Help and advice for alcoholics and their families

Does alcohol make depression worse? You better believe it! I know millions of people have a few drinks everyday in hopes of chasing the blues away, but it doesn’t work like that. Drinking alcohol will make you feel better, but only temporarily. And constant use and especially overuse will lead to both physical and mental health problems.

Alcohol is one of those drugs that actually requires greater and greater quantities be consumed to have the same effect after being abused over a long period of time. So you’ll need more alcohol to get that warm and fuzzy feeling you crave.

Small quantities of alcohol will make you relaxed and give you a comfortable feeling around people. It can also let you speak up if you are usually shy or make you more aggressive in certain situations. On the good side of the ledger a small quantity of alcohol is actually good for your heart.

Does alcohol make depression worse? Without a doubt. The real question are you willing to change your habits for better mental health? Many people aren’t ready to make a change and suffer longer than they need to. If you continue to abuse alcohol your depression will worsen and you will live a troubled, unhappy life. Alcohol effects keep you from being able to recognize that it is one of the causes of your bad feelings. You will continue to spiral down to a deeper level of depression until you hit rock bottom or someone intervenes to help you.

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Excessive alcohol will impair your judgment and capacity for making good decisions. You will become very tired and lethargic. The vicious cycle of drinking to feel better only to feel worse begins and you become more and more depressed. Physical health problems will no doubt begin to surface as your liver and kidneys struggle to keep up with the drinking.

An unbelievable number of traffic accidents are indirectly attributed to depression. This is true because of the relationship between depression and getting drunk in hopes of feeling better. Instead many people end up in a traffic accident.

Does alcohol make depression worse? It has caused many suicides. It doesn’t get much worse than that. It also leads to homicides and other violent crimes committed against people that just happen to be in the right place at the wrong time.

Just remember there are far better ways of dealing with depression than with alcohol. It will undoubtedly make your depression and your life miserable. Now how do answer the question, does alcohol make depression worse?

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Alcohol dependence can develop over the years and follows a generally predictable pattern. A tolerance of alcohol develops first, which means a person needs to consume greater quantities of alcohol before the same effects are noticed. Over time, the person may lose control over their drinking and may not be able to stop even if they want to. And if alcohol consumption is reduced or stopped, withdrawal symptoms can be experienced which can range from annoying to life-threatening. Just for a hint, such are the signs and symptoms to look for; addicts tend to drink alone or in secret. This is mostly due to the fact that they do not want to be seen drinking and be forced to admit that they have a problem. Addiction at its worse stages may cause temporal amnesia, or just severe forgetfulness. Peer pressure is becoming an increasing source of alcohol abuse especially amongst younger adults as we feel that we may not be accepted into a group if we don’t drink as heavily as they do or as frequently either. Sometimes works parties and social gatherings make you feel pressured into drinking more than you would normally do adding to the pressure. In the initial stage of alcoholism, alcohol is often a stimulant to get over depression over job status, plummeting self esteem, or a perceived sliding relationship with a significant other. Weeks turn into months, and the urge to drink increases. That is the alcoholics perfect world and to me looking back clearly was one of the alcoholism signs and symptoms. For me I was not able to separate fun from alcohol. For me to really believe I was capable of having fun alcohol needed to be present, and if it was going to be great fun I would have to be able to drink as much as I wanted with no consequences, just like this trip offered me. Instead of trying to hide behind statistics or play the blame game, treatment of alcohol abuse should start with children and teenagers being made aware of effects of alcohol abuse. Parents, peers and authorities need to monitor or communicate through listing on menu bars or one to one discussions on drug and alcohol abuse. There are many options available to an alcohol abusive drinker, who is looking for means to deal with this problem. There is no dearth of good and reasonable rehab centers, located all over the country. Many hospitals and nursing homes even offer Residential Alcohol Abuse Programs. The alcoholic will transfer into the next spherical of signs when they get to exactly where they are able to tolerate an will increase quantity of alcohol and it get much more to create them feel the same as prior to. At this point, the few that they utilized to drink to feel much better just isn’t doing it any far more. One effect is breaking out in sweat accompanied by shaking or nausea if there is no alcohol available. If one tries drugs to anchor oneself to some reality, the problem can compound. It can seem to the addict that nothing helps. It would be wrong to assume that only African Americans living in pathetic economic conditions are the ones who are suffering from alcohol abuse. Even African Americans who live in cities, form a considerable portion of the abusive drinking population.

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Alcoholism is definitely not something that you wish to lock yourself with. Nobody wants their loved ones to fall prey to alcoholism. As we all know, alcoholism is pretty much about mad addiction to alcohol.

Putting it plain and simple, an alcoholic is hardly able to resist the cravings for alcohol. These cravings become embedded in the body as such that the person utterly becomes a slave to his alcoholic desires.

Interestingly enough, a person might not sometime even realize that he or she is an alcoholic. On the other hand, even if an individual knows that he or she is an alcoholic, the individual prefers keeping it a secret from friends and or family. They are afraid that they will be prevented from taking alcohol if their well wishers get to know about their mammoth craving for alcohol.

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That is why you need to know the signs of alcoholism. Knowing these signs can help you detect the alcoholism in you or in your loved ones. And when you know this, you can take some preventive steps before it gets too late. Here are 3 more alcohol signs that should be regarded as red flags:

When someone drinks alone: This happens because of a couple of reasons. Firstly, nobody likes to be known as an alcoholic. They try to keep the unusual volume’ of drinking an absolutely private’ issue. Second, as opposed to the typical drinkers who just drink as an excuse of conversation or passing time, an alcoholic, drinks for the sake of drinking.

Making excuses: When a person turns into an alcoholic, he or she has a built-in demand for alcohol. But for most people in this busy world, it is tough to arrange time and to escape for a drink often. Alcoholics try to find excuses for their occasional drinking’.

Dependency & Slavery: An alcoholic is usually unable to work without daily and frequent drinking. Doing the laundry, taking the kids to school or going to work, all these, seems too tough without a drink. Alcoholics usually can’t help drinking. It’ll turn out to be some kind of slavery.

If you notice these symptoms in yourself and others, you should take necessary measures to counter alcohol addiction.

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A new study from the University of California at San Diego finds that thirty three percent more infants die of SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome) on New Year’s Day. This figure is believed to be due to the consumption of alcohol by their caretakers on the previous night – New Year’s Eve.

The increase in SIDS deaths is beyond the usual increase in winter. The study, which was led by sociologist David Phillips, examined 129,090 cases of SIDS deaths between 1973 and 2006. It is the first American study to look at the possible connections between SIDS deaths and alcohol consumption.

In 1994 the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development started the “Back to Sleep” campaign. Pediatricians and public service announcements urged parents and caregivers to put babies to sleep in their cribs on their backs. Since that time, the number of SIDS deaths have dropped, but unfortunately continues to be the leading cause of death for children under one year old. The study found that the numbers of SIDS deaths increase more on New Year’s Day than on any other day of the year. The incidence of SIDS deaths and consumption of alcohol rise every weekend. The study also found that babies of mothers who drink alcohol are more than twice as likely to die of SIDS. The cause of SIDS is still unknown. The study does not make a definite link to alcohol use as a cause of SIDS, but the concern exists that judgment is affected.

“We know that when people are under the influence of alcohol their judgments are impaired and they are not as good at performing tasks. This would include caretaking,” Phillips said.

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Addiction is turning into a international concern and alcohol addiction is developing into a huge issue because of the wide distribution and legal property of alcoholic beverages.

The word alcoholism has several definitions. Generally, alcoholism is the word that refers to the condition that results from the recurrent intake of alcoholic beverages. Medically speaking, alcoholism is referred to as a condition that results from an importunate consumption of alcoholic drinks despite several unpleasant outcomes.

One should not be confused with the mere drinking of alcoholic drinks with the medical descriptions of alcoholism. It is true that the definition of alcoholism is associated with the drinking of alcoholic beverages but the constancy and the quantity of alcohol consumption are the significant determinants that are used to identify whether an individual is encountering alcoholism or not.

The side-effects of alcohol addiction are categorized into two sets: the long-term effects and the short-term effects.

We all know that alcohols, most notably ethyl alcohol, are potential central nervous system (CNS) tranquilizers. The toxicity level relies on several factors. For example, the level of toxicity is lesser when alcohol is consumed after having lunch as compared to the level of toxicity when the alcohol is consumed with an empty stomach. When it comes to hydration, the toxicity level is lesser if the alcohol is added first with water prior to intake.

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The side-effects of alcohol in the body are described to be biphasic. The term biphasic describes the side-effects of alcohol consumption that differs from time to time. Alcohol initially generates happiness and leisure. Too much intake of alcohol may result to blurred vision and coordination problems. Medically, when alcohol is drank, it is released to the bloodstream and is released to all biological tissues in the human body.

(A) HEART DISEASE: The people who take in alcoholic beverages are vulnerable to lots of cardiovascular diseases. Acute myocardial infarction or heart failure may take place if the alcohol addiction goes on.

(B) LIVER DISORDER: Several liver-related diseases may occur because of alcohol addiction. Some of liver diseases that are caused by alcohol intake are steatosis, progressive inflammatory liver injury, liver fibrosis, and liver cirrhosis.

(C) CANCER: Different kinds of cancers like leukemia, malignant melanoma, prostate cancer and papillary carcinoma may develop as a side-effect of alcohol intake.

(D) OTHER EFFECTS: Drinking alcohol may may develop into overweightness and fatal alcohol syndrome that develops to the disintegration of the central nervous system.

Identifying Alcohol Addiction

(1) Screening: The screenings are usually self-reports that are intended to determine the level of alcoholism addiction. The different kinds of essential screening test procedures are CAGE Questionnaire, ADD Questionnaire, MAS Test, AUDIT Questionnaire, and the Paddington Alcohol Test.

(2) Urine and blood tests: By testing the blood and the urine of the subjected person, the status of alcohol addiction may be determined. Alcohol addiction may be examined through different indicators that includes macrocytosis, Gamma-GT elevation, ASAT and ALT ratio, and CDT elevation.

(3) Others: A few procedures including the determination of the genetic predisposition or the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders are intended to identify the alcohol addiction status and the level of toxicity.

Same as the medical and psychological procedures used for drug addiction, the treatment in this case is also separated into two distinct sections which are alcoholic detoxification and advising. The mentioned treatment processes have to be performed at the same time. By conducting the detox treatments, the body of the person with alcoholic issues is cleansed. By conducting the advising or the intervention methods, the addictive may be persuaded to let go of alcohol addiction.

It is necessary to pass on the necessary information concerning the negative side-effects of drinking alcohol to the physical and mental system of the people to lower the number of people who are considered to be alcoholics.

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Alcohol Addiction

A tremendous amount of medical and psychological research has taken place to determine the exact nature of alcohol abuse. Few people would have difficulty diagnosing alcohol addiction in the wino passed out on the sidewalk. We know that any drinking by a pregnant woman is alcohol abuse due to its propensity to cause fetal alcohol syndrome. It additionally is associated with birth defects, and childhood mental problems. But what about the other end of the spectrum: Where does the definable line for the problem begin?

The first characteristic of alcohol abuse is maladaptive behavior. Is one using alcohol to cope with stress, social ill-ease, depression, grief, social isolation, or other human situations which require more constructive solutions? What are the repercussions? Is the alcohol use contributing to the failure of the drinker to meet obligations? Has it caused run-ins with the law? Has alcohol use placed one in risky situations like drinking and driving? Does the drinker continue to use alcohol in spite of interpersonal or social problems? A positive response in any of these areas suggests alcohol abuse.

When doesalcohol addictionor dependence occur? One of the first signs is tolerance: it takes more and more alcohol to achieve the desired effect. Of persons who are alcohol addicted, over 50% will have withdrawal symptoms when abstinence is attempted. Withdrawal can be in the form of extreme anxiety, depression, panic, hallucinations, and even seizures. The alcohol addict will use more alcohol than he intended, and will have difficulty controlling the quantities consumed. Quite often, he or she sets aside large quantities of time which he or she devotes to the consumption of alcohol. Their work or school performance may begin to slip through neglect. Often they will continue to use alcohol in spite of medical conditions which absolutely contraindicate its use.

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How prevalent is the problem? Well, the average American male has a one in five chance of developing alcohol addiction. One in four will seek treatment on his own initiative. Alcohol use is exaggerated in the 18 to 20 year old groups. Abuse and addiction can develop by the mid twenties. The risk of alcohol dependence falls off some 90% at thirty, and to even less at age forty, though 10% of alcohol addicts develop the problem after age 40.

The National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Addiction has gathered a lot of data, and along with other experts, has set up criteria for alcohol abuse and addiction. In healthy males up to 65 years old, the limits are no more than four drinks a day or fourteen a week. For women and men over 65, the limits are three drinks per day or seven per week. A drink is defined as ten to fourteen grams of absolute ethanol which is contained in a 0.6 ounce shot glass, a glass of wine or a beer.

What are the health repercussions of alcohol abuse and dependency? It has been shown that the risk of early death is increased three to four times by continued alcohol abuse. These deaths are most commonly due to stroke, cancer, heart disease, liver cirrhosis, and high risks of accidents and suicide. About 80% of alcohol dependents smoke heavily with all those inherent health risks. Continuing heavy use is associated with depression, psychosis, insomnia, and severe anxiety. A lot of the psychiatric symptoms will abate with as little as two to four weeks of abstinence. Even CT scan visualized abnormalities of the brain can revert to normal with periods of abstinence.

One problem with alcohol addiction is its tendency to consistently relapse. Your physician can prescribe certain medications such as naltrexone which diminish alcohol craving and relapse. Disulfiram works through negative feedback: anyone drinking while taking it will develop acute, extremely uncomfortable, illness-like symptoms. Medication can carefully and temporarily be prescribed for anxiety and depression.

One needs to realize that the tendency to become alcohol-addicted is inherited in up to forty to sixty per cent of cases. If your family tree is loaded with alcoholics, you would be wise to avoid experimentation with alcohol.

Your doctor should ask you straightforward questions about your alcohol use in the same manner he asks about diet, exercise and smoking. Hopefully he can encourage your candor by doing so in a non-judgmental fashion. If he determines that there is an abuse or dependency problem present, hopefully you will work with him to maximize your health and avoid future preventable illness. Even though it may be hard to imagine, the ultimate goal should be to attain lasting abstinence. Abstinence is not a cure for this life-long problem: it is remission in the same manner as cancer remission. But it will allow your health and personal life to return to the more fulfilling and productive ones present before the onset of this unfortunate condition.

John Drew Laurusonis, M.D.

Doctors Medical Center

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Ethyl Alcohol Health Effects

Long-term effects-If you are regular having high amount of alcohol intake it may increase the risk of liver diseases and cancer. Regular having more than two drinks a day may increases the risk of developing alcoholism, alcoholic liver disease, and some forms of cancer. Having between one to two alcoholic drinks a day has been shown to have positive effects on health, unless contraindicated, chiefly because of its cardiovascular effects.

Short-term effects- Alcohol supplies some effects on body that shows in very short period of time. Alcohol, specifically ethanol, is a potent central nervous system depressant with a range of side effects. The amount and circumstances of consumption play a large part in determining the extent of intoxication and for example, if you consume alcohol after a heavy meal is less likely to produce visible signs of intoxication than consumption on an empty stomach. Hydration also plays a role, especially in determining the extent of hangovers

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How alcohol travels- Alcohol is metabolized extremely quickly by the body. Unlike foods, which require time for digestion, alcohol needs no digestion and is quickly absorbed. About 20 percent is absorbed directly across the walls of an empty stomach and can reach the brain within one minute. Once alcohol reaches the stomach, it begins to break down with the alcohol dehydrogenate enzyme. This process reduces the amount of alcohol entering the blood by approximately 20%. In addition, about 10% of the alcohol is expelled in the breath and urine. Ethyl Alcohol Health Effects

Alcohol and pregnancy-Women that drink heavily during pregnancy are at risk of having babies with a condition called fetal alcohol syndrome. This can result in growth deficiencies, nervous system problems, lowered intelligence, and facial abnormalities in the child. It is also called fetal alcohol spectrum disorder and all the symptoms are not always present and can vary in how serious they are.

Health affects of alcohol consumption-Taking alcohol in regular manner affects very badly on health. Several recent studies have examined the health effects of alcohol and for many people, moderate consumption appears beneficial. The largest study to date to look at the relationship between alcohol consumption and mortality found that those who drank one drink a day had a 20% lower death rate from all causes compared to nondrinkers. For deaths due just too cardiovascular diseases, the death rates were 30-40% lower for those reporting at least one drink daily compared to nondrinkers. Ethyl Alcohol Health Effects

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Alcoholism is a disease that effects brain chemistry in the body and as such it is far more difficult to give up drinking than many think. Many think that because they only drink beer or wine they aren’t in fact alcoholics or that they only drink at weekends so again they cannot be alcoholic. This is a myth as alcohol is a drug and as with any drug if you abuse its use you will have side effects and alcohol is no different. Drinking wine or beer merely means that you drink more of it and weekend drinking is binge drinking where you consume large quantities in a short period of time. All symptoms of alcohol abuse.

So what can trigger alcoholism?

There are many triggers that can turn someone into an alcoholic. Social drinking has been woven into the social fabric of our culture and a lot of people enjoy the social life of bars ,clubs and pubs as a meeting place to unwind and share a drink with good company however there is a downside to this as alcohol abuse affects not only your health but your family and friends and society itself. There is a fine balance and it is a fact that these days the balance is being tipped over towards alcohol abuse as social and peer pressures upon people increase. This can be hard to identify in cases of depression, anxiety or loneliness, grief or even family history.

Family history plays its part and although not proven it is thought that if you have a family history of alcoholism there is a greater risk of alcohol abuse.

Alcohol can in some cases worsen some mental illnesses and even create new ones too so it needs to be taken with care if there is history of mental illness within your family.

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Peer pressure is becoming an increasing source of alcohol abuse especially amongst younger adults as we feel that we may not be accepted into a group if we don’t drink as heavily as they do or as frequently either. Sometimes works parties and social gatherings make you feel pressured into drinking more than you would normally do adding to the pressure.

One of the major causes is stress or a huge life change as many of us simply haven’t got the life skills to cope with these major changes and the result is a turn to alcohol to help to relieve the pressure. A mistake of course as alcohol will never get you through your trauma or stressful situation.

So how can you tell if someone is suffering with alcoholism, luckily there are some basic patterns that can help to identify the suffering.

The first sign is that drinking takes over their life and becomes more important than anything else, family, friends or their job even. Another sign is the effect it has on them physically and emotionally which can often impair judgement to sometimes dangerous levels.

Once the alcohol abuse turns into alcoholism it is called alcohol dependency or addiction and in this stage alcohol becomes essential to perform functions and it is practically impossible then for an alcoholic to stop even though they have severe physical and psychological consequences. This shows up in relationships which are doomed from the start as an alcoholic cannot see that a relationship is going wrong as they are not able to make the rational decisions needed in relationship building.

Here are some of the physical signs of alcohol abuse and alcoholism:

While intoxicated: slurred speech, dizziness, clumsiness or unsteadiness

Blackouts, when you drink so much you pass out

Weight loss

Unexplained sore or upset stomach

Redness in the face or cheeks

Numbness or tingling in hands and feet

Health effects of alcohol abuse

Long-term alcohol use can cause serious health complications, affecting virtually every organ in your body. These effects include:

Liver inflammation, which can lead to cirrhosis, a serious, irreversible liver condition

Increased risk of heart disease, stroke and cancer

Stomach problems and nutritional deficiencies

Neurological problems such as confusion, numbness and trouble with memory

Birth defects

As you can see alcoholism is a serious disease and if untreated can cause a lot of damage both to the individual concerned as well as friends and family.

It is a long road but the rewards of getting the right treatment early are well worth the trauma of getting off alcohol for good. Both mentally and healthily.

For more information and instructions on how to beat alcohol addiction in 60 days please visit the website.

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“Sugar-free, low sugar, zero sugar”. These are marketing claims seen on many packaged foods such as yoghurt, lollies, chewing gum, biscuits and diet foods promoted as “health” foods due to their low sugar content. The question is how can these foods have a sweet taste and yet contain little or no sugar and no artificial sweeteners? In a market that is more health savvy, sugar alcohols such as xylitol, sorbitol and mannitol are commonly being used in foods to replace sugar and artificial sweeteners.

Sugar alcohols tend to have a similar taste providing a similar sweetness to sugar while avoiding the bitter aftertaste and potential health risks that are associated with artificial sweeteners. They also tend to have less impact than sugar on blood glucose levels. Sound wonderful? This article takes a critical look at sugar alcohols to see if they are actually as good as they are made out to be or if they are just another “green-wash” in a market flooded with pseudo-health foods.

Also known as polyols, sugar alcohols are a type of carbohydrate formed from an alcohol portion and a sugar portion. Despite the name sugar alcohols don’t contain ethanol and so you won’t become intoxicated from consumption. Sugar alcohols tend to be less sweet and also contain between to 1/3 less calories than sugar (2 or 3 calories compared to 4 with sugar). Apart from their sweet taste, sugar alcohols also help to bulk out foods, provide texture and “mouth feel” to products such as chewing gum. While they occur naturally in fruits and vegetables, most sugar alcohols used in food production are commercially produced from glucose, sucrose or starch.

It is important to remember however, that sugar alcohols don’t necessarily act like sugar in the body. Sugar alcohol absorption from the small intestine into the blood stream is incomplete resulting in a reduced rise in blood glucose when compared to sugar. For this reason they are popular in foods products targeted to the diet, low carb and diabetes market.

A minor problem arises when foods containing sugar alcohols claim to be “sugar-free” or “low-sugar”. While technically correct, consumers may assume that the food will therefore have little or no impact on blood sugars. As discussed above, sugar alcohols reduce the energy density of foods and therefore have less impact on blood sugars however, there is still some impact which diabetics need to take into account. It is considered safe to assume that sugar alcohols will have approximately half the impact of sugar on blood sugar levels 1.

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Due to the incomplete digestion and absorption, a portion of the sugar alcohol remains in the gut. This can lead to fermentation by bacteria in the intestine and issues such as bloating and excess. Additionally, sugar alcohols hold a lot of water in the bowel and for this reason they may cause diarrhoea. Manufacturers state that this effect is usually an initial response and that increased tolerance usually comes with repeat consumption. However, with some consumers, digestive issues may be an ongoing issue.

An important factor that needs to be taken into account is the total daily consumption of sugar alcohols. Over a day it is likely to be the total quantity consumed that impacting on blood sugar levels and the digestive system with greater quantities more likely to cause side effects. The American Diabetic Association advises a warning “may cause diarrhoea: on quantities higher than 50g/day for sorbitol and 20g/day for mannitol 2.

Broken into categories based on chemical structure, there are 3 types of polyols: sorbitol, mannitol, xylitol are derived from monosaccharides, isomalt, lactitol and maltitol are disaccharide derived and hydrogenated starch hydrolysates (HSH) are derived from polysaccharides. Outlined below are the details of a few commonly used sugar alcohols.

Sorbitol is made from corn syrup and only has half the sweetness of sugar. Sorbitol is less likely to cause intestinal upset than mannitol however is not recommend for diabetics as it is not readily excreted and high levels can contribute to microvasculature damage. Ironically, it is often found in “sugar-free” gums and candy recommended to diabetics. Sorbitol can also cause laxative effects.

Frequently used in chewing gums and hard candy Mannitol is extracted from seaweed for use in food prodution. Less sweet than sugar, more is required to match the relative sweetness of sugar. Mannitol is most likely to cause bloating and have a laxative effect and as such a label warning is often seen to that effect.

Xylitol is a sugar alcohol made from a part of birch trees that has been used safely since the 1960s. Despite researching this ingredient, at this stage there are no negative reports of xylitol in humans. In fact the opposite seems to be true with positive effects on tooth decay reduction. Unlike sugar, Sugar alcohols are not acted upon by bacteria in the mouth. Xylitol has been found to inhibit oral bacteria, and is often used in sugarless mints and chewing gums for this reason. Research has shown that regular chewing of gum containing xylitol showed up to 60% reduction in tooth decay when compared to controls. The other positive report for diabetics is reduced blood sugar and insulin responses to xylitol consumption when compared to sugar.

One area for concern with regard to xylitol is its use with animals, specifically at this stage dogs. A recent report in the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association (JAVMA) reported that sugar-free dog treats containing xylitol have caused liver failure and in a small number of instances death 3. Based on this report, it is advisable for pet owners to avoid giving their dogs’ xylitol containing treats.

Foods containing sugar alcohols are increasingly available due to the trend in diet, low carb and diabetic foods. Based on the research completed to write this article sugar alcohols are not without issue. Consumers, particularly diabetics need to keep in mind total daily consumption of sugar alcohols and those experiencing ongoing digestive upset would do well to completely eliminate them from their diets. Of course, sugar alcohols are definitely out for dogs and possibly other pets as well.

Finally, while sugar may be responsible or partially so for many of modern society’s health complaints, it is a natural substance that we have been consuming for thousands of years. While we eat far too much of it, sugar is part of our evolutionary history. On the other hand sugar alcohols have only been used in recent times. The effects of long term use, beneficial or otherwise are not known. As such, moderation is recommended when including sugar alcohols as part of your diet.

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