lifestyle akin to the days of Prohibition.

Taking a different angle than prior research, this new AMA study looked at the cumulative effect of consuming low to moderate amounts of alcohol. Previous studies linking alcohol and breast cancer risk focused mainly on binge or heavy drinking.

The researchers found that those who drank as few as three to six alcoholic drinks a week during those years had a 15 percent increased risk of breast cancer, compared with those who didn’t drink. And women who regularly drank two or more drinks a day had a 51 percent higher risk than women who never drank.

As the AARP piece explains, “Those numbers — 15 percent increase and 51 percent increase — sound high until you do the math. The average woman’s risk of getting breast cancer in her lifetime is one in eight, or 12 percent. A 15 percent increase over that means her lifetime risk rises to 13.8 percent. For a woman age 50 to 59, whose risk of getting breast cancer while in her 50s is one in 42 or 2.4 percent, according to the National Cancer Institute, her risk rises to 2.76 percent,” the article continues.

So in other words, as Steven A. Narod, M.D., director of familial breast cancer research at the Women’s College Research Institute in Toronto, further clarified in an editorial accompanying the study, for women who had one drink per day, “their 10-year risk increased by 0.7 percent (from 2.8 percent to 3.5 percent).”

Although the risk is real and women need to weigh the risks and benefits of drinking, the ensuing panic may be premature. As reported by the AARP, the study’s authors pointed out in their conclusion: “We did find increased risk at low levels of [alcohol consumption], but the risk was quite small.”

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This week, drinking was in the news in a tragic way when it was confirmed that singer Amy Winehouse died from alcohol poisoning. Alcohol poisoning is caused by drinking a large amount of alcohol in a short period of time—faster than your body can metabolize it.

In the United States, according to the CDC, about 50,000 cases of alcohol poisoning are reported each year, and approximately once every week, someone dies.

Police searching Winehouse’s home found three empty vodka bottles, though it’s not confirmed if that’s what she drank that night. Winehouse’s blood-alcohol level was reportedly .416 when she died, more than five times the legal limit for driving. In both the United States and Britain, the legal limit to drive is .08.

According to the Mayo Clinic, it takes the body about one hour to metabolize a single drink, but this is where it gets tricky: what constitutes one drink depends on whether you’re drinking beer, wine or liquor. The equation is this:

One drink of beer=12 ounces

One drink of wine=5 ounces

One drink of 80-proof liquor=1.5 ounces

So if you’re guzzling vodka, you’re in trouble.

Doctor Robert Pandina, director of the Center for Alcohol Studies at Rutgers University, explained it like this on CNN health:

“…A woman weighing approximately 110 pounds would have to drink between 12 and 13 ounces of 80-proof liquor in an hour to reach a blood-alcohol level of 0.40.”

According to the drinks calculator (above), Winehouse must have had at least 8 “drinks” of vodka.

“It’s still a lot but it’s far less than people may imagine,” says Pandina.

Here’s the scary part (again, quoting Dr. Pandina):

“…The effects of alcohol poisoning can be felt long before a person reaches that point. A person may need medical attention with a blood-alcohol level under 0.2. Vital functions may start to shut down before someone reaches 0.25. Death is possible with a blood-alcohol level of 0.3. And that’s without prior liver damage from previous alcohol or drug use. A person with a damaged liver is at higher risk for catastrophic or fatal alcohol poisoning because his or her liver cannot effectively metabolize the alcohol.”

Alcohol poisoning is not always fatal, but here is a list of its possible insidious effects:

–vomiting

–nausea

–unconsciousness

–brain damage

–liver damage

Women are slightly more susceptible to alcohol poisoning than men, due to a lesser amount of fluid in their bodies.

If someone you know has been drinking heavily, don’t wait it out. Call 911 so they can get on oxygen and be taken to the hospital, where there are things that can be done to revive them.

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Instead of taking the “Just say no” approach to alcohol, which can be unrealistic, Drinkaware, a new organization and website out of the UK, aims to help people improve their drinking habits.

The charitable organization works with individuals and organizations  to promote responsible drinking and find innovative ways to challenge the national drinking culture.

One of the coolest features on the site is My Drinkaware, in which you track your personal alcohol intake. Once you sign in, you can use the drinks calculator to find out your recommended daily alcohol intake, and it determines if you’ve gone over the healthy suggested limits.

A similar site in the U.S. is Rethinking Drinking, through the organization NIAAA (National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism).

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A new study published in the June 24 edition of The Journal of the National Cancer Institute revealed that lifestyle changes, such as drinking less alcohol, weight loss, and increased amounts of exercise, could lead to a considerable reduction in breast cancer cases across an entire population, according to a new model that estimates the influence of these variable risk factors.

Often times, breast cancer risk is based on elements that can’t be modified, such as family history. And until now, there have been no models based on ways women can impact their breast cancer risk through lifestyle adjustments.

The findings provide “extremely important information relevant to counseling women on how much risk reduction they can expect by changing behaviors, and also highlights the basic public health concept that small changes in individual risk can translate into a meaningful reduction in disease in a large population,” wrote Dr. Kathy J. Helzlsouer, of Mercy Medical Center in Baltimore, a journal news release.

Using data from an Italian study that included more than 5,000 women, the U.S. National Cancer Institute researchers created the model that included three modifiable risk factors (alcohol consumption, physical activity and body mass index) and five risk factors that are difficult or impossible to modify (family history, education, job activity, reproductive characteristics, and biopsy history).

Benchmarks for some lifestyle factors included getting at least 2 hours of exercise a week (for women 30-39) and having a body mass index (BMI) under 25 (in women 50 and older).

The  authors of the study noted that the predicted changes in lifestyle to achieve significant  changes — such as former and current drinkers becoming non-drinkers — might be overly optimistic.

But the findings, say researchers, may help in designing programs meant to encourage women to make lifestyle changes. For example, a 1.6 percent absolute risk reduction in a general population of one million women amounts to 16,000 fewer cases of cancer.

For information about breast cancer risk, go to the U.S. National Cancer Institute.

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In a recent article on The New York Times’ “Well” blog, Gretchen Reynolds begins her piece, “Does Exercising Make You Drink More,” with these questions: “Can regular exercise avert or undo some of the harm associated with binge drinking? Perhaps even better, could exercising beforehand pre-emptively reduce your urge to overindulge in alcohol later?”

For some, it seems the sweaty and invigorating high that goes with a great workout may be enough, staving off the desire for drinking alcohol. But for others, a cold beer or glass of wine seems the ideal reward after having run all those miles, skied for 6 hours, or spun at the gym for 50 minutes.

The article goes on to discuss the latest studies being conducted in an effort to understand the cloudy relationship between drinking and exercise. And in particular, a recent, large-scale study published in the American Journal of Health Promotion, the answer to the article’s title–“Do Alcohol Consumers Exercise More”–was an emphatic yes. The more people drink, the more they exercise. But why?

Reynolds writes: “The authors [of the study] don’t have a definitive answer. The survey results do not ‘follow expected patterns’ they admit, in which people who indulge in one unhealthy habit tend to indulge in others and vice versa. Smokers, for instance, statistically are less likely than average to exercise regularly and eat well. But this is not the case when it comes to drinking and exercise.  Maybe, the authors speculate, some of the drinkers are drawn to a ‘sensation-taking lifestyle’ that includes adventurous, extreme styles of exercise. Alternatively, imbibers could be “socializing and drinking after participating in organized group sports.” Or they might be trying “to compensate for the extra calories gained through drinking or to counterbalance the negative health effects of drinking.’”

Because I typically exercise in the morning, a post-workout cappuccino is more often my reward of choice. But after my husband plays 1 1/2 hours of tennis with some buddies in a weekly evening game, his ritual always entails plenty of beer and wings at a local pub.

What about you? We’d love to hear your thoughts on how exercise and drinking relate in your life…

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According to experts, as many as 500 million people worldwide suffer after sipping wine. Symptoms may include congestion, headaches or more severe manifestations like hives or breathing difficulties.

Sulfites account for a small fraction of those allergies, but scientists now think they have located the offender in the large majority of cases: glycoproteins, the sugary protein molecules that form as grapes ferment. Glycoproteins occur during the fermentation process and are the same sugar-coated proteins that trigger allergic reactions to allergens like ragweed and dust mites.

According to an article on MSNBC.com, the new findings were discovered by researchers at the University of Southern Denmark. Dr. Giuseppe Palmisano, a molecular biologist and the lead author of the study, told MSNBC.com, “When we started the experiments, we wanted to identify the glycoproteins present in wine to understand more about oenological problems like haze formation and aroma changes, but the results led us to think about another possible implication of these glycoproteins.”

The good news? Palmisano says that wine makers may be able to remove glycoproteins from wine, in turn making a brighter future for some sniffling sommeliers. “If these molecules are proven to be responsible for allergy in wine,” said Palmisano, “Then the winemakers will have a target to remove them.”

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“Candy is dandy. But liquor is quicker.” -Ogden Nash

With Halloween just days away, many of us are thinking about candy–oh, the joy of candy corn!–(though I’m also thinking about the glass of red wine that accompanies the steaming bowl of chili I eat while waiting for the trick-or-treaters to arrive).

The other day, I read a great article in the New York Times about candy, titled “Is Candy Evil or Just Misunderstood?” In the article, Julia Moskin recounts how when a woman offered her daughter’s 3-year-old friend some jellybeans, the girl’s mother froze.  The father said she might as well have offered the little girl crack.

The “offender,” Dr. Samira Kawash, was so stunned by the experience that she started a blog called Candy Professor, diving deep into the American relationship with candy. The idea behind the blog is that “candy carries so much moral and ethical baggage that people view it as fundamentally different — in a bad way — from other kinds of food.”

Sound familiar?

Candy and liquor have a lot in common–both can be sweet and sticky, tempting and delicious. Both can leave you feeling buzzed. Just the right amount, and you’re giggling and high-fiving. Too much, and  you feel dizzy and sick.

Like candy, drinking is often misunderstood and reviled. For some, drinking is one of life’s pleasures, right up there with sex and chocolate. For others, liquor is an evil to be avoided at all costs–the devil’s brew. Of course, recovered and recovering alcoholics have a reason to fear alcohol, just as overeaters might fear candy, but that’s another story entirely.

Turns out the link between candy and liquor is not so far-fetched. On the Candy Professor blog, Dr. Kawash writes: “Scientists had an interesting theory about the relation between candy eating and alcohol. Having discovered that the sugars in candy fermented in the stomach in a manner that seemed similar to the fermentation of alcohol, candy seemed awfully close to liquor. For candy alarmists, this meant candy eating was tantamount to alcoholic dissipation. But for candy lovers, this explained why candy eating and “tippling” didn’t mix, and why eating more candy would lead to drinking less liquor.”

According to Dr. Kawash, scientists felt your body needed the sugar in both alcohol and candy, and that “this was a good reason to let children eat candy: deprived, they risked a future of alcoholism and misery. ”

The history of candy is inextricably linked with that of alcohol. The candy industry experienced a boom during Prohibition. When saloons closed down and bootleg liquors couldn’t be found, people flocked to soda and ice cream shops for their fix.

It’s that combination of pleasure and danger that give candy and liquor the same elicit thrill, that sublime feel. Happy Halloween! Candy or liquor–which do you prefer?

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Drink a bloody mary. Take Vitamin C. Sleep. Drink Gatorade. Take a cold shower. Avoid caffeine. Drink caffeine. Get some exercise. Drink pickle juice. And on and on.

Everyone seems to have their favorite antidote for the dreaded hangover. Mine is simply to drink as much water as my body can handle with the hopes of flushing the alcohol out before the hangover symptoms kick in. Sometimes it works. Sometimes not so much.

Recently, however, I met Alissa from the Boiron company when Leah and I were at the BlogHer conference, and she told us about Nux Vomica. The name alone conjures up some less-than-attractive mental images, but I’m open to try nearly anything if it has potential to rid me of that ugly hangover feeling.

After noting my enthusiastic interest in her company’s product, Alissa sent me some information explaining how “Nux is made from the seeds of the Strychnos nux-vomica tree, native to Southeast Asia. In this safe micro-dose form, Nux provides symptomatic relief of nausea, acid indigestion, upset stomach from overindulgence of food and drink, hangovers or excessive coffee drinking.”

It goes on to suggest that while Nux is not a hangover preventative, it’s recommended to take some (Nux comes in the form of pellets and is sold at Whole Foods and many health food stores) before drinking, before going to sleep, and again in the morning if necessary.

I’m not sure it’ll beat out my water-logging strategy, but it sounds like it may be worth a try.

And, please, if you have any other hangover antidotes to recommend, share them in the comment box below so all of our readers can be on it…

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In a recent Huffington Post piece titled “The Hidden Health Benefits of Alcohol?” writer, psychologist and addiction expert Stanton Peele addresses a recent government report on drinking and the elderly.

Peele’s post discusses the impact of the 2010 edition of the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, and how they validate that moderate drinking results in longer life and less incidence of dementia. To the contrary, a recent NY Times article reveals nothing of its benefits, but rather drinking’s negative impacts on the elderly.

Peele writes:

Taken together, the contrasting (or are they complimentary) emphases “drinking is only beneficial to older Americans,” “drinking is most harmful to older Americans,” sound like the punch line for a Groucho Marx joke — “You should never drink before you are old, and then you should quit.

Needless to say, the comments came rolling in with a vengeance. Peele responded with another post, “We Don’t Believe Alcohol’s Good For You!” in which he decided that rather than “piss people off individually, I thought I could piss everybody off more efficiently with this follow-up post.”

Some of the comments raise issues concerning politics, industry, advertising and medicine. It’s fascinating and frustrating. Yet it’s the good and bad, ups and downs, and yin and yang of women and drinking that we believe the Drinking Diaries is all about. Always feels free to share your thoughts…

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Hot milk? Maybe. Glass of red wine? Don’t think so…

In an effort to study what foods and/or drinks may help induce slumber, Michael Grandner, a sleep researcher at the University of Pennsylvania’s Center for Sleep and Respiratory Neurobiology, tracked the diets and sleep habits of 459 women enrolled in the federal government’s 15-year Women’s Health Initiative.

The findings of Grandner’s recent research, recently published in the journal Sleep Medicine, found that fat was the main nutrient (out of dozens tracked) associated with getting less sleep. “The more fat you ate, the less you slept,” he says.

“The bad news for people trying to talk about food and sleep is that . . . generally it’s hard to find foods that help with sleep,” says Grandner. “The easier question is what are the things to avoid?”

Among the things on the don’t-drink (or eat) list—along with caffeine and spicy foods—was alcohol. Although a nightcap might help you fall asleep, Christine Gerbstadt, a medical doctor, registered dietitian and spokeswoman for the American Dietetic Association, explains that “Alcohol does disrupt the sleep cycle. It delays the onset of and shortens REM sleep, which is the restful sleep you need every night.”

Both red and white wine contain melatonin, Gerbstadt says, but that hormone’s sleep-inducing properties are offset by the alcohol’s interference with REM sleep. Still, She says, you might benefit from eating red grapes with the skin on to get a little boost of melatonin.

Milk, herbal tea and other comforting remedies help “not by making you sleepy, but by making you more relaxed,” wrote Grandner. “When it comes to calming foods, there are a number that may have calming effects, but honestly the evidence suggests that it is mostly placebo.”

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As we at Drinking Diaries well know, the spectrum of drinkers is a broad one indeed. Between the two poles—abstainer and alcoholic—is a world of stops along the way. We could have a field day coming up with names for the different kinds of drinkers (and maybe one day on this site, we will), but for now, suffice it to say that the National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) has begun to address the spectrum on its new Web site, Rethinking Drinking.

A recent article in The Wall Street Journal quoted Mark Willenbring, director of treatment and recovery research at NIAAA: “Most people don’t know what ‘drink responsibly’ means—they think it means not getting tanked…But there are levels of drinking that raise your risk for alcohol problems just like high cholesterol raises your risk for heart disease.”

So just what are those levels for women? The organization says women are at low risk for serious drinking problems if they have no more than 7 standard-size alcoholic drinks a week (for men, it’s 14). That’s one a day, people.

Or—you could save up for the weekends and have all seven in one night! Right? Wrong. NIAAA recommends no more than 3 drinks on any single day.

The key is knowing the size of a standard drink, and the site helps with that. At some restaurants, a glass of wine could actually be more than one standard-sized drink. A wine bottle usually holds five 5-oz. glasses.

Other features of the site:

–A tool where you can plug in your average intake and see how you compare with the general population and problem drinkers.

–An “urge tracker,” where you record times when you wanted a drink and why, what you did and what you might have done differently.

–A section on “refusal skills” that helps you plan ahead to say no in social situations.

Check out the site. Let us know if you find it helpful. And if anyone wants to take a stab at coming up with a list of names for the different kinds of drinkers, please feel free.