Medicinal alcohol drinks

Since alcohol has dispersing and fast moving properties, it can increase the effect and speed of the herbs. Medicinal alcohol drink is often used for chronic disorders. Herbs that tonify the body, such as Ren Shen (Ginseng radix) and Gou Qi Zi (Lycii fructus), and herbs that disperse wind, damp and cold to treat Bi syndrome, such as Wu Jia Pi (Acan-thopanacis cortex), are often prepared in this way. Herbal alcohol drink is usually taken once a day in small amounts of 10-20 ml. 

Since prehistoric times, ethanol-containing beverages have enjoyed widespread use as a recreational luxury. What applies to any medicinal substance also holds for alcohol the dose alone makes the poison (see p. 2). Excessive, long-term consumption of alcoholic drinks, or alcohol abuse, is harmful to the affected individual. Alcoholism must be considered a grave disorder that plays a major role in terms of numbers alone for instance, in Germany 1 000 000 people are affected by this self-inflicted illness. 

Thus alcohol can be a type of food, a medicine, an antidote for poisoning (see pp. 195-7), and also a poison itself, and an apt illustration of the principle of Paracelsus AH substances are poisons, there is none that is not a poison. The right dose differentiates a poison from a remedy Is there are safe level of drinking Is there a non-toxic dose It is possible to give only an approximate value because individuals vary and, as we saw earlier, so do alcoholic drinks. Most people don t measure the exact amount of alcohol they consume each day or week, and there needs to be some allowance for variation. 

Alcohols, ether Anaesthetizing irritant to mucous membranes loss of consciousness liver damage death teratogenic eye damage convulsions damage to the heart and kidneys Ethers are metabolized to form the corresponding alcohols Alcoholic drinks solvents chemical industry petrol substitutes medicine... 

Use B. p. are used in medicine as a stomachic or gastric tonic in cases of loss of appetite and dyspeptic complaints. Other uses are in the production of alcoholic drinks (bitters, various aperitifs) and soft drinks (tonic water, bitter lemon, bitter orange, etc.). The formation of B. p. plays an important role in the production of beer and cheese. 

Many species of the genus Artemisia (wormwood, Asteraceae) are used as spices, for alcoholic drinks and also in the folk and traditional medicine. The chemical compounds and the antioxidative activity of the EOs isolated from the aerial parts of Artemisia absinthium (vermouth), Artemisia santonicum (sea wormwood), and Artemisia spicigera (sluggish wormwood) were investigated (Kordali et al., 2005). The analysis of the EO of Artemisia santonicum and Artemisia spicigera showed two main components, namely 1,8-cineole and camphor. In addition, it is noticed that the EO of these two species contain no thujone derivates in contrast to Artemisia absinthium. Earlier studies have also shown that 1,8-cineole and camphor are main components of the EO of some Artemisia species. The antioxidative activity of the EO of Artemisia santonicum and... 

Water charged with carbon dioxide is termed soda water. It bubbles and fizzes as the gas is released. Soda water is added to syrups in soft drinks and to mixed alcoholic drinks. It does not possess any medicinal properties. 

The term wine refers to the fermented juice of the grape. If other fruit juices are used to make wine, the name of the fruit must precede the word wine. Wine is believed to have been one of the oldest medicines in the world and has long been used as a base for many tonics. However, most people drink wine for enjoyment. Recently, Americans increased their consumption of this beverage at the expense of other alcoholic drinks, as evidenced by the fact that the per capita sales of all types of wine in the United States doubled in the period between 1956 and 1976." Since 1976, the per capita consumption of wine has not changed much it has gone from 2.7 gal to 3.0 gal. 

The refractive index also varies with the amount of substance in a mixture. Most often, refractive index is used to assess the concentration of sugar in wine, soft drinks, cough medicines and other preparations having relatively high concentrations of sucrose. Refractive index is also used to determine the concentration of alcohol in fermented products. For sucrose solutions the refractive index varies from 1.3330 (pure water) to 1.5033 when the solution contains 85% sucrose. This is an increase of approximately 0.0002 in the refractive index for each 0.1%... 

Opium has been used medicinally throughout history. Writings of ancient physicians in many cultures espoused the virtues of opium as a remedy for all types of ailments including pain relief, cough suppression, and diarrhea. Remedies prepared by alchemists and ancient physicians often contained opium. Galen (131-200) prescribed opium for headaches, deafness, melancholy, epilepsy, asthma, and colic. The famous European physician Paracelsus (1493-1541) produced an alcoholic potion containing opium called laudanum. Varieties of laudanum were used for several hundred years as medicinal drinks and were readily available in apothecaries. 

Acetaldehyde is a natural product of combustion and photo-oxidation of hydrocarbons commonly found in the atmosphere. It is an important industrial chemical and may be released into the air or in wastewater during its production and use. It has been detected at low levels in drinking-water, surface water, rainwater, effluents, engine exhaust and ambient and indoor air samples. It is also photochemically produced in surface water. Acetaldehyde is an intermediate product in the metabolism of ethanol and sugars and therefore occurs in trace quantities in human blood. It is present in small amounts in all alcoholic beverages, such as beer, wine and spirits and in plant juices and essential oils, roasted coffee and tobacco smoke (lira et al., 1985 Hagemeyer, 1991 United States National Library of Medicine, 1998). 

National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence and the American Society of Addictive Medicine defines alcoholism as a chronic disease influenced by genetic, psychological, and environmental factors. Alcoholism is described as a loss of control over drinking—a preoccupation with drinking despite negative consequences to one s physical, mental, and emotional makeup as well as one s work and family life. 

Today other substances can be used and they are now referred to as date-rape drugs and there is widespread belief that this type of crime is quite common. It isn t. Clinical analysis of the urine or blood of women who claim to have fallen victim to their use, shows that very few have in fact been deliberately drugged. Most have passed out unconscious because they have drunk too much alcohol. In 2005, Michael Scott-Ham and Fiona Burton of the Forensic Science Service, London, reported in the Journal of Clinical Forensic Medicine the results of a 3-year study. They analysed 1014 cases of alleged date rape but found that only 21 of the victims (2%) had had their drink deliberately spiked. On this basis, of the 500 such cases reported annually in the UK, only 10 are actual date rapes. In the USA there are more than 250,000 reported rapes per year, but how many of these are drug assisted is not known, although on a comparable basis of 2% it would mean around 5,000. What was discovered in the UK survey was that while alcohol had caused most of the... 

Besides avoiding a low-salt diet, patients receiving lithium therapy for bipolar disorder are cautioned to drink alcohol in moderation and to discuss all over-the-counter and prescription medicine with their psychiatrists, since some antibiotics and anti-inflammatory agents like... 

During the early years settlers who shared the Wilcoxes values moved to the area and banned the recreational drinking of alcoholic beverages, however, some alcohol consumption was allowed for medicinal purposes. 

In France, it is the custom before a meal to partake of an aperitif, usually an aniseed-flavoured spirit called pastis. Pastis (e.g. Ricard , Pernod ) when it comes out of the bottle is a clear, light brown coloured solution of volatile oils from the seeds of the anise plant (Pimpinella anisum), which impart the characteristic aniseed flavour to the drink, dissolved in approximately 40% v/v ethanol. When a pastis is drunk, it is mixed with water and ice, whereupon the liquid becomes cloudy. This happens because the anise oils are hydrophobic, non-polar liquids and not very water-soluble. They are only held in solution by the high alcohol content of the drink. When the alcohol is diluted with water, the oils come out of solution and form an emulsion of oil droplets in the aqueous phase. This is what gives the drink its cloudy appearance. Oral solutions of anise oils have been used pharmaceutically for their carminative action and as an aid to digestion for many years, although it seems to this author preferable to consume anise oils in the form of a pastis, rather than in the form of a bottle of medicine. 

Clauses 20.1 and 20.2 and does not impinge on the principle behind this clause. For example, answering requests by members of the public as to whether a particular medicine contains sucrose or some other inactive ingredient, or whether there would be problems associated with drinking alcohol whilst taking the medicine or whether the medicine should be taken before or after a meal, is acceptable. The situation with enquiries relating to side-effects, the indications for a medicine and such like is not as clear cut and particular caution is required in dealing with them. 

When routine blood tests reveal abnormally high liver enzyme levels, for instance, there are many potential causes, depending on which enzyme levels are awry and how off-kilter the levels are. The culprit could be as serious as alcoholism or infection with one of the hepatitis viruses, both of which can cripple the liver over time. Or the cause could be as innocuous as taking certain common medicines or having a few extra drinks at a party. 

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