Multivitamin Mixes and Big Cocktail Fixes
Alcohol may taste great and it might even be less filling, but what the ads never tell you is that booze is a vampire that will suck essential vitamins and minerals right out of your body.
A quick look at the list of nutrients alcohol will zap into oblivion tells the whole story: nothing in the vitamin alphabet is safe from its boozy clutches. Vitamin B1 – or thiamine – is one of the most common victims of heavy drinking and is even prescribed during detoxification treatment, but in truth all vitamins and minerals will need replenishing after a hard night on the town.
For this reason it’s probably best to take a multivitamin in addition to more specific vitamin supplements, particularly those that hit all the B vitamin bases. B vitamins are necessary for energy production, immune system performance and cell reproduction. These might sound like boring tricks, but without them you would literally cease to exist.
Doctors with experience treating alcohol dependency advise using a whole slew of vitamin supplements because most “career drinkers” who have built up a tolerance likely don’t even realize they are vitamin deficient. For these people, it wouldn’t hurt for a multivitamin to be supplemented with chromium, milk thistle, NAC, or lecithin.
Of course, there is no substitute for responsible alcohol consumption and taking vitamins should not be seen as a way to mitigate the damage of prolonged excessive drinking.
I should remind everyone that our blog entries are for your information only and are not intended as medical advice. Because everyone is different, you should work with your medical professional to determine what’s best for you. If you’re going to drink, do it legally and responsibly; don’t be stupid =).
