I recently undertook the study of alcohol consumption in various parts of the world, and related statistics. Some interesting things come out, and there is no doubt that giving children alcohol young has negative affects on their health, their life, and society as a whole.
High alcohol consumption tends to run hand in hand with poverty. It runs both ways – frequent use of intoxicants tends to lower incomes, and low incomes tend to provide a motivation to escape reality through the use of intoxicants.
Countries that track statistical averages count things differently – and this is important, because how you count something makes all the difference in accuracy. Statistics that analyze this do NOT make adjustments for the method of counting.
Countries with the highest per capita purchased alcohol consumption tend to count alcoholism differently. Their rates are HIGHER than in the US, and they only count dysfunctional drunks. The US counts functional alcoholics.
Countries with the highest per capita purchased alcohol consumption count what is “alcohol” differently. The US counts anything over .5% as being “alcohol”, including light beers and hard ciders, wine coolers and spritzers, and wines. Other countries count differently, with lower limits of 1.1%, 1.2%, and unstated. This is for purposes of labeling and taxation, which are different than those of enforcement of limits for other legal issues.
Countries with highest per capita purchased alcohol consumption count what “alcohol consumption” is differently also. Bootleg alcohol (which can be the majority of what is consumed in a few nations), is not counted effectively if at all. Legally purchased alcohol may be counted, or only partially counted, depending on their classification for it. Bootleg alcohol is a relatively minor factor in the US, but may be 80% or more of the alcohol consumed in some areas outside the US, with beer and wine being the most often homemade.
Countries with higher per capita alcohol consumption have a different definition of what it means to give alcohol to children. Some permit the purchase of alcohol for children over the age of 4 years, for consumption in the home, and allow consumption for teens in a pub if accompanied by a parent. So often, surveys regarding alcohol focus more on what is illegal, or on hard spirits, rather than on all alcohol consumption, as is the case in the US.
Statistics show very clearly, two important things:
First, the younger a person is introduced to alcohol, the more likely they are to become alcohol dependent.
Second, the higher the alcohol consumption in a nation, the younger they are likely to be introduced to drinking alcohol.
Alcohol consumption rates correlate directly with average age of death, and this is after other factors are accounted for. Lower death ages are very much in line with higher rates of alcohol related disease in those countries.
Binge drinking statistics prove the opposite of what they suggest at first.
The statistics show that binge drinking occurs in 50% of occasions with alcohol for US teens, but only 10% of occasions with alcohol served for teens in several countries with very high per capita alcohol consumption.
What this proves is, that when alcohol is served rarely, kids will drink to obvious intoxication half the time.
That when alcohol is served daily, they will drink to obvious intoxication 10% of the time.
American teens MAY party once a week with alcohol – usually far less often, perhaps once a month or once every few months. They drink to intoxication (one definition of binge drinking) in the ABSENCE of parents, and they tend to do it in rebellion.
Teens in nations where parents serve them alcohol on a daily basis will drink to obvious intoxication about every 10th day. They may do it WITH their parents, or in rebellion, either one.
Conclusion is that while the statistics were carefully stated to imply that teens drinking with their parents daily was a good thing, the actual numbers show that it is not, and that they engage in far MORE binge drinking, not far less.
Now, we also know, from the great Kombucha debacle of 2010, that if an alcohol containing beverage has carbonation caused by fermentation, and has NOT had pressurized carbon dioxide added, that it is OVER the limit for classification as an alcoholic beverage, and it is therefore illegal to give it to children in the US, and not advised for use by pregnant women, or those with conditions or medications that interact poorly with alcohol.
Let me repeat part of that – If a fermented beverage has carbonation (and you did not add carbon dioxide manually), IT IS ALCOHOLIC, and capable of intoxicating a child, and potentially damaging a child in utero, and it is NOT RECOMMENDED for healing the body!
Normally, carbon dioxide does NOT suspend in a liquid. It bubbles out. It bubbles out of kraut and pickles, because there is no significant alcohol volume to suspend it. As the alcohol content rises, carbon dioxide begins to stay suspended in it (dissolved in it), and does not bubble out as easily.
We also know that Beet Kvass is brewed to an average alcohol content of 11%, often more, and no, I did not misplace a decimal, that is ELEVEN percent. It is done the same way homemade soda is done, and the same way water kefir, and kombucha is done. The more fizzy, the higher the alcohol content. The finer the bubbles, the higher the alcohol content.
Alcohol has a NEGATIVE effect on the body, especially for children, and especially the digestive system, for six reasons:
1. It kills microbes. It is used as a disinfectant to KILL living cells. It does not care whether these are inside or outside the body.
2. It kills surface cells lining the digestive tract. These are fast growing cells, and are more vulnerable to chemical damage than slower growing cells. Anyone who has ever had chemo knows this, and alcohol damages in the same way chemo does.
3. It gets into the bloodstream and damages cells throughout the body, particularly the brain, liver, endocrine glands, and kidneys.
4. It damages the mitochondrial DNA in the body, and this damage IS inherited. This is one reason the tendency to become addicted to alcohol is familial. This also causes widespread mitochondrial dysfunction and metabolic dysfunction within the body. This passes from the mother AND the father.
5. It causes genetic damage to eggs and sperm, passing genetic damage and dysfunction to infants in utero. This type of damage passes to a child from BOTH the mother and the father.
6. The effects on a developing body are catastrophic, since the body fails to develop normally, and the harm to normal growth and maturation is permanent. Harm is not minimized, it is compounded.
So, knowing this, we understand that if we are fermenting ANYTHING that creates significant alcohol in a food we are consuming for health reasons, that we are engaging in counterproductive efforts, and harming the body rather than healing it. We also understand that the effects are compounded when we give these substances to children, whose bodies are still developing.
The statistics were pretty compelling. One day I’ll find more and add them in, but this is all I have for today.
You can find these statistics very easily, they are gathered and published by the World Health Organization, who cannot quite make up their minds whether alcohol is evil, or good. They’ve settled on presenting that alcohol is good, but the effects of it on health and longevity and societal functionality are bad. So sometimes you have to pay attention to what they are really SAYING, not what they want you to THINK they are saying.