Low-alcohol drinks and their properties. Harm to low-alcohol drinks

A rare holiday or a sad event in Russia does without alcohol. Today, low-alcohol drinks are becoming increasingly popular. They allow the consumer to be "under a small degree", while not getting drunk too much. Because of this, many young people do not miss the opportunity to drink a cocktail or beer every evening. There is an opinion that the harm of low-alcohol drinks is not so great. Doctors say that the damage to health caused by low-alcohol drinks is enough to stop using them. But let's start in order ...

Alcohol production. Types and composition

The main classification of alcoholic beverages is based on the amount of alcohol contained. At the heart of any alcoholic beverage is ethyl alcohol. Depending on the amount of this transparent liquid with a characteristic smell and burning taste, alcohol products are divided into species.

In high alcoholic beverages, the percentage of ethyl alcohol reaches 96. Strong beverages, such as vodka, cognac, whiskey and rum, contain between 31 and 65% of ethyl alcohol. Liqueur products and wines refer to medium-alcoholic beverages, which are characterized by an alcohol content of 10 to 30%. Low-alcohol drinks contain only 1.5 to 9% alcohol. The most popular representative of this category is beer.

Ethyl alcohol in Russia is widely used in various fields. In industry, medicine, the food industry and the national economy, it is impossible to do without it. But on the human body it acts very detrimental.

Where did the strange drinks come from in Russia?

"Long drink", or drinks that should be drunk for a long time, stretching pleasure, appeared in Russia in the early nineties. The first swallows arrived, as it should, from Europe. Still not spoiled Russian buyers attracted unusual taste and affordable price of foreign food. Domestic manufacturers noted the high demand, simplicity and cheapness of technologies, so they quickly became a serious competitor to European brands.

In the history of the production of Russian low-alcohol beverages, there were recessions, and crises, and prosperity, as well as import bans. Today, production and foreign supplies are well established, and there is a huge assortment of low-alcohol drinks on the shelves of stores.

By the summer, manufacturers are preparing thoroughly: they supplement the list of low-alcohol drinks, create new tastes, experiment with packaging, update the design, and look for new points of sale.

Than low-alcohol drinks have won love and purses of buyers

Absolute majority of adult buyers at least once in their lives tried a low-alcohol cocktail, and many became its true connoisseurs and regular consumers. What is the secret of the popularity of these drinks?

First: a huge choice. The customer can even find the drink with the most unusual culinary preferences to taste. The most common drinks are cocktails with lemon, orange, grapefruit, raspberry, banana, exotic fruit and, of course, beer.

Secondly: the price policy. As mentioned above, low-alcoholic tonic drinks are much more attractive at cost than alcohol of greater strength.

Third: step-by-step availability. Today, on the shelves of any store, supermarket, in the menu of a cafe or club there is a huge selection of cocktails.

Fourthly: the effect created by the drink is the opportunity to relax and rest. With this drink, a person can not only quench his thirst, but, thanks to a small dose of alcohol, relax and liberate, without fearing to get intoxicated to recklessness.

Of course, low-alcohol tonic drinks are mostly preferred by active youth. Most manufacturers are guided by them when choosing technologies, packaging and advertising strategy. People in the older age group prefer strong drinks and beer.

Beverages to raise the tone

Modern man, especially in a metropolis, lives in constant vanity, noise, stress and habits. Including he gets used to being in a trend and live at a furious pace. Of course, this requires strength and rest. But where to take time to rest, how to spend it with benefit and make the body work longer, and the brain is more productive? Many young people use low-alcohol tonic drinks as a "recharge". The list of popular brands on the market is very extensive.

To tonic include non-alcoholic and low-alcohol drinks, in which there is a tonic. This component is required very little to exert an exciting (tonic) effect on the human body.

Energy drinks include carbohydrates, caffeine and plant extracts. These components have a stimulating effect on humans. It is believed that not only harm, but also benefit the body bring low-alcohol tonic drinks. The list of organs, to which they positively influence, is impressive: the digestive system, stomach, intestines, cardiovascular and nervous systems.

But there are categories of consumers who are not recommended to use toning beverages - these are pregnant women, adolescents, elderly people, as well as people suffering from insomnia or unstable psyche. Even a healthy adult does not need to drink more than one bottle (cans) per day.

Popular types of low-alcohol drinks in Russia

Increasingly, low-alcohol drinks began to enter the consumer's basket. Affordable price, great choice and relaxing effect from drinking makes them attractive to consumers.

The most well-known are the following drinks:

• Kvass is a traditional Russian drink with a strength of up to 2.5%. To get kvass, you need bread or milk starter. Milk and acetic acids provide kvass with useful properties. It helps to improve digestion, metabolism, as well as normal muscle tone. In addition, it includes a bouquet of vitamins, amino acids and trace elements that have a positive effect on the body. But kvas is contraindicated during pregnancy, lactation, children up to the age of three, and also to people with stomach ulcers and liver cirrhosis.

• Cider and perry - to obtain these drinks, apple wort and yeast are used. For the production of cider, a special variety of apples is grown, so it is not the cheapest in its category. Perry is considered a variety of cider, only it is based on fermentation of pear juice.

• Champagne - not all such wines are for low-alcoholic beverages, for some, the fortress exceeds the threshold of 9%. Champagne is a drink of celebration and celebration. It is produced by one of the methods: autotrophic or bottled champagne. In a quality drink, the bubbles will be small, not large or medium, as in carbonated water. Champagne is credited with a number of useful properties because of the polyphenol that is included in its composition. This drink has bactericidal properties, lowers blood pressure and improves blood circulation in the brain. But from it very quickly get drunk, bubbles can cause rotting in the stomach, and with the use of champagne pregnant in the fetus can develop cerebral palsy.

• Wine is one of the most noble drinks. Although most wines do not fall into the category of low-alcohol beverages, as their fortress mark begins at 9%. The main raw material is grapes of different varieties. Distinguish red and white wine, dry, semi-dry, semisweet, table, pink. Very often on the shelves you can find a bottle at a very low price, indicating that the basis of the drink is powder. Natural wine really has useful properties, because it contains vitamins, acids, trace elements, antioxidants, iron and other biologically active substances. If you drink wine within reasonable limits, it helps to lower cholesterol, remove toxins and toxins from the body. When you abuse this drink, a person faces ischemic heart disease, diabetes and the development of cancers.

• Beer is a low-alcohol beverage, which is prepared using barley malt, hops, yeast and water. This product took all the best from cereals: vitamins B ₁ , B ₂ , B ₆ , H, C, K, acids and trace elements. The use of beer in a moderate amount improves metabolic processes and reduces the risk of malignant tumors.

• Koumiss is not a very common drink in Russia, but it definitely deserves attention. This product is made on the basis of mare's milk and, of course, yeast. The fortress of such a drink can differ significantly from different manufacturers - from 0.2 to 40%. Koumiss is endowed with useful properties due to vitamins, minerals, fats and live sour-milk bacteria that make up its composition. It has a positive effect on the nervous and cardiovascular systems.

• Liqueur-based cocktails - Jin-tonic, Jaguar, Strike, Huch, Screwdriver, Shake, Revo, Rum-Cola, Brandy-Cola and much more. There are a lot of such drinks on the shelves, we gave only a few examples. In banks and bottles with such products, there are many preservatives.

These are the most popular drinks in our country. If the cultures of other countries carefully consider low-alcohol beverages, the list will be much larger.

Scale and single issues of low-alcohol drinks

Every buyer knows about the existence of low-alcohol drinks. Today, there are so many alcohol products that a seldom drinker can easily get lost in it. Let's understand what concerns low-alcohol beverages.

Alcoholic drinks are considered to be alcoholic, the alcohol content of which does not exceed 9%. In their preparation, juices, extracts of plant raw materials, beekeeping products, grapes and sugar are used. Also, the recipe includes flavors and flavorings, colorants and water. Naturally, this is a partial list of ingredients for preparing an alcoholic beverage. The production and distribution of alcoholic beverages is strictly regulated by the state.

The gardeners have their secrets of producing beverages of varying degrees of strength. Beer, cocktails, liquors, wine, kvass and other low-alcohol beverages at home can not be cooked easily. Home "manufacturers" like to talk about the benefits of their drinks, in any case, abuse of such products is not worth it!

Stages of intoxication

The word "alcohol" came from the Arabic "al-kegol", which means "intoxicating." Undoubtedly, drinks with alcohol content have a stupefying effect. There are several stages of the influence of alcohol on the body of an adult:

1. Stress recedes. Ethyl alcohol in small doses can reduce anxiety, cause euphoria, liberate a person. Some people have improved coordination of movements and attention. At this stage, the person relieves stress. But those who become much easier with it, are most at risk of becoming addicted.
2. Feats are waiting for heroes. The next stage is excitement. Slow down the process of controlling behavior, and a person thirsts for adventure.
3. Rethinking life. This stage is accompanied by oppression. There are cases of the onset of an alcoholic coma with a fatal outcome. It is better to stop until this stage, if it was decided to meet with the "green snake".

The effect of alcohol on the male body

There is a myth that, unlike strong alcoholic drinks, low-alcohol products are harmless. Negative influence on the male organism is provided by low-alcohol drinks, the list of consequences of which depends on their composition.

Most often in large quantities of beer. Consider the result on its basis:

• "Beer belly" is a famous feature of beer lovers. Fat accumulation in males occurs according to the female type and leads to further obesity. Fat, formed because of the love of beer, very quickly disintegrates and falls into the liver, forming there cholesterol.
• Later, such men are waiting for atherosclerosis, which increases the risk of heart attack and stroke.
• In men who consume beer in large quantities, there is a development of gynecomastia. It manifests itself in an increase in the mammary glands, an increase in the timbre of the voice, an end to the growth of stubble, emotional distress and a decrease in libido. Often as a result of such changes, impotence develops.

Help to cope with a man with hormonal failures and other problems caused by the frequent use of low-alcohol drinks, can a healthy lifestyle, diet and refusal (at least a significant reduction) of these dangerous products.

The effect of alcohol on the female body

Low-alcohol drinks often cause damage to the female body, especially when consumed in large quantities. The ladies, accustomed to drinking alcohol, are threatened:

• Occurrence of a stroke;
• phlebeurysm;
• Reduced mental capacity and memory impairment, since alcohol at any dose kills the cells of the human brain;
• Gastritis, stomach ulcer;
• Hepatitis and cirrhosis;
• Change of shape, deterioration of skin color and structure;
• Hormonal failures, development of infertility.

Girls and women should abstain or reduce their intake of alcohol. And there are periods when alcohol with even the smallest alcohol content should be completely excluded from the diet. The use of low-alcohol drinks during pregnancy or lactation is strictly contraindicated!

The effect of alcohol on children and adolescents

Of course, if we talk about kvass and kefir, in which fermentation is also present, the parents give these products to the children without hesitation. When it comes to alcohol-containing beverages, it is worth remembering their influence on the children's body and not allowing the child to even tasting.

It is very difficult to follow a teenager. Young guys and girls can not wait to try their adult life and entertainment. But the harm of low-alcohol drinks is colossal, this needs to be explained and "drubbed" your child. Strong blow to the unformed organism can lead to tragedy. Here it's not just about lethal cases, it also means diseases, mental and mental disorders, infertility and impotence.

Law and low-alcohol drinks

In many countries, various bans on low-alcohol and tonic drinks have been introduced.

In Russia, legislation provides for penalties for such violations:

• Drinking alcohol, including low-alcohol drinks, in unauthorized places;
• Sale of alcoholic beverages in the wrong places;
• Sale of alcoholic beverages after 22:00;
• Non-adherence to advertising restrictions;
• Neglect of age restrictions in the sale and use of alcoholic beverages.

The struggle of the state with alcoholic products is inseparably linked with the promotion of such goods, since their producers are serious taxpayers.

To drink or not to drink, everyone decides for himself. But we must remember that a minute weakness can have an irreparable effect on a person. If you abuse even low-alcohol drinks, the body will not forgive you!