10 Things The Alcohol Industry Won't Tell You

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Transcript

Hidden Truths About Alcohol Consumption

Speaker 1 0:00

Welcome to the Stop Drinking Podcast , where we help you make stopping drinking a simple , logical and easy decision . We help you with tips , tools and strategies to start living your best life when alcohol-free . If you want to learn more about stop drinking coaching , then head over to wwwsoberclearcom . What if that casual drink in your hand has a darker secret than any street drug could ever rival , one that the alcohol industry spends fortunes keeping under wraps ? Well , brace yourself , because these 10 hidden truths will shatter every illusion you've ever had about alcohol . Stick around , because once you know them , there's just no going back . A very quick introduction . My name is Leon Sylvester . I'm the founder of SoberClearcom , and we use a totally new method to help business owners and professionals get control of their drinking within as little as 48 hours .

Speaker 1 0:52

I drank alcohol myself for close to a decade . I tried stopping so many times with AA willpower , going to church . Nothing worked for me . But six years ago I changed the way I viewed alcohol and I've never looked back . If you want information on my program and how we can work with you , either go to SoberClearcom or , if you're ready to take the next step , you can click the link in the description to book a free call . You and my team will jump on a short call together and we'll see if my new method could work for you . It's a free call , so there's nothing to lose . So if you want that , click the link down below and now let's get into it .

Speaker 1 1:23

The first thing they won't tell you is that this product that you're pouring into your body can lock you into a cycle of addictive cravings no different than the most notorious illegal drugs , see . Drugs stimulate a part of the brain known as the reward center . This is a set of brain structures that nature created to process naturally rewarding stimuli like sex and food , in other words , stimuli that were beneficial to our survival and propagation . Alcohol , like other recreational drugs , hijacks this natural mechanism due to the chemical structure of its molecule . The person then receives their reward through chemical stimulation rather than through natural interactions with the physical and social world . Once you wrap your head around this , it's easy to understand that the inevitable outcome of heavy alcohol consumption is social , moral and spiritual impoverishment . See .

Speaker 1 2:08

Alcohol dependence proceeds in two broad phases , similar to other illegal drugs . In the first phases , the pleasant effects from the overstimulation of the reward system predominate . The person drinks because they enjoy it , or at least they think they do . Scientists call this positive reinforcement . But as alcohol consumption continues through the years , eventually the reward system is numbed out from the constant over-activation . The person then finds it difficult to achieve the very same buzz At this second stage . They drink mostly to avoid the negative effects of not consuming alcohol . Scientists call this second stage negative reinforcement .

Speaker 1 2:41

The drinker's body has now become accustomed to a steady influx of alcohol , and when it doesn't get this , it feels threatened and begins to complain . So you get the well-known anxiety , irritability , headache , insomnia , fatigue and so on . In more severe addiction , the withdrawal symptoms are far worse , including seizures and even death . When things reach this stage , the two remaining options are to stop drinking or , sadly , to die . But that's just the start . The second thing they keep hidden is how this everyday indulgence silently fuels one of the world's most devastating cancers .

Speaker 1 3:11

Alcohol causing cancer is one of the industry's dirtiest secrets . They lobby governments and regulators very hard in order to prevent any measure that increases public awareness of this health disaster . You see , when alcohol is metabolised in the liver , it converts into a highly toxic and carcinogenic molecule called acetaldehyde . Alcohol also increases the risk of cancer by increasing oxidative stress and inflammation , interfering with nutrient absorption and upsetting hormonal balance . It also kills the cells it comes into contact with directly , like the mouth and throat . This prompts stem cells to start making new cells , and this increased cell division increases the risk of errors in the copying process . Naturally , the body sites at the highest risk are mostly those that come into direct contact with alcohol , like the mouth , the throat , the oesophagus and colon . Heavy drinkers have up to a five-fold increased risk compared to non-drinkers . Their liver is also at a two-fold increased risk for cancer , as most of the alcohol eventually makes its way there to be metabolised , and women who drink heavily are also 60% more likely to develop breast cancer , possibly because alcohol upsets their hormonal balance . When all is said and done , about 4% of cancers worldwide are alcohol-related . Public awareness surveys , however , show that only 15-25% of the general population in most countries are even aware of the risk . The remaining 75% to 85% are blissfully unaware . Total victory for the alcohol industry Now , as if it couldn't get any worse .

Speaker 1 4:31

The third thing that stays under the radar is the way that it spreads through your body at lightning speed , putting nearly every single organ you have at risk . See , the ethanol molecule is a small light molecule that is highly water-soluble and it has the ability to penetrate most tissues in the body , and it does it super fast . It starts being absorbed into the bloodstream through the gastrointestinal tract only seconds after ingestion , and the concentration in the blood can peak in as little as 10 minutes . Once in circulation , ethanol then penetrates more or less every tissue and organ in your body . There it will cause any mix of irritation , inflammation , oxidative stress , cell death and organ damage . As a result of this wide penetration and diverse weight of inflicting damage , the range of health complications is truly staggering . In the long run , alcohol will cause serious problems to your brain , liver , heart , pancreas , bones and gut . It will promote hypertension , compromise your immune system , wreck your mental health , upset your hormonal balance , disrupt your metabolism , compromise your fertility and increase your risk of all sorts of cancers .

Speaker 1 5:31

Very few recreational drugs , be they legal or illegal , can match alcohol in its destructiveness . Why , of all the drugs in the world , our politicians choose to legalise this particular one is anybody's guess . Now let's look at the fallout beyond personal health . The fourth disturbing truth comes with a jaw-dropping price tag that your wallet and society at large keeps paying without even knowing it . When we talk about the cost of alcohol . Here we don't refer to the purchasing price , but rather the indirect cost to the economy from the adverse health and social effects .

Speaker 1 6:02

The last comprehensive estimate that we have of its impact on the US economy was published in 2011 and analysed data from 2006 . The study arrived at an estimated cost of $223 billion , which in today's money is around $347 billion . 72% of these costs are from lost productivity , mainly the cost of incarcerating otherwise healthy members of society for alcohol-related crimes . There's also the loss of productivity at the workplace through absenteeism and performance decline . Healthcare costs are a distant second , accounting for 11% of the total cost . This is followed by criminal justice at 9.4% , while the remaining 7.5% is made up of various costs like motor vehicle crashes and fires . This equates to an indirect cost of $2.65 .

Speaker 1 6:46

So as a society , we basically pay for alcohol twice Once up front , with the purchasing price , where the industry banks the profit , and then once on the back end , where the industry doesn't have to pay a penny . It's sad , but they have a pretty good deal going on . If you ask me Guess who pays for all these indirect costs ? Well , it turns out that the bill is split more or less down the middle . The various levels of government cover about half , and the drinkers with their families the other half . Now , of course , the government has no money aside from tax receipts , so the taxpayer ends up picking up the tab With economic ruin laid bare .

Speaker 1 7:19

The fifth concealed fact reveals how they've masterminded a slick slogan that looks helpful but actually keeps you stuck . So while you probably never heard lots of serious public disclosure about alcohol and addiction , or alcohol and cancer , I'm pretty confident you've heard of the phrase drink responsibly . Is that an accident , a coincidence ? Absolutely not . This slogan has been single-handedly conceived by the alcohol industry over the last 50 or so years , and it's now become so ingrained in society that it's pervaded more or less every institution Government , the medical establishment , educational institutions , community organisations they have all assimilated this slogan . Now , of the two words in this slogan , only one is well-defined .

Speaker 1 8:01

Drink Responsibly , on the other hand , is intentionally left as clear as mud . Analysis of Drink Responsibly campaigns all come to the same conclusion they offer the consumer no concrete , actionable information about what exactly responsibly means . Their intent is not to protect the consumer , but merely to promote the product , which is why there is zero evidence that they help anyone reduce their consumption , let alone discontinue it altogether , but what it does do is it improves the corporate image of the alcohol manufacturers , as one report put it . They quote serve as a public relations distraction for alcohol corporations , fighting evidence-based , effective policies such as increasing alcohol taxes , restricting alcohol advertising and maintaining state control of alcohol sales . At this point you might think you've heard it all , but the sixth harsh reality is that while they warn you about driving drunk , they barely whisper about the countless other silent tragedies unfolding every day .

Speaker 1 8:54

See , one of the industry's favourite red herrings is drunk driving . Whenever they offer any specifics on quote responsible drinking , or whenever they warn the public about anything whatsoever regarding their toxic , addictive product , it's almost always drunk driving . Don't drink and drive , enjoy responsibly . Buzz to driving is drunk driving . We've all heard these slogans

False Myths and Dangers of Alcohol

Speaker 1 9:14

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Speaker 1 9:14

Why does the industry talk about drunk driving ? Well , there's several reasons . For starters , they want to improve their public image , and drunk driving is a very high profile issue . A deadly drunk driving incident will typically get some local media attention , unlike something like an alcohol-related cancer or liver failure , which are actually far more common . It's also external to the product . It involves something other than the booze , the car . So by focusing on the car , you divert attention from the booze itself .

Speaker 1 9:39

Drunk driving also offers the potential for very real success . You can drink as much as you want , but if you don't get behind the wheel afterwards , you've won for the night . This gives the drinker a false sense of success , masking the sad reality that every single drink is a losing proposition . Every single drink taxes your liver , your brain , your cardiovascular system and raises your risk of cancer , and whether you get behind the wheel or not , this list will not change in the slightest . When all is said and done , drink driving is quite minor in terms of alcohol-related mortality . In the US , it accounts for roughly 10% of alcohol-related deaths , and most of these are relatively quick and painless , unlike the countless chronic diseases that kill slowly and painfully .

Speaker 1 10:21

And listen if you're still not shaken . The 7th Buried Secret shows how alcohol gnaws away at your mental health , unravelling your mood and happiness until you barely recognise yourself . See , one of the main themes of alcohol advertisement is joy . A happy couple sipping away , someone cheering their favourite team with a bottle in hand , a group of young friends . Sad , reality is the exact opposite . If we could quantify the various sources of unhappiness and psychological pain in the world , there is no doubt that alcohol would be extremely high up in the list .

Speaker 1 10:54

There are actually few more effective , guaranteed ways to develop long-term mental health issues than alcohol addiction . Two out of three heavy drinkers will meet the criteria for a psychiatric condition during their lifetime . Often this will be an anxiety disorder like panic attacks , social phobia or generalized anxiety . And then there's depression , with heavy drinkers having roughly double the risk compared to non-drinkers . And the fact that alcohol wrecks a person's mood and psychological welfare is no surprise . We already saw how it numbs out the brain's natural reward system . This robs the drinker of the opportunity to genuinely enjoy the pleasures of life like non-drinkers do . Alcohol also has a widespread effect on our mental health by upsetting the natural balance of our brain's neurotransmitters . These are the messenger molecules like GABA , glutamate , dopamine , which our brain cells use to communicate with each other . Alcohol artificially stimulates the activity of some of these neurotransmitters while suppressing that of others . The end result is their long-term , persistent dysregulation . And because our mood and psychological welfare are inextricably tied to these neurotransmitter systems , when they are thrown off balance , our mental health will inevitably suffer . Next , get ready for a plot twist .

Speaker 1 11:58

The eighth baffling misconception is the false promise of the so-called health benefits , a carefully spun fairy tale that crumbles under real scrutiny . See , one of the alcohol industry's favourite ways of gaslighting the public is a massive disinformation campaign regarding the so-called health benefits of low-level alcohol consumption . According to this narrative , while drinking too much is harmful , the opposite is true for lower levels of consumption , namely one or two drinks a day . Here , alcohol is supposedly healthy , primarily by protecting the heart and cardiovascular system in general . Some researchers even claim that this so-called cardioprotective effect is so strong that light drinkers have lower all-cause mortality compared to non-drinkers . On the face of it , this appears very implausible . How can a toxic industrial chemical like ethanol have these almost magical cardioprotective properties ? And listen , do you think it's a coincidence that these magical properties only apply to the one toxic industrial chemical that is directly sold for human consumption ? Of course there's no coincidence here .

Speaker 1 12:57

The alcohol industry is massively involved in the funding of scientific research , including research on the health effects of alcohol , and it's this massive influx of funds that's largely responsible for sustaining these myths . And listen , another factor is that people who drink the public themselves . They are eager to buy up any such story , so the media happily promote this . The cold hard truth is this you will not benefit your heart or longevity one bit by consuming alcohol . Regardless of the quantity , I can assure you that you will only damage your heart , along with most of the organs , and not to scare you , but this damage can start from the very first sip of your very first drink .

Speaker 1 13:33

Having said that , it is a fact that many research studies , often those funded by the alcohol industry , do indeed find that light drinkers have slightly better cardiovascular health than non-drinkers . So how can we actually explain this ? Well , it all has to do with who you compare light drinkers to . Most people in society drink , at least socially , and comparing them to people who don't drink at all is not a fair test , because many in these latter group are often unable to drink precisely on account of underlying health conditions . In other words , their doctor will have forbidden them from drinking due to one or more pre-existing medical conditions . The group of complete abstainers also contains many former heavy drinkers who now don't drink precisely because alcohol has already wrecked their health . So when you adjust for these so-called abstainer biases , the cardioprotective benefits of alcohol disappear completely . This has been shown in the medical literature time and time again , and most recently in 2023 . That's when we got the results of a massive meta-analysis that pooled data from over 100 separate studies . Collectively , these studies involved a whopping 4.8 million participants . After correcting for abstainer bias and various other sources of error , the researchers were able to unequivocally establish that light alcohol consumption offers no longevity benefits whatsoever .

Speaker 1 14:46

Next , ladies and gentlemen , brace yourself , because the ninth dangerous ploy is aimed straight at the youngest among us . Products designed to look , taste and feel like innocent treats , and it's fueling a grim pipeline of underage addiction . See the industry's latest invention . So-called flavoured alcoholic beverages are Frankenstein creations that blur the traditional distinction between the various malted and distilled beverages . While these drinks are legally classed as beer products in the US , most of the alcohol content is actually derived from distilled additives that are added to a stripped down beer base . If you can't wrap your head around that , don't worry . That's exactly what the industry wants . These drinks started hitting the North American and European markets in the 1980s and 90s , starting with the wine coolers in the US and Alka-Pops in Great Britain . Their legal status as beer products allows them to be widely sold , for example , in convenience stores and gas stations , where you wouldn't be allowed to sell distilled spirits . These products are loaded with artificial flavourings and colours that mask alcohol and make them palatable to first-time drinkers . They're also sold in packaging very similar to non-alcoholic drinks .

Speaker 1 15:49

Predictably , these products have led to an explosion of drinking among underage drinkers , all while the industry claims with a straight face that it's doing everything possible to prevent this . And listen , this is just straight hypocrisy . At the same time as they're running PR campaigns warning the public about underage drinking , they've developed an entire class of products that look like soda pop , taste like soda pop , they're priced like soda pop and they're often sold in the exact same places as soda , on the same shelves . Sadly , this campaign to hook underage drinkers has been widely successful . For example , recent research out of George Mason University found that nearly 50% of all calls to US poison control centres involve underage drinkers being poisoned from these kinds of drinks . The average age at which Americans have their first drink dropped from 17.6 in the 1960s to 15.9 by the end of the century . Around 40% of 17 and 18 year olds report having drank in the last month , even though the legal drinking age is 21 . Again , none of this is an accident , but the result of a well-calculated and ultimately wildly successful campaign on the part of the alcohol industry .

Speaker 1 16:55

By now you see the pattern , but the 10th and final , shocking truth is that alcohol silently fans the flames of violence , from everyday altercations to the most chilling of crimes . Another outcome that they'll never want you to connect with their product Sialkor increases the propensity to violence through a combination of various psychological mechanisms . It suppresses inhibitions , making people more likely to act out on violent thoughts or fantasies . It clouds the judgment , making the person unable to think through the long-term consequences of their actions . It also directly impairs social intelligence , for example , the ability to interpret non-verbal cues like body language . This can lead to through the long-term consequences of their actions . It also directly impairs social intelligence , for example , the ability to interpret non-verbal cues like body language . This can lead to misunderstandings that would otherwise be easily avoidable . Then there are cultural factors , namely places and subcultures where alcohol consumption is associated with risky and often violent acts . Think teenagers . See , all these factors combined have led to an epidemic of alcohol-related violence whose scale most members of the public can't even fathom .

Speaker 1 17:52

Some of the statistics are truly mind-boggling . According to the Department of Justice's own statistics , 36% of all convicted offenders have been drinking when they committed their crime . Let me repeat that , according to the Department of Justice's own statistics , 36% of all convicted offenders have been drinking when they committed their crime . Alcohol use is reported to be a factor for 4 out of 10 convicted murderers . 3 out of 10 rapists and violent sex offenders also have used alcohol . Around 45% of those convicted for violent assault had been drinking . For violence against a spouse it's 75% . Thanks for checking out the Stop Drinking podcast by Sober Clear . If you want to learn more about how we work with people to help them stop drinking effortlessly , then make sure to visit wwwsoberclearcom .