Nutritionist Weighs In On Alcohol’s Effect On Your Body

Ladies, we all know staying healthy in college can be tough.  Especially for freshman who don’t exactly have the whole balancing act figured out yet.  However, loading up on cookies in the dining hall or running out to buy Ben and Jerry’s with our roommate at midnight might not be the only reason we’ve been feeling a little extra flab around our stomachs lately…
 
From high school to college, our lifestyles change drastically.  We’re not only eating later and later into the night as a result of staying up late studying, but we’re also most likely drinking more than we were in high school, which can take a huge toll on our bodies. 
 
Northwestern University registered nutritionist, Theresa Laurenz, shared some valuable information about drinking and its effect on nutrition.  While she doesn’t support underage drinking in any way, she realizes that alcohol is of easy access in college and can’t be ignored.
 
Laurenz said that maintaining a healthy weight is not conducive to the drinking culture of college.  According to the Learning Collaborative of High-Risk drinking, approximately 40% of college students engage in binge drinking.  “It is impossible to eat right when you are binge drinking,” she said.  “Especially for women.” 
 
Laurenz gave a few reasons for this.  The first is that alcohol causes delayed or malabsorption of nutrients to the body while it tries to process alcohol.  “Because alcohol is a poison, the body will try to get rid of it as soon as possible,” she said.  As a result, drinking too leads to severe vitamin deficiency.
 
The next reason is that often people do not consider how alcohol disturbs sleep.  “Often people find that alcohol puts them to sleep.  However, alcohol can disturb the body’s sleep cycle. Alcohol consumption causes less time spent in the deep sleep cycle, so people feel more groggy the next day,” Laurenz said.  Therefore, the hangover you feel the next day is often a result of a combination of poor night’s sleep and dehydration.
 
According to Laurenz, alcohol also throws off your eating schedule.  For example, for some people, alcohol causes them to eat less.  According to a study from the State University of New York Potsdam, there is no strong evidence that directly links alcohol to weight gain.  In fact, some studies conclude that alcohol consumption is linked to weight loss in women.  But don’t get too excited.   The SUNY Potsdam study listed the amount of calories per drink in beer, wine, and liquor.  While beer has on average 146 calories, wine has around 120, and liquor has about 97.    This is something we should consider if we are trying to monitor our calorie intake. 
 
On the other hand, sometimes we feel that alcohol makes us hungrier.  In truth, it is really more of a late night munchies urge to order a second dinner at Burger King or Taco Bell instead of the alcohol.   In her handout, “Be Fun and Still Be Healthy”, Laurenz reminds us that we easily use food during late nights as a social outlet, not because we are actually hungry.  So, if all of your friends order large fries and a sundae, chances are, you will too. 
 
So, whatever your decisions may be, make sure you consider your health.  If you are trying to maintain a healthy eating style, drinking may not be the way to go!
 
Sources:
 
http://www2.potsdam.edu/hansondj/AlcoholCaloriesAndWeight.html
http://www.dailynorthwestern.com/campus/nu-joins-coalition-against-binge-drinking-1.2558020
“Be Fun and Still Be Healthy” by Theresa Laurenz.