0:00:02 > 0:00:05In January, the Government released its new proposed guidelines for
0:00:05 > 0:00:11alcohol, and for the UK's 40 million drinkers it was all pretty sobering.
0:00:11 > 0:00:14There's no such thing as a safe level of alcohol...
0:00:14 > 0:00:16That's according to new guidelines on alcohol
0:00:16 > 0:00:17issued by the Government.
0:00:17 > 0:00:21For men, the recommended weekly limit was slashed by a third,
0:00:21 > 0:00:24to the equivalent of roughly seven pints of beer,
0:00:24 > 0:00:28bringing it in line with the amount recommended for women.
0:00:28 > 0:00:31Critics say the advice smacks of the nanny state.
0:00:31 > 0:00:34But most significant was the publicised link between alcohol
0:00:34 > 0:00:35and cancer.
0:00:35 > 0:00:39..the increasing evidence strongly linking alcohol with cancer.
0:00:41 > 0:00:44It's made a lot of us reassess how much how drink, myself included.
0:00:44 > 0:00:47But if we're honest, did we ever think alcohol was really that
0:00:47 > 0:00:48good for our health?
0:00:49 > 0:00:53And for many of us, the new guidelines have made us realise
0:00:53 > 0:00:57how little we understand alcohol and the way it reacts with our bodies.
0:00:59 > 0:01:02Alcohol is a stimulant, true or false?
0:01:02 > 0:01:04- Yes.- For me, yeah.
0:01:04 > 0:01:06Beer gets you less drunk?
0:01:06 > 0:01:07- Yes.- Yes.
0:01:07 > 0:01:10Hangovers get worse as you get older?
0:01:10 > 0:01:11- Maybe?- Definitely.
0:01:11 > 0:01:13Women get worse hangovers than men?
0:01:13 > 0:01:17I would say so, but they disguise it very well.
0:01:17 > 0:01:20Well, actually none of these myths are true.
0:01:20 > 0:01:22- Oh.- Really?
0:01:22 > 0:01:26My name is Javid Abdelmoneim, and I am an A&E doctor.
0:01:26 > 0:01:28In this programme, I want to discover
0:01:28 > 0:01:30the latest science about alcohol
0:01:30 > 0:01:33and with our own special pub lab, we'll be able to show you exactly
0:01:33 > 0:01:37how alcohol affects your body, from the familiar to the unexpected.
0:01:39 > 0:01:43We've teamed up with some of the country's leading scientists
0:01:43 > 0:01:46and I'll be putting myself on the front line to tackle
0:01:46 > 0:01:49questions about alcohol that are asked by everyone,
0:01:49 > 0:01:53in homes and pubs and bars up and down the country.
0:01:53 > 0:01:54Such as...
0:01:54 > 0:01:58why do some people get drunk more quickly than others?
0:01:58 > 0:02:00What is the best remedy for a hangover?
0:02:00 > 0:02:04And why is red wine supposedly better for us than white?
0:02:04 > 0:02:06And most important of all,
0:02:06 > 0:02:11why has the weekly recommended limit changed so much for men
0:02:11 > 0:02:15and just how worried should we be about alcohol and cancer?
0:02:15 > 0:02:19Two questions I'll be putting to England's Chief Medical Officer.
0:02:19 > 0:02:21It's not for me to say, "You must."
0:02:21 > 0:02:24It's for me to share the science with the public.
0:02:25 > 0:02:28I want to find out the truth about alcohol.
0:02:41 > 0:02:45I am an A&E doctor, so I definitely see the worst sides of alcohol.
0:02:45 > 0:02:50People who have drunk too much and people who are chronic alcoholics,
0:02:50 > 0:02:55so you might think that I wouldn't drink, but I love drinking,
0:02:55 > 0:02:56just not too much.
0:03:01 > 0:03:04But the idea of drinking not too much has now fundamentally
0:03:04 > 0:03:07changed with the Government's new recommended limits.
0:03:07 > 0:03:11For both men and women it's now 14 units a week.
0:03:11 > 0:03:15That's roughly equivalent to seven pints of beer, and I have no idea
0:03:15 > 0:03:17whether I stick to the limit or not.
0:03:17 > 0:03:21To discover if I drink within the weekly limits, there's only
0:03:21 > 0:03:23one sure-fire way to find out.
0:03:23 > 0:03:24So Matthew here is fitting me
0:03:24 > 0:03:27with a device that's going to monitor how much I drink across
0:03:27 > 0:03:31the week, by measuring precisely the amount of alcohol in my sweat.
0:03:33 > 0:03:37I want to know if I drink within the recommended limits, so the bracelet
0:03:37 > 0:03:41is going to monitor the alcohol in my system.
0:03:41 > 0:03:43And alongside this I am
0:03:43 > 0:03:47going to keep a video diary of what types of drink I've had and when.
0:03:49 > 0:03:53OK, it's day one, and so today I am at my parents' house. Say hi
0:03:53 > 0:03:57to my mum, who is just reading. No drinking today while I'm at home.
0:03:58 > 0:04:02It's Wednesday, and I am off to Devon to give a rather informal
0:04:02 > 0:04:07lecture, during which I have one can of lager. But it doesn't end there.
0:04:07 > 0:04:13Two pints of cider at the pub, and a quick can to finish the night.
0:04:15 > 0:04:18On my way to visit my friend in Honiton,
0:04:18 > 0:04:21and she is the UK's number one tea drinker.
0:04:21 > 0:04:23What have you got, Jo?
0:04:23 > 0:04:24Big tea.
0:04:24 > 0:04:26No wine at lunch?
0:04:26 > 0:04:27No wine at lunch.
0:04:27 > 0:04:31OK, it's Friday night, I've just got home, I have ended up
0:04:31 > 0:04:38having two ciders and a pint of a lager in the pub with my friends.
0:04:38 > 0:04:44I don't tend to drink at home, so, er, no-alcohol day.
0:04:44 > 0:04:47OK, it's Sunday, I'm on my way to work.
0:04:47 > 0:04:49I won't finish till 10pm tonight.
0:04:49 > 0:04:51Today will be a non-alcohol day.
0:04:53 > 0:04:54The last night.
0:04:56 > 0:04:58It's Rosie's birthday, and she's in Lebanon.
0:04:58 > 0:05:01- Say hi.- Hello.
0:05:01 > 0:05:03I've had a bottle-and-a-half of wine to drink
0:05:03 > 0:05:05and you have just witnessed my...
0:05:07 > 0:05:09..week of alcohol.
0:05:09 > 0:05:13'So, did I drink within the 14-unit weekly limit?'
0:05:13 > 0:05:15- Oh, gosh, that does feel good, you know.- OK.
0:05:15 > 0:05:17'Well, it's not looking promising.
0:05:17 > 0:05:19'Matthew Mitchell is showing me the results.'
0:05:19 > 0:05:22So, looking at the data here,
0:05:22 > 0:05:23and we look at Wednesday
0:05:23 > 0:05:25and that's probably close to ten, ten-plus units,
0:05:25 > 0:05:28- possibly more.- Gosh!
0:05:28 > 0:05:32Probably a lesser amount on Friday, maybe four to six units.
0:05:32 > 0:05:34- I drank three drinks!- Three drinks.
0:05:34 > 0:05:36Three pints in an hour!
0:05:36 > 0:05:39And then we think again on Monday, definitely over ten,
0:05:39 > 0:05:42probably closer to 12-15 units.
0:05:42 > 0:05:45So, for the whole week, how much is it we're on now?
0:05:45 > 0:05:47So, when you tally that up we're talking about more
0:05:47 > 0:05:51than 25-28 units, just in three days that you've drank.
0:05:51 > 0:05:53Does that come as a surprise?
0:05:53 > 0:05:55Um!
0:05:55 > 0:05:58It's surprising because if I sat down and had to tell someone
0:05:58 > 0:06:00what I thought I drank this week,
0:06:00 > 0:06:03I'd say, yes, I had a big night on Monday, with the wine.
0:06:03 > 0:06:06The other two nights I would have thrown away mentally.
0:06:06 > 0:06:09I would have just said, whatever, I had a couple of drinks in a pub.
0:06:09 > 0:06:11I recognise I have an unhealthy pattern
0:06:11 > 0:06:13but I never thought I drank more than the limit.
0:06:13 > 0:06:15- Yeah. - In fact, I'm well above the limit.
0:06:15 > 0:06:19So that's...shocking to me.
0:06:19 > 0:06:23So, across the week, I actually put away twice the recommended
0:06:23 > 0:06:27limit of 14 units, and I'm not alone.
0:06:27 > 0:06:29It's estimated that 13 million of
0:06:29 > 0:06:32us Brits drink above the new weekly limit.
0:06:32 > 0:06:36According to the NHS, drinking above the recommended weekly limits
0:06:36 > 0:06:38automatically puts you at greater risk of developing
0:06:38 > 0:06:42alcohol-related liver disease, so I am keen to find out what impact,
0:06:42 > 0:06:44if any, my drinking has had on my liver.
0:06:46 > 0:06:50'I've come to the Royal Free Hospital in London to meet
0:06:50 > 0:06:52'liver specialist Dr Gautum Mehta.'
0:06:52 > 0:06:54So, let's see how that liver is.
0:06:54 > 0:06:55Right, this is it.
0:06:55 > 0:06:58'Gautum is going to scan my liver to see
0:06:58 > 0:07:00'if there are any signs of damage.'
0:07:00 > 0:07:02OK, nice and relaxed.
0:07:02 > 0:07:04- OK.- Bit of cold jelly.
0:07:04 > 0:07:08'The liver scan uses ultrasound to measure the stiffness of my liver.'
0:07:08 > 0:07:11Here, what we want is not a stiff liver, a low number.
0:07:11 > 0:07:14- What's a normal number? - Most people who are normal would have a number under five.
0:07:14 > 0:07:17- OK.- OK, mine's about four-and-a-half, just so you know.
0:07:17 > 0:07:21- Crossed fingers. - All right, so let's see what we get. - Let's have a look.- Pop that it in.
0:07:21 > 0:07:25'A reading of higher than 7.5 would be consistent with the early
0:07:25 > 0:07:27'stages of liver disease.'
0:07:27 > 0:07:30OK, well, that's given us just over ten valid measurements,
0:07:30 > 0:07:32- which would be what we'd look for. - OK.
0:07:32 > 0:07:36And your score is within the normal range of 5.3, OK, so...
0:07:36 > 0:07:37That's still a little bit high!
0:07:37 > 0:07:40It is a little bit higher than I'd like to see for a young,
0:07:40 > 0:07:41fit, healthy individual.
0:07:41 > 0:07:44What we do know is that alcohol just can cause
0:07:44 > 0:07:46inflammation of the liver as well, and small amounts
0:07:46 > 0:07:49of inflammation can actually cause the Fibroscan to go up a bit.
0:07:49 > 0:07:51- Right.- That might well be what we're seeing here.
0:07:51 > 0:07:53I mean, I've got away with it so far but am I...
0:07:53 > 0:07:56am I guaranteed to stay healthy, with this level of drinking?
0:07:56 > 0:07:58Well, gosh, there's a question.
0:07:58 > 0:08:00So, look, with regards to your liver, I think
0:08:00 > 0:08:04it's fair to say that most people who develop significant liver
0:08:04 > 0:08:06disease, cirrhosis, drink at high levels.
0:08:06 > 0:08:08You can be unlucky and we do see some people who
0:08:08 > 0:08:11drink in the 30-40 bracket, who do develop liver disease.
0:08:11 > 0:08:13- OK.- Why that is we still don't know,
0:08:13 > 0:08:16but there are genes that are involved.
0:08:18 > 0:08:21The causes of alcohol-related liver disease are complex.
0:08:21 > 0:08:24It's not just down to how much you drink.
0:08:24 > 0:08:29Your genes, diet and weight are all factors as well.
0:08:29 > 0:08:30The main message is that if you drink above
0:08:30 > 0:08:34the recommended limit, the greater the risk to your health.
0:08:34 > 0:08:36Now, of course, the best way of avoiding damage to your liver
0:08:36 > 0:08:39is to not drink at all, but if you are going to drink
0:08:39 > 0:08:42I suppose you should stick to the 14-unit limit.
0:08:43 > 0:08:46To keep track of how much you're drinking across a week
0:08:46 > 0:08:48it's best to use units,
0:08:48 > 0:08:52which are a simple measure of how much alcohol is in a drink.
0:08:53 > 0:08:56A single shot of whisky contains one unit.
0:08:56 > 0:08:59A large glass of wine, around three units.
0:08:59 > 0:09:05A standard glass, two units. And a pint of beer about the same.
0:09:05 > 0:09:08And if you do drink your full 14-unit weekly limit,
0:09:08 > 0:09:12then it's recommended that you spread your drinking over three days or more.
0:09:12 > 0:09:15In other words, don't drink it all at once.
0:09:19 > 0:09:24But besides keeping our liver busy, how else does alcohol affect us?
0:09:27 > 0:09:31We've taken over this pub in north-east London to turn
0:09:31 > 0:09:32it into a pub lab...
0:09:33 > 0:09:36..a venue to host some special experiments to demonstrate
0:09:36 > 0:09:38the science of alcohol.
0:09:38 > 0:09:42And tonight we've invited the locals to take part.
0:09:42 > 0:09:44You're actually doing quite well.
0:09:47 > 0:09:50Remarkably, alcohol affects nearly every system of your body,
0:09:50 > 0:09:52from your skin to your blood vessels,
0:09:52 > 0:09:54from your gut to your heart.
0:09:56 > 0:09:58But here in our pub lab we're going to
0:09:58 > 0:10:01look at the effect of alcohol on your brain.
0:10:01 > 0:10:05To drinkers, a lot of this will come as no surprise.
0:10:05 > 0:10:08After a few pints, alcohol affects our sense of balance
0:10:08 > 0:10:13and hand/eye co-ordination, generally making us more clumsy.
0:10:13 > 0:10:17But Dr Tony Moss from London's South Bank University
0:10:17 > 0:10:20is showing me some of alcohol's more subtle effects.
0:10:20 > 0:10:24Firstly, how we begin to lose our self-control after we've had
0:10:24 > 0:10:26a few too many.
0:10:26 > 0:10:28So this is the Batak test.
0:10:28 > 0:10:30The variation that we've put onto this is that we're also
0:10:30 > 0:10:32asking people to listen out for a buzzer
0:10:32 > 0:10:35and if they hear the buzzer to stop themselves pressing the button.
0:10:35 > 0:10:36- BUZZER - Nearly.
0:10:36 > 0:10:38It sounds like an easy thing to do
0:10:38 > 0:10:40but it's deceptively difficult once you've got used to
0:10:40 > 0:10:43pressing the button and you're working, as you can see, so quickly.
0:10:43 > 0:10:47- You're not supposed to press it if you hear the buzzer.- Sorry.
0:10:47 > 0:10:49So the alcohol actually sort of stops you stopping yourself?
0:10:49 > 0:10:52Yes, alcohol has a particular effect on our ability to stop
0:10:52 > 0:10:55ourselves from doing things that we feel that we need to do.
0:10:55 > 0:10:58When people have had a few drinks they press the button when they shouldn't
0:10:58 > 0:11:01because they can't override that response that they've learned.
0:11:01 > 0:11:02BUZZER
0:11:02 > 0:11:03'Time out.'
0:11:05 > 0:11:06What's the cash prize?!
0:11:09 > 0:11:12This next test shows why after a fair few drinks
0:11:12 > 0:11:15although we may be able to do the job of walking home,
0:11:15 > 0:11:19often we arrive to find that we've failed to remember our keys.
0:11:20 > 0:11:22In other words, we can't multi-task.
0:11:22 > 0:11:24997...
0:11:24 > 0:11:28'To demonstrate this, our volunteer has been asked to
0:11:28 > 0:11:30'do two jobs at the same time.'
0:11:30 > 0:11:32993.
0:11:32 > 0:11:34'Counting backwards in sevens...'
0:11:34 > 0:11:37So she's actually almost totally failing at counting.
0:11:37 > 0:11:38'..whilst at the same time
0:11:38 > 0:11:42'rearranging the series of coloured rings on the wooden pegs.'
0:11:43 > 0:11:47We call this a "divided attention task" because you're basically
0:11:47 > 0:11:51trying to do two things at once, which is hard at the best of times.
0:11:51 > 0:11:52Oh!
0:11:52 > 0:11:54And one of the effects of alcohol is it limits
0:11:54 > 0:11:57the amount of sort of mental energy that you've got to be able...
0:11:57 > 0:11:59or mental resource you've got to do these things
0:11:59 > 0:12:01and you'll notice as she's going through the task that one of
0:12:01 > 0:12:04the strategies that she's using is to sort of stop one of the tasks
0:12:04 > 0:12:06so that she can start doing the other one quite well.
0:12:06 > 0:12:08- Very much in relay, not tandem. - Yeah, absolutely.
0:12:08 > 0:12:11- So sorry!- Absolutely brilliant!
0:12:15 > 0:12:18'And finally, this test is aimed at measuring the volunteers'
0:12:18 > 0:12:20'tolerance of pain.
0:12:21 > 0:12:25'In this case, having your hand in a bucket of freezing cold ice,
0:12:25 > 0:12:31'shown here as purple and black on our thermal imaging camera.
0:12:31 > 0:12:34'Sober people tend to give up by around the two-minute mark.'
0:12:34 > 0:12:37How much have you had to drink tonight?
0:12:37 > 0:12:39- Er, three pints.- Three pints.
0:12:39 > 0:12:42'But Stuart here has had his hand in the bucket for an impressive
0:12:42 > 0:12:44'four minutes.'
0:12:44 > 0:12:46I could stay here for quite some time.
0:12:46 > 0:12:50'He can do this because the alcohol is numbing his pain.'
0:12:50 > 0:12:52- Yeah, I think we call it time.- Yeah?
0:12:52 > 0:12:53Yeah. Well done, Stuart.
0:12:53 > 0:12:55It's your call, it's not me.
0:12:55 > 0:12:57Yeah, well, to be clear, it was me calling it time, not you.
0:12:57 > 0:12:59Are your fingers still there?!
0:12:59 > 0:13:01'And that's not all,
0:13:01 > 0:13:05'when we drink, we often get the sensation of feeling warmer.
0:13:05 > 0:13:10'That's because alcohol increases the flow of warm blood to the skin,
0:13:10 > 0:13:15'but the overall effect is that your body actually loses more heat.'
0:13:17 > 0:13:20So although alcohol may make you feel as though you're wearing
0:13:20 > 0:13:23a beer coat, helping you keep warm as you walk home at night,
0:13:23 > 0:13:25in reality it has the opposite effect.
0:13:34 > 0:13:38But perhaps one of the most hotly debated topics in the pub is
0:13:38 > 0:13:42why some people get tipsy very quickly, whilst others seem to
0:13:42 > 0:13:46be able to drink a lot, apparently without feeling much effect.
0:13:48 > 0:13:49So why is this?
0:13:50 > 0:13:54At St Mary's University in Twickenham, I'm meeting five locals who have
0:13:54 > 0:13:56very different experiences with alcohol.
0:13:57 > 0:14:00So, who wants to put their hand up for saying that they can
0:14:00 > 0:14:02drink the most in this group?
0:14:04 > 0:14:06It looks like you got volunteered!
0:14:06 > 0:14:08Yeah, pretty certainly at the heavyweight
0:14:08 > 0:14:11- end of the spectrum, I think, yeah, yeah.- OK.
0:14:11 > 0:14:15'Our volunteers span the full range, from alcohol heavyweight Ian
0:14:15 > 0:14:19'to Stacey and Andrea, who feel the effects of alcohol quickly.'
0:14:19 > 0:14:22- I'd say I'm a lightweight.- Yeah? - Yeah.
0:14:22 > 0:14:24Couple of glasses and I get a bit giggly...
0:14:24 > 0:14:26'And as for our two students, Ian and Jacob...'
0:14:26 > 0:14:29- Maybe somewhere in the middle. - Yeah?- Can hold a...hold a couple.
0:14:29 > 0:14:33- And for you?- Er, probably just about two pints and start feeling it.
0:14:33 > 0:14:35Brilliant, well, thanks for coming.
0:14:37 > 0:14:38'So, to put it crudely,
0:14:38 > 0:14:42'why do some people get drunk quicker than others?'
0:14:42 > 0:14:44OK, and if you'd just like to come and stand on this
0:14:44 > 0:14:47platform for me with your heels touching the back.
0:14:47 > 0:14:51With the help of sports scientist Dr Paul Huff
0:14:51 > 0:14:55and alcohol researcher Professor Celia Morgan,
0:14:55 > 0:14:58we're going to get to the bottom of this conundrum.
0:15:00 > 0:15:03And it won't involve our volunteers touching a single drop.
0:15:04 > 0:15:08Well, what we're essentially trying to do here, Javid,
0:15:08 > 0:15:10is work out the total amount of water in someone's body.
0:15:10 > 0:15:14Mm-hm. Now, why that's important with alcohol is that it's not just
0:15:14 > 0:15:16the volume of alcohol that you drink that's important,
0:15:16 > 0:15:18it's its concentration in your blood.
0:15:18 > 0:15:21So what we call the blood-alcohol concentration.
0:15:23 > 0:15:27So how drunk you feel is all down to the concentration of alcohol
0:15:27 > 0:15:31in your blood, and one of the main factors that determines this
0:15:31 > 0:15:33is the amount of water in your body.
0:15:33 > 0:15:37If two people have different amounts of water in their body,
0:15:37 > 0:15:40take the same amount of alcohol, the person with more
0:15:40 > 0:15:42water in their body gets less drunk.
0:15:42 > 0:15:44Exactly, it's almost you can think of the water in your body
0:15:44 > 0:15:46diluting the effects of the alcohol.
0:15:46 > 0:15:49And so that's why some people get more drunk than others?
0:15:49 > 0:15:50That's exactly right, yes.
0:15:52 > 0:15:55So let's see if the diluting effect of body water can
0:15:55 > 0:15:59explain our volunteers' different experiences with drink.
0:15:59 > 0:16:01Take a seat in the Bod Pod.
0:16:01 > 0:16:05To work out precisely how much water is in our volunteers' bodies
0:16:05 > 0:16:07involves measuring two things.
0:16:08 > 0:16:12Firstly, Paul is using the Bod Pod machine to
0:16:12 > 0:16:14measure our volunteers' body volume.
0:16:16 > 0:16:19Next, Paul is passing a small electrical current
0:16:19 > 0:16:22through our volunteers' bodies to analyse how
0:16:22 > 0:16:25much of their bodies is fat and how much is muscle.
0:16:26 > 0:16:30There's much more water in muscle than fat and so the more
0:16:30 > 0:16:34muscle our volunteers have, the more diluting water their bodies contain.
0:16:41 > 0:16:43So, what are the results?
0:16:44 > 0:16:47In first and second place are the two Ians,
0:16:47 > 0:16:50with 66 litres
0:16:50 > 0:16:53and 51 litres of water in their body.
0:16:55 > 0:16:58In third place is Jacob, with 46 litres.
0:16:58 > 0:17:02And in fourth and fifth place
0:17:02 > 0:17:04are our alcohol lightweights,
0:17:04 > 0:17:06Andrea, with 34 litres,
0:17:06 > 0:17:08and Stacey with 31 litres.
0:17:10 > 0:17:13Celia has calculated what this means in terms of how our volunteers
0:17:13 > 0:17:15handle their drink.
0:17:17 > 0:17:20Laid out on each table are pints of beer that our volunteers
0:17:20 > 0:17:22might drink on an evening out,
0:17:22 > 0:17:25and their position on the track
0:17:25 > 0:17:30represents how drunk the volunteer would feel after drinking them.
0:17:30 > 0:17:32From sober to tipsy,
0:17:32 > 0:17:34to more and more drunk.
0:17:37 > 0:17:40Ian, if you drank one pint, your blood alcohol would rise to that
0:17:40 > 0:17:41first table.
0:17:41 > 0:17:44Stacey, yours would rise all the way to here.
0:17:46 > 0:17:50'And this shows why alcohol lightweight Stacey gets drunk
0:17:50 > 0:17:52'so much faster than heavyweight Ian.'
0:17:54 > 0:17:57So your size and your body shape really makes a difference.
0:18:00 > 0:18:01Alcohol dehydrates us,
0:18:01 > 0:18:05so it's always a good idea to drink plenty of water on your night out
0:18:05 > 0:18:09to ensure your body water is kept at its normal, healthy level.
0:18:09 > 0:18:11But beyond this,
0:18:11 > 0:18:14if you're really keen to handle your drink better, then whether
0:18:14 > 0:18:18you're a man or a woman, the only option is to become more muscular.
0:18:19 > 0:18:21Leave the pub and go visit the gym.
0:18:24 > 0:18:28On drinks labels you'll always find the strength of alcohol,
0:18:28 > 0:18:32or alcohol by volume, and often the number of units too.
0:18:33 > 0:18:36But what's rare is to see the number of calories
0:18:36 > 0:18:40and it's not surprising because the numbers are pretty horrifying.
0:18:41 > 0:18:45A single shot of spirits contains 59 calories,
0:18:45 > 0:18:48roughly the same as a bourbon biscuit.
0:18:48 > 0:18:51A large glass of wine contains 180 calories,
0:18:51 > 0:18:53the same as a teacake.
0:18:55 > 0:18:59And a typical pint of beer has 215 calories,
0:18:59 > 0:19:01the same as a jam doughnut.
0:19:02 > 0:19:05And whilst it's true that our bodies process
0:19:05 > 0:19:08the calories from alcohol differently to the calories
0:19:08 > 0:19:11from fat or sugar, they're all potentially fattening.
0:19:12 > 0:19:14But if you're worried about your waistline,
0:19:14 > 0:19:17it isn't just alcohol's calories that you should be wary of.
0:19:17 > 0:19:21Could alcohol actually make us eat more?
0:19:26 > 0:19:29We've returned to the pub lab to do a special demonstration with
0:19:29 > 0:19:32experimental psychologist Dr Sam Caton
0:19:32 > 0:19:35from the University of Sheffield.
0:19:35 > 0:19:38Her research suggests that alcohol might be able to trick us
0:19:38 > 0:19:42into eating more, without us even noticing.
0:19:43 > 0:19:45And taking part,
0:19:45 > 0:19:48drinking beer in the name of science, are two sports teams
0:19:48 > 0:19:50from Queen Mary University of London.
0:19:52 > 0:19:54We're going to do an experiment today, so it may involve
0:19:54 > 0:19:57drinking some beer. I think you might be OK with that.
0:19:57 > 0:19:58Yeah!
0:19:58 > 0:20:02Excellent, OK, let's have the hockey players here
0:20:02 > 0:20:05and the footballers through the back in the snug.
0:20:06 > 0:20:09'So that the students behave as normal, we've told them that
0:20:09 > 0:20:12'the purpose of the experiment is to test
0:20:12 > 0:20:14'how alcohol affects their memory.'
0:20:14 > 0:20:17You've got the next five minutes to remember as many as you can.
0:20:17 > 0:20:20'We haven't mentioned anything about food.'
0:20:20 > 0:20:21Time's up.
0:20:21 > 0:20:23Quite a lot there...
0:20:23 > 0:20:25'And the other thing the students don't know...'
0:20:25 > 0:20:27Here come the pints, guys.
0:20:27 > 0:20:29'..is that whilst one table
0:20:29 > 0:20:31'is being served with normal alcoholic beer...'
0:20:31 > 0:20:33Cheers all.
0:20:33 > 0:20:36'..the other will be given non-alcoholic beer.
0:20:37 > 0:20:40'We're hoping they won't notice the difference.'
0:20:40 > 0:20:41So here are your beers.
0:20:41 > 0:20:44- Thank you very much.- Enjoy. - Cheers, guys.
0:20:45 > 0:20:48You're such a stay of a human!
0:20:49 > 0:20:53The calories in alcohol are often referred to as "empty calories"
0:20:53 > 0:20:56because unlike most food they don't fill us up.
0:20:57 > 0:20:59'In fact, according to Sam's research,
0:20:59 > 0:21:02'alcohol has the opposite effect.
0:21:02 > 0:21:04'It actually makes us eat more.'
0:21:04 > 0:21:07We're ready, let's see how much they eat.
0:21:07 > 0:21:10'So let's see if this is the case with our students.
0:21:10 > 0:21:13'Both teams have been served with two pints of beer
0:21:13 > 0:21:15'and then offered bowls of snacks.
0:21:16 > 0:21:20'The question is, will the students that have drunk the alcoholic beer
0:21:20 > 0:21:24'eat more than those that have had the non-alcoholic beer?'
0:21:24 > 0:21:25..if they're real crisps.
0:21:25 > 0:21:27These are nice crisps, actually.
0:21:27 > 0:21:31'After 15 minutes, we clear away the leftovers.'
0:21:31 > 0:21:33Hiya, Sam, these are the peanuts from the footballers.
0:21:33 > 0:21:35Thank you.
0:21:35 > 0:21:37'And Sam tots up what's been eaten.'
0:21:40 > 0:21:42'It's time to fess up to our students.'
0:21:44 > 0:21:48You guys actually had non-alcoholic beer, could you tell?
0:21:48 > 0:21:50LAUGHTER
0:21:50 > 0:21:52- So it tasted different? - Not happy about that.
0:21:52 > 0:21:55Not happy about that. I'm sorry, you got the dead end of the deal here.
0:21:55 > 0:21:58Oh, well, OK, and you guys actually had proper beer,
0:21:58 > 0:22:02but, actually, the real part of the experiment was about food intake.
0:22:02 > 0:22:06And consistent with the results that we obtained in the laboratory,
0:22:06 > 0:22:10the guys that consumed alcohol consumed much more food
0:22:10 > 0:22:12compared to you guys.
0:22:12 > 0:22:17So, on average, collectively you consumed 11% more calories
0:22:17 > 0:22:19compared to the no-alcohol group.
0:22:19 > 0:22:21So you guys were given the same amount of crisps
0:22:21 > 0:22:25and peanuts for the same amount of time and the red bowls are
0:22:25 > 0:22:27the people who had alcohol,
0:22:27 > 0:22:30and the green bowls are the ones that didn't.
0:22:31 > 0:22:35Overall, if we add together the energy from the alcoholic
0:22:35 > 0:22:40beverages, you guys consumed 872 calories, whilst you guys
0:22:40 > 0:22:46consumed 576, and that represents a 34% increase in total energy intake.
0:22:46 > 0:22:48Each!
0:22:48 > 0:22:49LAUGHTER
0:22:51 > 0:22:55So it seems that alcohol does actually make us eat more.
0:22:55 > 0:22:59The students who drank the two pints of real beer each consumed,
0:22:59 > 0:23:03on average, a total of 300 extra calories.
0:23:04 > 0:23:07The same as four-and-a-half bourbon biscuits.
0:23:07 > 0:23:10And all of this without them noticing a thing.
0:23:12 > 0:23:15The precise mechanism about how alcohol affects appetite is
0:23:15 > 0:23:17still being researched by scientists.
0:23:17 > 0:23:20At the end of the day, it's important for you to know, not only
0:23:20 > 0:23:24does alcohol have a lot of calories, it also has the power to make
0:23:24 > 0:23:25you eat more.
0:23:30 > 0:23:34But is the relationship between alcohol and food always a bad one?
0:23:34 > 0:23:38Could food before booze ever be a good thing?
0:23:38 > 0:23:41Lining your stomach is the idea that if you have a big meal
0:23:41 > 0:23:44before you drink, you'll be able to handle your booze better.
0:23:44 > 0:23:49Lots of us do it before a big night out, but how exactly does it work?
0:23:51 > 0:23:56It's Bonfire Night, and with the help of my friend Natalie,
0:23:56 > 0:23:58I am going to put this to the test.
0:23:58 > 0:24:01- Hi.- Hey, Nat, come in, how you doing?
0:24:01 > 0:24:04'Although not ideal from a scientific perspective -
0:24:04 > 0:24:08'Natalie is a woman and I am man - we're roughly the same size
0:24:08 > 0:24:10'and weight, and so reasonably matched.'
0:24:12 > 0:24:17The plan is that we're both going to drink a single, large glass of wine.
0:24:17 > 0:24:20Natalie is going to drink on an empty stomach.
0:24:21 > 0:24:23I am going to line my stomach with food.
0:24:25 > 0:24:28But first, it's time to eat a rather hi-tech hors d'oeuvre.
0:24:28 > 0:24:32So, before I line my stomach with this lovely meal, I am going
0:24:32 > 0:24:36to swallow this pill cam, so you can see the inside of my stomach.
0:24:36 > 0:24:37Here goes.
0:24:40 > 0:24:43'This has to be the best dinner-party trick ever.'
0:24:43 > 0:24:46- There it is, you can see it in my stomach.- Oh, gosh!
0:24:46 > 0:24:50Wow. So, now you can see my stomach is empty.
0:24:50 > 0:24:51It's time to eat.
0:24:54 > 0:24:58The idea behind lining your stomach is to do with the fact that
0:24:58 > 0:25:02alcohol is mostly absorbed not whilst in the stomach
0:25:02 > 0:25:04but once it reaches the small intestine.
0:25:06 > 0:25:10If your stomach is full of food then the alcohol is held up
0:25:10 > 0:25:13and takes longer to get into your system.
0:25:13 > 0:25:15You can see some green broccoli there.
0:25:16 > 0:25:18Time for the vino.
0:25:18 > 0:25:19Yes.
0:25:20 > 0:25:22'Lined stomach versus empty stomach,
0:25:22 > 0:25:25'let's see what difference the food makes.'
0:25:27 > 0:25:30'Throughout the evening we are going to breathalyse
0:25:30 > 0:25:32'ourselves to see how we compare
0:25:32 > 0:25:35'and it's time for our first reading.'
0:25:35 > 0:25:38Is yours ready? Go.
0:25:39 > 0:25:40BOTH EXHALE
0:25:44 > 0:25:46- Ah!- 44 for Nat.- 44.
0:25:49 > 0:25:5123, yeah!
0:25:51 > 0:25:54'So already there's a big difference.'
0:25:56 > 0:26:00But will my readings catch up with Natalie's over the next few hours?
0:26:02 > 0:26:0332.
0:26:03 > 0:26:0715. The lining is working.
0:26:07 > 0:26:11But, of course, there's a second character in the story,
0:26:11 > 0:26:13and that's the liver.
0:26:13 > 0:26:16For most people, the liver gets rid of about one unit,
0:26:16 > 0:26:20or the equivalent of one single shot of spirits, every hour.
0:26:21 > 0:26:25- Eight. 'And it's the same rate however much you drink.'- 21.
0:26:27 > 0:26:31The enzyme in the liver that does the job of processing the alcohol
0:26:31 > 0:26:35is actually present in small amounts in the lining of the stomach.
0:26:36 > 0:26:38So when your stomach is full
0:26:38 > 0:26:42and the alcohol is kept there for longer, this lining can do
0:26:42 > 0:26:45some of the work that's normally just left to the liver.
0:26:46 > 0:26:50Men tend to have more of this enzyme active in their stomach than women,
0:26:50 > 0:26:53meaning that lining your stomach has an even bigger
0:26:53 > 0:26:55effect if you're a man.
0:26:55 > 0:26:56Zero!
0:26:58 > 0:26:5912.
0:27:00 > 0:27:02Argh!
0:27:04 > 0:27:08So the results are in, and Natalie's alcohol level did this
0:27:08 > 0:27:10and my alcohol level did this.
0:27:12 > 0:27:14So lining your stomach works.
0:27:16 > 0:27:20Scientific studies have shown that eating food before you drink
0:27:20 > 0:27:23crucially means that your blood alcohol level peaks
0:27:23 > 0:27:27at a lower value, meaning that you feel the effects less.
0:27:27 > 0:27:31So lining your stomach is a good idea, however you plan to drink.
0:27:33 > 0:27:36We've heard about the risks to our health of alcohol in general
0:27:36 > 0:27:38but red wine in particular has had more than its fair share
0:27:38 > 0:27:41of headlines, claiming that it's good for us.
0:27:41 > 0:27:44So what's behind its healthy reputation?
0:27:44 > 0:27:47It's good for the blood, is it, possibly? Maybe.
0:27:47 > 0:27:50So it's quite good for your sort of thinning your blood out.
0:27:50 > 0:27:53Doesn't it prolong your life, is that wrong?!
0:27:54 > 0:27:57This popular notion that red wine is good for us
0:27:57 > 0:28:01has its origins in what's become known as the "French paradox".
0:28:03 > 0:28:06It's the fact that even though the French have a diet rich in
0:28:06 > 0:28:09saturated fat, their incidence of
0:28:09 > 0:28:12coronary heart disease is relatively low.
0:28:13 > 0:28:19In the early 1990s, two wine-loving scientists proposed a solution.
0:28:19 > 0:28:23Might all the red wine that the French drink somehow cancel out
0:28:23 > 0:28:25the unhealthy aspects of their diet?
0:28:26 > 0:28:29Or is that just wishful thinking?
0:28:29 > 0:28:32'To get to the bottom of this, I've met up with researcher
0:28:32 > 0:28:36'Dr Wendy Hall, and she is taking me to her labs
0:28:36 > 0:28:38'at St Thomas's Hospital in London.'
0:28:38 > 0:28:41- Right, if you'd like to come through, Javid.- OK.
0:28:41 > 0:28:43- This is our vascular lab.- Cool.
0:28:43 > 0:28:45And I'd like to introduce you to Benu, our vascular specialist.
0:28:45 > 0:28:47- Benu, hello. Javid. - Hi, nice to meet you.
0:28:47 > 0:28:50- Nice to meet you, too. I've brought the red wine that you asked for.- OK.
0:28:50 > 0:28:54'Wendy and Benu are going to look at how my blood vessels dilate
0:28:54 > 0:28:59'or expand before and after a single large glass of wine,
0:28:59 > 0:29:03'because, according to research, if red wine is good for our heart,
0:29:03 > 0:29:05'then one of the reasons might just be
0:29:05 > 0:29:09'because it's good for our blood vessels, making them dilate
0:29:09 > 0:29:12'better and having positive effects like reducing blood pressure.'
0:29:12 > 0:29:16OK. So now you can get up now.
0:29:16 > 0:29:18Guess, Wendy, now it's time for the wine?
0:29:18 > 0:29:20Yes, let's go ahead.
0:29:20 > 0:29:23# Red red wine... #
0:29:23 > 0:29:25- Cheers.- OK, cheers.
0:29:25 > 0:29:28'The particular compounds in red wine thought to be
0:29:28 > 0:29:31'good for our blood vessels are called polyphenols...
0:29:32 > 0:29:34'..natural chemicals from grape pips
0:29:34 > 0:29:38'and skin that give red wine its colour and taste.'
0:29:38 > 0:29:39That was fast!
0:29:41 > 0:29:44'After drinking the wine, I wait an hour to give it time to take
0:29:44 > 0:29:49'effect, and then Benu repeats the measurement on my blood vessels.
0:29:50 > 0:29:52'So, has the single,
0:29:52 > 0:29:55'large glass of red wine made my blood vessels dilate more?'
0:29:57 > 0:29:59Cool, we have results, what do they show?
0:29:59 > 0:30:03They show that after you drank the wine there was a large
0:30:03 > 0:30:06increase in the diameter of your artery in your arm,
0:30:06 > 0:30:08so this would suggest that
0:30:08 > 0:30:11if you've got a large vasodilation like that,
0:30:11 > 0:30:13that it might decrease blood pressure
0:30:13 > 0:30:15and have beneficial effects
0:30:15 > 0:30:17on your cardiovascular system.
0:30:17 > 0:30:18That's a good thing to happen.
0:30:18 > 0:30:20Yes, you were fully dilated!
0:30:20 > 0:30:21OK!
0:30:23 > 0:30:27So, red wine in particular is potentially good for our heart
0:30:27 > 0:30:29because of the effects from its polyphenols.
0:30:31 > 0:30:33But which wines contain the most?
0:30:33 > 0:30:36- Let's start with the rioja.- Right.
0:30:36 > 0:30:41'To find out, we're testing six classic wines from around the world,
0:30:41 > 0:30:44'five red and, just to be sure, one white.'
0:30:44 > 0:30:47- OK, that's ready now.- Mm-hm.
0:30:47 > 0:30:51'The darker the liquid turns when we add Wendy's special reagent,
0:30:51 > 0:30:54'the more polyphenols the wine contains.'
0:30:54 > 0:30:56That's definitely gone dark.
0:30:56 > 0:30:58Yeah, it's a very dark colour.
0:30:58 > 0:31:00'And to get a precise measurement,
0:31:00 > 0:31:03'Wendy runs the samples through a spectrophotometer machine
0:31:03 > 0:31:08'and ranks the wines according to how much polyphenols they contain.'
0:31:09 > 0:31:13So the wine, as expected, with the lowest polyphenol content was
0:31:13 > 0:31:14the white wine.
0:31:14 > 0:31:16In this case it was a Sauvignon Blanc.
0:31:16 > 0:31:22- Mmm, OK.- So, a standard glass, 175mls, contains about 60 milligrams
0:31:22 > 0:31:23of total polyphenols.
0:31:23 > 0:31:26OK. And how much did our number one have?
0:31:26 > 0:31:31The wine from Umbria in Italy, from the Sagrantino grape,
0:31:31 > 0:31:33the final results show that it had a total polyphenol
0:31:33 > 0:31:36content of 737 milligrams.
0:31:36 > 0:31:37Wow, that's huge!
0:31:37 > 0:31:40So it's about ten times the amount of polyphenols in this wine...
0:31:40 > 0:31:43- Wow!- ..than this one.- That one.
0:31:43 > 0:31:46So there's some adage in the old saying that a glass of red wine
0:31:46 > 0:31:49is good for your heart, at least when compared to a white?
0:31:49 > 0:31:52Well, certainly, if you're going to choose to have a glass of wine
0:31:52 > 0:31:54with your meal, there may be some added benefits to choosing
0:31:54 > 0:31:57a red wine compared to the white wine.
0:31:58 > 0:32:02As a rule of thumb, the darker the wine the more polyphenols it
0:32:02 > 0:32:06contains, and this is what our tests showed.
0:32:06 > 0:32:09A little known Italian grape scored the highest.
0:32:10 > 0:32:14In second place, a popular Cabernet Sauvignon.
0:32:14 > 0:32:16And in last place, the Sauvignon Blanc.
0:32:18 > 0:32:20But the bad news is that
0:32:20 > 0:32:23although it may be a good idea to choose wines that are high in
0:32:23 > 0:32:27polyphenols, on its own this isn't justification for drinking more...
0:32:29 > 0:32:33..because polyphenols are also found in lots of other drinks and foods.
0:32:34 > 0:32:38So what we can see here, we've got a few examples of foods that
0:32:38 > 0:32:42contain the same amount of total polyphenols as a standard
0:32:42 > 0:32:44glass of wine, 175mls.
0:32:44 > 0:32:46OK.
0:32:46 > 0:32:48So, for example, we only need to eat
0:32:48 > 0:32:5024g of walnuts to consume
0:32:50 > 0:32:53the same amount of polyphenols that's in that glass of wine.
0:32:53 > 0:32:55- That's not very much at all, actually.- Yeah.
0:32:55 > 0:32:56Not much dark chocolate, either.
0:32:56 > 0:33:00- No, it's 70% cocoa solids dark chocolate.- Ah.
0:33:00 > 0:33:04And an apple and a half contains as many polyphenols as is in a glass of red wine.
0:33:04 > 0:33:07You're giving me too many excuses not to have red wine here.
0:33:07 > 0:33:08And what about this tea?
0:33:08 > 0:33:12So, 360mls of tea will contain
0:33:12 > 0:33:14the same amount of total polyphenols as wine
0:33:14 > 0:33:16and we all drink, probably...
0:33:16 > 0:33:18- most of us drink more than that every day.- In a day.
0:33:21 > 0:33:25So, in principle, you can get all the potential health benefits
0:33:25 > 0:33:28of polyphenols without consuming alcohol.
0:33:29 > 0:33:32So would you recommend that we all start drinking red wine?
0:33:32 > 0:33:35No, what it tells us is that red wine is a good
0:33:35 > 0:33:39example of a polyphenol-rich food, but if you eat a diet that's
0:33:39 > 0:33:43varied in fruit and vegetables, and nuts and wholegrain cereals,
0:33:43 > 0:33:46you'll be consuming a large variety of polyphenols
0:33:46 > 0:33:50and this will be protective against heart disease and stroke.
0:33:55 > 0:33:58But polyphenols aside, there is evidence that alcohol itself
0:33:58 > 0:34:01may have a protective effect against heart disease.
0:34:01 > 0:34:04However, that's only if you're drinking small amounts
0:34:04 > 0:34:08and that protective effect is only marginal for most of us.
0:34:08 > 0:34:10But the exception is for women aged over 55,
0:34:10 > 0:34:14for whom drinking two glasses of wine a week, or roughly five units,
0:34:14 > 0:34:17has actually proven an overall significant effect.
0:34:19 > 0:34:20Still to come -
0:34:20 > 0:34:24we're on the quest to find the ultimate hangover remedy...
0:34:24 > 0:34:25I just need my bed.
0:34:25 > 0:34:29..and why have the weekly recommended limits changed so much?
0:34:30 > 0:34:33But first, is a nightcap good for your sleep?
0:34:39 > 0:34:43Alcohol has a long history of being used as a sleep aid.
0:34:44 > 0:34:46I always smile when I remember back to
0:34:46 > 0:34:49when I was a medical student and nightcaps were prescribed
0:34:49 > 0:34:53on the drug charts at night, so if you looked at the pharmacy
0:34:53 > 0:34:56cupboard you could see a bottle of Bailey's, a bottle of whisky and
0:34:56 > 0:35:01a bottle of gin, and if Ethel needed a gin at 10pm you'd prescribe it.
0:35:03 > 0:35:07According to one survey, over five million Brits use alcohol to
0:35:07 > 0:35:08help them get to sleep.
0:35:09 > 0:35:13With men tending to opt for whisky, and women a glass of wine.
0:35:16 > 0:35:20But is an alcoholic nightcap really such a good idea?
0:35:21 > 0:35:22'To find out, I've come to
0:35:22 > 0:35:25'the University of Surrey's Sleep Research Centre.'
0:35:25 > 0:35:26Thank you.
0:35:26 > 0:35:31'Here they research the science of the perfect night's sleep.
0:35:31 > 0:35:32'And what I want to know is
0:35:32 > 0:35:36'whether the alcoholic nightcap is friend or foe.'
0:35:36 > 0:35:39- Derk-Jan.- Javid, I assume.
0:35:39 > 0:35:40Hello, how you doing?
0:35:40 > 0:35:44'Sleep expert Professor Derk-Jan Dijk has agreed to host me
0:35:44 > 0:35:45'at the Sleep Centre this evening.'
0:35:45 > 0:35:48Well, this is our, er, sleep, it's not a comfortable,
0:35:48 > 0:35:49cosy bedroom you will see.
0:35:49 > 0:35:51It looks like a safe!
0:35:51 > 0:35:54'He is going to measure my sleep patterns to see what effect
0:35:54 > 0:35:55'alcohol has.'
0:35:55 > 0:36:00OK, I have brought something to help me. Look at that.
0:36:00 > 0:36:04Oh, wow, not...not bad for a... for a whisky.
0:36:04 > 0:36:06OK, we'll put it there, then.
0:36:06 > 0:36:07Great.
0:36:07 > 0:36:09'Derk-Jan's colleague Giuseppe
0:36:09 > 0:36:12'has the job of getting me ready for bed.'
0:36:12 > 0:36:14Head down for me, thank you.
0:36:14 > 0:36:17'He's fitting me with this colourful set of electrodes that will
0:36:17 > 0:36:19'measure my brainwaves as I sleep.'
0:36:19 > 0:36:22I feel like I'm having my head plaited or something.
0:36:23 > 0:36:27'Research has shown that alcohol has a big effect on sleep,
0:36:27 > 0:36:31'particularly as we get older, as our sleep generally becomes lighter
0:36:31 > 0:36:33'and more fragile.'
0:36:33 > 0:36:37You may have been able to drink and sleep well when you were young
0:36:37 > 0:36:42but by the time you hit 40 or 50,
0:36:42 > 0:36:47the disruptive effect of alcohol increases quite a bit.
0:36:47 > 0:36:48Right.
0:36:48 > 0:36:51And that disruptive effect of alcohol is much
0:36:51 > 0:36:55stronger in older people than in young people.
0:36:55 > 0:36:58- Ah.- We are done.- Oh, lovely.
0:36:58 > 0:37:00I think you are good for the night.
0:37:00 > 0:37:02- Great. - So I am going to go home now.
0:37:02 > 0:37:05- Thank you very much.- And you're going to do some work for us.
0:37:05 > 0:37:08- Yes, it's going to be hard work. - And, er, and sleep, so, OK, guys.
0:37:08 > 0:37:10- Bye-bye, see you tomorrow. - Have a good night.
0:37:14 > 0:37:17Thank you very much, Giuseppe, goodnight.
0:37:17 > 0:37:19'But despite what Derk-Jan says,
0:37:19 > 0:37:24'I am still holding out hope that five million of us aren't wrong.
0:37:24 > 0:37:26'It's time for my double whisky.'
0:37:28 > 0:37:29Let's see if this works.
0:37:38 > 0:37:41# Sleeping
0:37:41 > 0:37:44# I am the sleeper
0:37:47 > 0:37:50# Sleeping
0:37:51 > 0:37:54# I am the sleeper
0:37:57 > 0:37:59# Sleeping... #
0:38:02 > 0:38:04OK, Javid, time to get up now.
0:38:04 > 0:38:05Oh.
0:38:07 > 0:38:09Good morning.
0:38:09 > 0:38:10Morning.
0:38:10 > 0:38:12- How are you, then? - I'm good, thank you.
0:38:12 > 0:38:17Well, let's have a look at what the data show and then we can tell.
0:38:17 > 0:38:20The squiggly lines show my brainwaves and from these
0:38:20 > 0:38:24Derk-Jan has been able to work out my sleep patterns for the night.
0:38:25 > 0:38:28Red blocks for when we do most of our dreaming,
0:38:28 > 0:38:34yellow and green for light sleep, and blue for deep sleep,
0:38:34 > 0:38:37and where it's blank, that's where I was awake.
0:38:37 > 0:38:38So how well did I actually sleep?
0:38:39 > 0:38:43So, if we start from the beginning when you are awake
0:38:43 > 0:38:46and the lights go off, you know,
0:38:46 > 0:38:49- it takes you approximately 10-15 minutes to fall asleep.- Right.
0:38:49 > 0:38:53So that's not bad, considering this is the first time, new environment.
0:38:53 > 0:38:57Obviously here we see now a lot of deep sleep
0:38:57 > 0:39:02but as the night progresses you can see that this deep sleep disappears
0:39:02 > 0:39:06and what we are left with in the second part of the night,
0:39:06 > 0:39:09you know, quite a period of wakefulness,
0:39:09 > 0:39:11you again see this wake EEG.
0:39:11 > 0:39:14And I don't remember them, but I must have, I must have been, yes.
0:39:14 > 0:39:18So, when we look at it overall, not a brilliant night of sleep.
0:39:20 > 0:39:23And my poor night's sleep is consistent with what's been
0:39:23 > 0:39:27shown before in scientific studies that have compared sleep with
0:39:27 > 0:39:29alcohol versus sleep without.
0:39:30 > 0:39:34And scientists think that there is a connection between the extra
0:39:34 > 0:39:37deep sleep that alcohol seems to cause when we first nod off,
0:39:37 > 0:39:39and our lighter sleep later on.
0:39:40 > 0:39:42Although alcohol gets you off to sleep faster,
0:39:42 > 0:39:45and have a deeper sleep in the first half of the night,
0:39:45 > 0:39:48in the second half of the night there's a rebound effect.
0:39:48 > 0:39:50You have fragmented, lighter sleep.
0:39:51 > 0:39:54So it seems that booze doesn't really help you snooze.
0:40:00 > 0:40:03But if you've had a lot to drink, then bad night's sleep is
0:40:03 > 0:40:06likely to be the least of your problems.
0:40:06 > 0:40:09Search the internet for hangover cures
0:40:09 > 0:40:11and there are literally hundreds of suggestions,
0:40:11 > 0:40:16from the familiar, such as vitamin C, coffee, water, to other
0:40:16 > 0:40:19things such as Marmite, sauerkraut and even charcoal tablets.
0:40:19 > 0:40:23But despite the huge public interest there's actually been very
0:40:23 > 0:40:25little research into hangover remedies,
0:40:25 > 0:40:29which is why perhaps everyone has their own favourite.
0:40:29 > 0:40:32When you get home at the end of the night, drink loads of water.
0:40:32 > 0:40:34Cooked breakfast and fat Coke.
0:40:34 > 0:40:37So what is the best remedy for a hangover?
0:40:38 > 0:40:40Well, we're going to try and answer this question once and for all.
0:40:42 > 0:40:45'I'm meeting hangover expert Dr Richard Stephens.'
0:40:45 > 0:40:47Oh, right, what have we got here, then?
0:40:47 > 0:40:49'He's selected two hangover remedies for us
0:40:49 > 0:40:53'to test that apparently have more science to back them up than most.
0:40:54 > 0:40:58'One over-the-counter supplement that can be taken before drinking,
0:40:58 > 0:41:00'the other for the morning after.'
0:41:01 > 0:41:04Richard, this I recognise, good old fry-up.
0:41:04 > 0:41:08- That's right.- What is this? Looks like it's got a hangover today?
0:41:08 > 0:41:11So this is borage, so borage is a herb
0:41:11 > 0:41:13and from these flowers come seeds.
0:41:13 > 0:41:18Here's...we've got some seeds here, and we extract oil from the seeds,
0:41:18 > 0:41:20- sometimes known as starflower oil.- Right.
0:41:20 > 0:41:22And that's what we've got in these capsules here.
0:41:22 > 0:41:25You know there are a lot of people out there selling
0:41:25 > 0:41:29- hangover remedies.- Yeah. - OK, mostly junk in my opinion.
0:41:29 > 0:41:33However, there is some research behind taking one of these
0:41:33 > 0:41:35capsules as a hangover remedy.
0:41:35 > 0:41:38- Just the one?- Just one capsule, that's the standard dose.
0:41:38 > 0:41:42- Oh, right. Why does this work? - OK, for the nation's favourite hangover remedy, probably,
0:41:42 > 0:41:43a good old fry-up.
0:41:43 > 0:41:46So there is some evidence that one of the biological
0:41:46 > 0:41:49- underlyings of a hangover is a drop in glucose.- Right.
0:41:49 > 0:41:51So if you have one of these the next morning
0:41:51 > 0:41:54when you've got a hangover, that's got a lot of sugars in it.
0:41:54 > 0:41:56- Yes, it does. - That will restore those sugars.
0:41:56 > 0:41:59So, tonight, we're going to get some volunteers,
0:41:59 > 0:42:03we're going to be dosing them up with alcohol to a set
0:42:03 > 0:42:06blood-alcohol level, and then we're going to see what their hangover
0:42:06 > 0:42:10is like in the morning and whether these have made any difference.
0:42:10 > 0:42:12I know which group I'd like to be in.
0:42:12 > 0:42:13I'd be with you!
0:42:15 > 0:42:18To test these two hangover remedies is going to require
0:42:18 > 0:42:20some serious drinking.
0:42:23 > 0:42:26And I thought where better to organise a piss-up
0:42:26 > 0:42:27than in a brewery.
0:42:30 > 0:42:32This is Arkell's Brewery in Swindon.
0:42:35 > 0:42:39And we've invited the workforce to take part in Richard's experiment.
0:42:40 > 0:42:44Team Green, if you could put one of these armbands on, please,
0:42:44 > 0:42:45thank you very much.
0:42:45 > 0:42:47We're first splitting up the volunteers from the workforce
0:42:47 > 0:42:50into three separate groups.
0:42:50 > 0:42:51It's terribly big.
0:42:51 > 0:42:53Blue Team, you are our breakfast group,
0:42:53 > 0:42:56you will be having the fry-up in the morning, good?
0:42:56 > 0:42:57Yes.
0:42:57 > 0:43:00Yellows, you are our control group.
0:43:00 > 0:43:02- I'm afraid you're not getting anything.- Yay!
0:43:02 > 0:43:05Yeah? And Greens, you've guessed it, you are going to be the borage
0:43:05 > 0:43:08group, so you're going to get some borage before you start drinking.
0:43:08 > 0:43:10Hurrah!
0:43:11 > 0:43:12Great, let's go.
0:43:14 > 0:43:17Whereas the fry-up is designed to replenish low glucose levels
0:43:17 > 0:43:20and is eaten after we have felt the effects of alcohol,
0:43:20 > 0:43:24borage is taken before drinking as a preventative measure.
0:43:24 > 0:43:25Down the hatch.
0:43:27 > 0:43:30And relies on the fact that its rich in a particular fatty acid
0:43:30 > 0:43:32that's an anti-inflammatory.
0:43:32 > 0:43:35- OK, drink away, enjoy. - Wait a minute, wait a minute.
0:43:41 > 0:43:47According to research, around one in five of us have hangover immunity.
0:43:47 > 0:43:51We don't get hangovers at all, and scientists aren't sure why.
0:43:51 > 0:43:52OK, time for your breathalysers.
0:43:54 > 0:43:58'But the average man drinking nine-and-a-half units or shots of spirits...'
0:43:58 > 0:44:01- 96.- 96.
0:44:01 > 0:44:04'..or the average woman drinking six units or six shots
0:44:04 > 0:44:08'will probably achieve a blood alcohol level high enough
0:44:08 > 0:44:11'to give them a hangover the next morning.'
0:44:11 > 0:44:13- 74.- So it's hardly gone up?
0:44:13 > 0:44:16- Hardly gone up. - So I can have another double?!
0:44:18 > 0:44:19104, 104.
0:44:19 > 0:44:22Perfect. Right where we want you.
0:44:24 > 0:44:26It's time for some taxis home.
0:44:27 > 0:44:30Richard, it's the end of the night and I think we've achieved
0:44:30 > 0:44:32some good high alcohol levels there, have we?
0:44:32 > 0:44:36We have, so we were aiming to dose our volunteers to
0:44:36 > 0:44:410.10% blood alcohol, so we gave them specific amounts of alcohol
0:44:41 > 0:44:44based on their body weight and if they're a man or a woman,
0:44:44 > 0:44:47to achieve that and we adjust a little bit as we go along.
0:44:47 > 0:44:49We give them a drink, we breathalyse,
0:44:49 > 0:44:51I think we pretty much got there for everybody and got them
0:44:51 > 0:44:55- pretty much where we wanted them to be.- So we're set to have some hangovers in the morning?
0:44:55 > 0:44:57We should see some hangovers in the morning.
0:45:01 > 0:45:05It's 7.30am, our fry-up group have managed to make it to
0:45:05 > 0:45:08the breakfast table, but, as Richard predicted, they're feeling
0:45:08 > 0:45:10a bit worse for wear.
0:45:10 > 0:45:12- I've got a bit of a headache.- Same.
0:45:12 > 0:45:14I just need my bed.
0:45:14 > 0:45:18According to scientists, unless you're one of the lucky few,
0:45:18 > 0:45:22the dreaded hangover affects men and women, old and young, the same.
0:45:23 > 0:45:26So, has borage, with its alleged preventative qualities,
0:45:26 > 0:45:28worked any magic?
0:45:29 > 0:45:31- Good morning, how are you? - A little bit of a headache.
0:45:31 > 0:45:34- Yeah?- Um, little bit, you know, just not quite right.
0:45:34 > 0:45:36- Knock-knock, Alex.- Morning.
0:45:36 > 0:45:39- How are you?- Not bad, thanks.
0:45:39 > 0:45:40What group were you in last night?
0:45:40 > 0:45:42I was on borage.
0:45:42 > 0:45:45'There's no magic way of measuring someone's hangover.
0:45:46 > 0:45:50'This questionnaire is the best that scientists have come up with.'
0:45:50 > 0:45:52Headache, yes.
0:45:52 > 0:45:53Thank you.
0:45:53 > 0:45:55And after the fry-up group have had their breakfast
0:45:55 > 0:45:58they fill in the hangover questionnaire as well.
0:45:59 > 0:46:02'I'm catching up with our expert Richard Stephens to find out
0:46:02 > 0:46:03'the results.'
0:46:05 > 0:46:07So what did our demonstration show?
0:46:07 > 0:46:10OK, so if we look at the control group,
0:46:10 > 0:46:12all six of them had a hangover.
0:46:12 > 0:46:14- Right.- OK.
0:46:14 > 0:46:18We look at the fry-up group, five of the six had a hangover,
0:46:18 > 0:46:19one said they didn't.
0:46:19 > 0:46:23In the borage group, three had a hangover and three didn't.
0:46:23 > 0:46:24OK.
0:46:24 > 0:46:25- Cheers.- Cheers.
0:46:27 > 0:46:31So, in the experiment, none of the volunteers in the control
0:46:31 > 0:46:33group escaped the hangover.
0:46:33 > 0:46:36In the fry-up group, after eating their breakfast,
0:46:36 > 0:46:38just one reported not having a hangover.
0:46:39 > 0:46:41And in the borage group,
0:46:41 > 0:46:44three volunteers felt they had no hangover.
0:46:44 > 0:46:46- A clear winner, then, surely? - A clear winner.
0:46:46 > 0:46:51Well, I'm a scientist so I am sceptical, but we were replicating a
0:46:51 > 0:46:55previous study which showed similar, so that's positive, and we know
0:46:55 > 0:46:58that borage is an anti-inflammatory and we know that one
0:46:58 > 0:47:03of the ways that hangover affects us is by an inflammation response.
0:47:03 > 0:47:07So, OK, borage may have an effect on that mechanism
0:47:07 > 0:47:10but, you know, probably no different to if you felt bad in the morning
0:47:10 > 0:47:13and popped an ibuprofen, it could have same effect.
0:47:13 > 0:47:17- I see.- So I don't think there's any earth-shattering effects here
0:47:17 > 0:47:19but it's been an interesting demonstration.
0:47:21 > 0:47:24So, if borage works in the way that Richard thinks it does,
0:47:24 > 0:47:27then it's probably still no better than the ibuprofen you might
0:47:27 > 0:47:29be taking anyway the next day.
0:47:30 > 0:47:34And it's certainly not 100% effective.
0:47:34 > 0:47:37So what is it, then, come on, what shall we do for our hangovers?
0:47:37 > 0:47:40If you don't want a hangover, don't drink too much!
0:47:47 > 0:47:50But apart from the obvious, not drinking,
0:47:50 > 0:47:52is there anything else we can do to avoid a hangover?
0:47:53 > 0:47:55Don't go out with a biker!
0:47:56 > 0:47:59Some hot stuff called Lavronitza.
0:47:59 > 0:48:01Oh, yeah.
0:48:01 > 0:48:03From Czech Republic. You should never drink that.
0:48:03 > 0:48:05Mixing drinks, definitely.
0:48:06 > 0:48:09Contrary to popular belief, there's no evidence that
0:48:09 > 0:48:14mixing your drinks leads to a worse hangover, but there is
0:48:14 > 0:48:17scientific backing for the idea that some drinks might give worse
0:48:17 > 0:48:22hangovers than others, and it all boils down to how drinks are made.
0:48:25 > 0:48:28Back at the brewery, head brewer Alex Arkell is showing me
0:48:28 > 0:48:31one of the key parts of the production process
0:48:31 > 0:48:33for the nation's favourite drink - beer.
0:48:33 > 0:48:34So we've got one of our beer tanks here.
0:48:34 > 0:48:35Wow, look at that!
0:48:35 > 0:48:38And in here we've got fermenting beer, and you can see the yeast,
0:48:38 > 0:48:40so that white foam is pure yeast.
0:48:40 > 0:48:43Wow, and to be clear, you cannot make alcohol without yeast?
0:48:43 > 0:48:46- Yes, exactly, you need yeast. - Wines, spirits.
0:48:46 > 0:48:49You need to have a fermentation at some point to produce this
0:48:49 > 0:48:52alcohol and then a couple of products down the line
0:48:52 > 0:48:55- you might have your whisky or your vodka.- Incredible.
0:48:55 > 0:48:58But we're making a base drink here, which is beer,
0:48:58 > 0:49:00and it's the best of the lot.
0:49:03 > 0:49:04Into the lab.
0:49:05 > 0:49:09But it turns out that the yeast cells produce other
0:49:09 > 0:49:11things besides just alcohol.
0:49:11 > 0:49:14- So, when they're splitting, when the mother and daughter here...- Yeah.
0:49:14 > 0:49:18..part of that process that's going on there is excreting congeners.
0:49:18 > 0:49:22'Congeners are by-products of the fermentation process in which
0:49:22 > 0:49:25'yeast converts the sugar into alcohol.'
0:49:25 > 0:49:27We ferment it at a slightly warmer temperature.
0:49:27 > 0:49:29That means the yeast not only ferments and obviously
0:49:29 > 0:49:32creates alcohol, but it also gives it a fruity flavour as well.
0:49:32 > 0:49:33'So, on the plus side,
0:49:33 > 0:49:37'congeners are one of the things that give our booze its taste.'
0:49:37 > 0:49:39It's not a flat flavour, that.
0:49:39 > 0:49:41No, it's got a lovely... a lovely aroma on that one.
0:49:41 > 0:49:44But the downside is that according to some research,
0:49:44 > 0:49:49drinks with more congeners in them may make your hangovers worse,
0:49:49 > 0:49:51and beer is by no means the worst culprit.
0:50:01 > 0:50:04I've come to the labs of Kent Scientific Services
0:50:04 > 0:50:07and, with the help of chemist John Griffin,
0:50:07 > 0:50:10we're going to put ten of the UK's most popular drinks to the test.
0:50:12 > 0:50:16We're going to analyse each drink for six typical congeners.
0:50:16 > 0:50:18- This is acid aldehyde.- Oh, crikey!
0:50:18 > 0:50:21- I can imagine that would give you an hangover.- You can smell it in the air,
0:50:21 > 0:50:23- it lingers as well, doesn't it? - Yeah!
0:50:23 > 0:50:25And then at the end here we've got our amyl alcohols.
0:50:25 > 0:50:28Oh, that smells like a really off cheese.
0:50:28 > 0:50:31- Yeah, yeah, yeah, so it's very distinctive.- OK.
0:50:33 > 0:50:34Research suggests that
0:50:34 > 0:50:38although the main cause of a hangover is the alcohol, drinks that
0:50:38 > 0:50:42contain higher amounts of congeners may produce more severe hangovers.
0:50:42 > 0:50:45So which drinks have the most congeners?
0:50:49 > 0:50:51Some results, John. OK, show me what we have.
0:50:51 > 0:50:54Yes, at the top end we have the red orange ones, where we
0:50:54 > 0:50:58had the highest level of total congeners per unit of alcohol,
0:50:58 > 0:51:01so per 10ml of pure alcohol.
0:51:01 > 0:51:03Yeah, quite a lot, this is the winner or the loser.
0:51:03 > 0:51:07Red wine actually came out top, yes, er, 53, yes.
0:51:07 > 0:51:10I mean, we've almost got twice as much congeners in the red wine
0:51:10 > 0:51:12than we have in the ambers.
0:51:12 > 0:51:13Well, we've got white wine
0:51:13 > 0:51:16and, er, whisky, as well as the lager, the stout and the cider.
0:51:16 > 0:51:20This surprises me, certainly, because I always think about
0:51:20 > 0:51:23white wine being sort of less toxic than whisky.
0:51:24 > 0:51:26So in our tests, brandy
0:51:26 > 0:51:30and red wine came out worst, with the highest amount of congeners per
0:51:30 > 0:51:31unit of alcohol,
0:51:31 > 0:51:35and in the mid-range were white wine, whisky and lager.
0:51:36 > 0:51:40And the low-end ones, obviously, are the rums, gins and vodkas.
0:51:40 > 0:51:44- Yeah.- Vodkas and gins have got no congeners in there at all.
0:51:44 > 0:51:46I knew there was a reason I drank vodka.
0:51:46 > 0:51:49Well, if you're drinking white spirits there are no congeners.
0:51:49 > 0:51:52It probably doesn't mean to say you won't get a hangover because you've still got alcohol
0:51:52 > 0:51:55but there are no congeners in this to contribute to it.
0:51:55 > 0:51:59It's incredible. Would it to be fair to say, then, as a rule of thumb,
0:51:59 > 0:52:02- the darker the drink the more congeners?- Yeah, I think the whisky
0:52:02 > 0:52:05and the white wine were the slight anomalies in that, but on the whole
0:52:05 > 0:52:06I think the darker the drink,
0:52:06 > 0:52:08the higher level of the congeners present.
0:52:08 > 0:52:12- So drink a lighter-coloured spirit like vodka.- That seems to be what it suggests, yes.
0:52:12 > 0:52:14- Cheers.- Cheers.
0:52:14 > 0:52:18The potential effect from congeners in making your hangover worse
0:52:18 > 0:52:21is small compared to the alcohol itself.
0:52:21 > 0:52:25That said, if you're going to drink, and you're particularly
0:52:25 > 0:52:28susceptible to getting hangovers, then it may be a good idea to
0:52:28 > 0:52:31opt for lighter-coloured, lower-congener drinks.
0:52:38 > 0:52:42So far, we've found out lots about the science of drinking
0:52:42 > 0:52:47but I want to investigate the new evidence for alcohol's health risks.
0:52:47 > 0:52:51I think it's fair to say that the new alcohol guidelines mark
0:52:51 > 0:52:53a big change in the traditional thinking, which is
0:52:53 > 0:52:56drinking in moderation is completely safe.
0:52:56 > 0:52:58Now the message is that even drinking
0:52:58 > 0:53:01small amounts of alcohol isn't without risk.
0:53:01 > 0:53:04So I'm on my way to meet the Chief Medical Officer of England,
0:53:04 > 0:53:06who, along with her counterparts in Scotland, Wales
0:53:06 > 0:53:09and Northern Ireland, has proposed the new guidelines.
0:53:13 > 0:53:17The last time the alcohol guidelines were revised was in 1995.
0:53:19 > 0:53:22'So I'm keen to find out from Professor Dame Sally Davies
0:53:22 > 0:53:25'why have the recommended limits changed so much?'
0:53:25 > 0:53:27Professor Dame Sally, the recommendations have
0:53:27 > 0:53:31come down quite a lot for men, from 21 units to 14 in the week.
0:53:31 > 0:53:33What's the reasoning behind that?
0:53:33 > 0:53:35Well, this is the first review
0:53:35 > 0:53:39that's really in-depth for over 20 years
0:53:39 > 0:53:46in this country and what it shows is how cancer is related to alcohol.
0:53:46 > 0:53:51Everyone knows about cirrhosis, stroke, high blood pressure,
0:53:51 > 0:53:54but actually now we have to add to it the cancer risk, and by the time
0:53:54 > 0:53:59you balance all of those out, if you want a low-risk guideline,
0:53:59 > 0:54:04then for men it is 14 units in the week spread out over a few days.
0:54:04 > 0:54:07It is quite a broad range of cancers that can be attributable to alcohol.
0:54:07 > 0:54:11- Yes.- So therefore you could say alcohol is a carcinogen?
0:54:11 > 0:54:13It is.
0:54:13 > 0:54:16Alcohol can damage cells and its breakdown products damage cells.
0:54:16 > 0:54:20That can lead to cancer. Alcohol modulates hormone levels,
0:54:20 > 0:54:23so, for instance, it changes oestrogen levels
0:54:23 > 0:54:26and that's probably why it raises the risk of breast cancer.
0:54:26 > 0:54:27- So, take women...- Yes.
0:54:27 > 0:54:33..for every 1,000 women, 110 of us will get breast cancer.
0:54:33 > 0:54:37If you drink up to this guideline, which is a low-risk guideline,
0:54:37 > 0:54:43then an extra 20 women will get breast cancer out of 1,000.
0:54:43 > 0:54:48Double that, and an extra 50 women out of 1,000 will get breast cancer.
0:54:48 > 0:54:53So it's very important that people know about the harms of alcohol
0:54:53 > 0:54:56and take their decision how they want to handle it.
0:54:56 > 0:54:59OK, and there is one small sub-group of the population
0:54:59 > 0:55:02that could have some benefit from drinking, is that right?
0:55:02 > 0:55:05Yes, it's women of 55 and older, my age group.
0:55:05 > 0:55:09If you drink, as a woman, up to five units in the week,
0:55:09 > 0:55:12as you go up to that five you protect your heart.
0:55:12 > 0:55:14If you drink above that you begin to lose that protective
0:55:14 > 0:55:16effect on your heart.
0:55:16 > 0:55:18By the time you get to 14 units in the week,
0:55:18 > 0:55:23you've lost the cardio protection. And the old wives' tale
0:55:23 > 0:55:27was that that was the case for all of us, men as well, and, first
0:55:27 > 0:55:31of all, the data isn't as robust as we all believed, now we've looked
0:55:31 > 0:55:35at it, and the second thing is, that it is a marginal impact on men.
0:55:35 > 0:55:39They'd have to drink less than half a glass on only a few days,
0:55:39 > 0:55:43- of wine, and I don't think people usually do that.- No!
0:55:43 > 0:55:46Um, and the other harms come in,
0:55:46 > 0:55:51that if you balance out a low-risk guideline, sorry, it's 14 units
0:55:51 > 0:55:54spread over a few days in the week for both men and women.
0:55:54 > 0:55:57Will you still be enjoying your glass of wine in the next five years?
0:55:57 > 0:56:01I will, I am quite open about the fact I like a glass of wine.
0:56:01 > 0:56:02I think for a lot of us
0:56:02 > 0:56:05that explicit link between how much you drink and the risk
0:56:05 > 0:56:08of developing certain kinds of cancer is actually quite shocking.
0:56:08 > 0:56:11But if you stick to the new recommended guidelines
0:56:11 > 0:56:14your actual risk of dying from any disease attributable
0:56:14 > 0:56:16to alcohol is really quite low.
0:56:16 > 0:56:17Just 1%.
0:56:17 > 0:56:21But if you drink greater than the guidelines, your risk is greater.
0:56:21 > 0:56:22It's as simple as that.
0:56:24 > 0:56:27And the good news is that there is some evidence that the extra
0:56:27 > 0:56:31risks of alcohol-related cancers can gradually go down again
0:56:31 > 0:56:34if you decide to stop drinking altogether.
0:56:38 > 0:56:41I've reached the end of a fascinating journey to uncover
0:56:41 > 0:56:44the many truths about alcohol.
0:56:44 > 0:56:46That's shocking to me.
0:56:46 > 0:56:49Along the way, we've learnt that alcohol isn't actually
0:56:49 > 0:56:50good for your sleep.
0:56:50 > 0:56:52Deep sleep disappears.
0:56:52 > 0:56:56And we've revealed its hidden appetising effects.
0:56:56 > 0:57:01You consumed 11% more calories compared to the no-alcohol group.
0:57:02 > 0:57:05And that lining your stomach is always a good idea,
0:57:05 > 0:57:07however much you plan to drink.
0:57:07 > 0:57:10- Eight.- 21.
0:57:12 > 0:57:15In light of the health risks, some of us might decide to give up
0:57:15 > 0:57:20booze altogether and, certainly, all 40 million of Britain's drinkers
0:57:20 > 0:57:24should probably pause for thought before reaching for another glass.
0:57:24 > 0:57:27But, personally, I don't think the British love affair with
0:57:27 > 0:57:29alcohol is going to end any day soon.