As a recovering alcoholic, I did this experiment many times. I always drank a lot more than six drinks a day but there were reasons why I would switch between beer for a period and then hard alcohol (usually vodka).
Keep in mind that both of types of intake resulted in textbook symptoms of extreme, prolonged alcohol use (everything from tremors to high blood pressure).
Beer was the better of the two in terms of overall health effects. The major problem was the bloating that occured from just raw fluid intake.
Hard alcohol, OTOH, had the added problems of mouth, stomach, and digestive tract irritation. When I drank mainly hard alcohol, I would sometimes start vomitting blood until I was convinced I was going to bleed to death. The bathroom would look like a murder scene. That would stop when I switched back to beer.
From my experience, I would say that beer would have fewer complications simply because parts of your body don’t like being exposed to realtively undiluted alcohol in quantity over time.
I am better now but I thought a real life experimental report might answer this for you.
If 6 beers a day is enough to get you drunk, you must be underweight (depending on how fast you drink them, of course). I 'm 6’1, 219. 6 beers really wouldn’t be enough for a decent buzz, unless I slammed them within an hour or two. And that’s really a waste. If you’re going to slam just do shots of whisky.
I would think drinking spirits mixed with diet soda would have less calories than beer. People with “beer bellies” tend to get that from both the beer and the fatty snacks they eat while drinking.
When my goddamn gout acts up & I can’t drink anything at all I do tend to drop about 5 pounds. So alcohol does contribute to overall body weight.
I’ve wondered about this too. For about 7 years I was drinking about 6 to 8 beers every night, and then maybe 10-15 if I went to a party. But no hard liquor. I never really had any adverse effects other than weight gain (went from 125 lbs to 195) over this period. I never threw up, not even once, but I’d be somewhat dehydrated the next day. The only reason I even quit drinking was to lose the weight, which I did, and I’m back at 125 lbs. I still have about one beer a day though and drink heavy only about once or twice a month, although I’ve pretty much lost all my tolerance anyway.
Can I assume you’re a female? I think I was in middle school the last time I only weighed 125.
As for the OP: Regardless of how it’s consumed, alcohol is a poison. So over consumption in any form over a long period of time can affect your health.
But if you’re going to do it, know a few things.
*First, not all beer is 5% alcohol. Some are more, some are less. So determining how much actual ethanol is in whatever brand you’re drinking may take some research on the web. This will help determine how many you need to drink to get drunk. Unlike wine & spirits most beer doesn’t have it’s alcohol content on the label.
*Second, body weight is a prime factor in how much you need to drink to get buzzed. THIS is a pretty good tool.
Use my weight on it and you’ll see I’d need to down all 6 of those beers in an hour to be legally drunk (and .08 really isn’t very drunk. Only too drunk to drive).
*Keep in mind that your body processes alcohol at [about] 1 drink every 2 hours, give or take. I’ve heard different equations of this. The longer it is between drinks, the more you’ll have to drink to maintain intoxication.
*Food slows the absorption of alcohol, but it’s not a perfect science. Don’t rely on a big meal to keep you from getting a DWI.
*Men tend to process alcohol differently than women, and can usually drink more even with equal body weight.
Here’s another angle; gout. My older brother and my dad both had gout, and they told me some of what they learned about it. Apparently, the dark liquors contain a lot of the stuff that brings on a gout attack. (purines?) So, guys who are prone to gout should stick to clear booze or beer.
Incorrect. Beer is one of the worst things for a gout sufferer to drink. The alcohol raises uric acid in the blood and the malt contains a hefty amount of purines. It’s a double whammy!
Because of the purines in the malt even non-alcohol beer is a no-no.
Whenever I get a flare my wife always snaps at me “how much beer did you drink this week! Pay the piper!” :rolleyes:
