Although everybody seems to love a glass, binge drinking and hangovers are much less charming. So let’s go through some useful drinking tips to make sure your New Year’s resolution of “staying healthy” doesn’t die prematurely.

Three Golden Rules:

1. Food and diary can prepare your stomach: as there’s food on your stomach wall, it slows down the absorption of alcohol, hence making it harder for alcohol to affect you.
2. Drink a lot of water: when alcohol enters the body it acts as a diuretic and as such dehydrates you and forces the liver to find water from other sources. So make sure you drink a lot of water before, during and after drinking alcohol. It also helps speed up the process of metabolizing the alcohol out of your body.
3. Don’t drink too fast: only takes 5 minutes for the ethanol to enter your bloodstream when you take a drink, and after 30 to 120 minutes, the ethanol concentration in your blood peaks. Naturally, fast drinking results in fast getting drunk.

Four “Bests”:

1. Best time: it is better to have your first drink of the day after 2pm, and the best time to drink is actually between 3 to 5pm.
2. Best type of alcohol: red wine is widely regarded as the healthiest type of alcohol, partly because it’s fruit based. Drinking red wine regularly may reduce the chance of heart diseases, however 2-3 small glasses a day should be your limit.
3. Best amount of consumption: The daily alcohol intake of a 60kg man should be limited under 60grams. Different types of wines consumed by a 60kg man should refer to: 60% alcohol liquor 50g, Beer 1kg, whiskey 250ml.
4. Best side dish: According to the alcohol metabolism, the best side dis recommended is the food rich in protein and vitamins. Such as fresh vegetable, fish, port beans and eggs, etc. On the other hand, salted fish, smoked sausage, bacon as side dishes contain a lot of pigment and nitrosamines which reacts with alcohol in your body, which could hurt your liver.  

Source Reference: Moutai Magazine - International Edition Issue 7