1. Alcohol equals empty calories
Alcohol doesn ’t contain any nutrients, but does have a caloric value of 7 calories per gram. In just one shot of vodka, there ’s nearly 100 calories. For those of you trying to lose fat, forget it if you are drinking. Not only will the high calorie content of alcohol have a negative effect on your total calorie intake, but it also slows down your metabolism. Basically, your body is trying so hard to digest and metabolise the alcohol that fat burning stops all together.
2. Alcohol causes dehydration and slows down protein synthesis
Not only does alcohol give you a hangover which can stop you exercising at all, but it actually lowers protein synthesis by 20 per cent even when you do exercise. There are several reasons why it does this. For one, it dehydrates your muscle cells. Because your cells aren ’t holding as much water, it becomes much harder to build muscle (we need lean muscle to burn fat). The second reason is that it blocks the absorption of many important nutrients that are essential for muscle contraction, relaxation and growth including calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, iron and potassium.
3. Alcohol lowers testosterone and increases oestrogen
A study measuring men’s testosterone levels before and after consumption of alcohol found that at the most intoxicated state, testosterone levels had dropped by 25 per cent. When blood alcohol levels were the highest, testosterone was at its lowest. This means the actual building of muscle is slowed down by 25 per cent or more. This included a 35 per cent decrease in muscle insulin-like growth factor-I (GF-I).
Alcohol has also been shown to cause a quicker aromatisation of androgens into oestrogens, which explains why heavy male drinkers often get gynecomastia (man boobs) over a period of time.
4. Alcohol affects quality of sleep
Alcohol consumption, especially at the times when you would normally sleep, can affect your quality of sleep. It can disrupt the sequence and duration of sleep states and affect your total sleep time. A good night’s sleep is essential for the rebuilding and growth process of muscle as growth hormone is released in the deepest levels of sleep. Without proper rest and recovery, muscle gain is effected due to a low levels of growth hormone and other hormonal imbalances.
5. Alcohol decreases vitamin and mineral absorption
Alcohol interferes with the metabolism of most vitamins, and with the absorption of many nutrients. It is well known that alcohol competes and influences the processing of nutrients in the body. When you consume large quantities of alcohol, your liver is busy converting the alcohol into acetate and any vitamins and minerals that it might process are taken up by the detoxification process. Foe example, alcohol stimulates both urinary calcium and magnesium excretion which means that if you take calcium, magnesium and other supplements before or after a big night out, you just end up producing expensive wee …
Now, this doesn ’t mean you can ’t have a drink every now and then. Our advice is to make it no more than one to two drinks, one to two times a week. A glass of red or a nice cocktail every now and then isn ’t going to hurt.
