Hot MedFax

My son hasn't shown much interest in alcohol -- at least not yet (or to me!).  But a new study has found that you may be able to predict which of your children is going to binge drink in the future. Of course, genetics play a part.   And I may feel a little more nervous than most folks because alcoholism runs in my family. But the study found that genetics play only a small part.  Brain function and about 40 different other variables can also help scientists predict with about 70 percent accuracy which teens will become binge drinkers. When I was a young teen, a younger cousin used to go everywhere with her shampoo bottle.  Turns out it was really liquor.  Not sure if this is why but at the age of 15, she became pregnant, and was able to hide it till about her eighth month.  Her family thought she had just gained weight.  It was a sad coincidence that her baby was born with Down Syndrome, which had nothing to do with her lack of prenatal...

Bet you thought you knew who the world's biggest drinkers are.  I don't mean, among your neighbors, but in the world.  Used to be, any time you saw an outdoor cafe in a movie in Paris, or Rome, or Madrid, or Berlin, the actors would be quaffing down drink after drink, or always holding a wineglass in one hand. And yes, Europeans used to be the biggest drinkers.  But consumption there has slowed, according to a story at smartplanet.com.  However, liquor companies, don't despair.  The Asia-Pacific region is taking up where they left off. Who's doing a lot of the imbibing?  Would you believe China?  "China alone now accounts for 38 percent of global spirits consumption, according to data released this month by International Wine & Spirits Research (IWSR), courtesy of The Economist ." Kirstin Korosec reports.  She adds that the IWSR data shows seven of the top 10 growth markets are in the Asia-Pacific region. People in China love "a heady ...

Now we've seen it all? Nutrition labels on alcohol?  It's coming. We already have warnings on pregnancy but now the Treasury Department, which regulates alcohol, "said this past week that beer, wine and spirits companies can use labels that include serving size, servings per container, calories, carbohydrates, protein and fat per serving. Such package labels have never before been approved," according to Mary Clare Jalonik of the AP. The labels, however, are voluntary so you probably won't be seeing too many of them. I don't know about you but when I'm drinking my Cosmopolitan , I don't really want to know it has the same number of calories as a brownie, or two (212). That's what was behind the famous Skinny Girl cocktail brand, putting fewer calories in liquor. But I'm not in the mood to count calories when I'm out drinking.  It's just not the most important thing on my mind. Some weight loss experts say to treat it as a piece...