25 Alcohol Facts That Might Make You Quit Drinking
However, there are many terrible aspects of alcohol that the average drinker knows nothing about. And after reading these scary facts from Reddit, you might be tempted to put the bottle down for good!
1.
TIL that Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) accounts for one-third of infant deaths in America. It occurs more often on weekends and 33% more on New Year’s Day. Infants whose caretakers drink alcohol are twice as likely to die from SIDS.
2.
TIL Stephen King’s character of Annie Wilkes in “Misery” was the personification of his severe addiction to cocaine and alcohol.
3.
TIL That a study on drinking alcohol found that the amount of shrinkage in the hippocampus — the brain area associated with memory and reasoning — was related to the amount people drank. Those who had four or more drinks a day had almost six times the risk of hippocampal shrinkage as did nondrinkers
4.
TIL that mixing alcohol with cocaine starts a chemical reaction in your liver, producing cocaethylene (a stronger longer lasting form of cocaine). After some time it is released back into your bloodstream. This is why some people can overdose after they already seem safely passed out.
5.
TIL an Australian beer company had to change the design of its beer bootle because male jewel beetles were mating with the bottle thinking it was a female. This odd behavior was observed in 1983 by two biologists.
6.
TIL about the Devil's Chair, a graveside bench in the cemetery in Cassadaga, Florida. According to local legend, an unopened beer left on the chair will be empty by morning. The Devil is sometimes said to appear to anyone bold enough to sit in the chair.
7.
TIL in the Czech Republic, beer is cheaper than water in pubs, leading its health minister to call on restaurants and bars to offer at least one nonalcoholic drink at a price less than that of beer - but the Czech Hotel and Restaurant Association said that it is ready to fight "excessive regulation"
8.
TIL a town crier needed to be employed in Germany to remind the local populace not to defecate in the river every time its water was drawn for brewing beer
9.
TIL that Cinco De Mayo's popularity as a holiday in the US is largely due to a marketing campaign launched by Corona's importer in 1989.
10.
TIL of The London Beer Flood. An 1814 industrial disaster that sent a 15-foot high tsunami of beer sweeping through the streets after a giant vat of porter broke in a local brewery. The flood claimed the lives of at least 8 people. More deaths followed in the days after related to alcohol poisoning.
11.
TIL that during the filming of Jackass 3D, Johnny Knoxville, Jeff Tremaine, and the rest of the crew banned beer from the set to help Steve-O maintain his sobriety.
12.
TIL in 2013, 16 years after the Seinfeld episode mentioning Festivus aired, it was actually observed in Florida when a "Festivus pole" made of empty Pabst beer cans was displayed in the state's capitol building in Tallahassee
13.
TIL that the alcoholic Romanian politician Gheorghe Chițu visited a dentist while drunk and got all his teeth removed.
14.
TIL Fido is a common name for a dog because of Abraham Lincoln's dog Fido. Fido was "assassinated" by a drunk with a knife a few months after Lincoln's assassination.
15.
TIL about "Drinksgiving", the night before Thanksgiving, which produces more people killed in drunk driving crashes than Christmas. It's also known as Blackout Wednesday.
16.
TIL Fetal Alcohol Syndrome wasn't discovered until the mid 1970s, and in 1988 the CDC concluded a fifth of women drank while pregnant.
17.
TIL that Americans in the mid-1800s drank incredible amounts of alcohol - equivalent to 7 gallons of pure ethanol per person, per year.
18.
TIL that a study conducted in 195 countries, over a 26-year period, concluded that there is no safe level of alcohol consumption. The researchers admitted that moderate drinking may protect against heart disease, but found that the risk of cancer and other diseases outweighs these protections
19.
TIL Fruit flies are considered model organisms to understand human alcoholism. Also, after extensive binge drinking males are known to engage in homosexual behavior
20.
TIL In general, dark alcohols are more likely to give you a headache than clear alcohols, due to the congeners. Participants drank equal amounts of alcohol in either vodka or bourbon forms. 33% of bourbon drinkers reported next-day pain while only 3% of vodka drinkers had hangovers
21.
TIL in 2004 a Taiwanese woman died of alcohol intoxication after immersion for twelve hours in a bathtub filled with 40% ethanol. Her blood alcohol content was 1.35%. It was believed that she had immersed herself as a response to the SARS epidemic.
23.
TIL Partnership for a Drug-Free America, which used to air many PSAs through the 80s to the mid-2000s, was actually funded by alcohol, tobacco, and pharmaceutical companies. The ads steered clear warnings about legal drugs being abused.
24.
TIL that champagne bubbles are basically yeast farts. The yeast ferment the sugars in and produce carbon dioxide and alcohol. They also die, and digest themselves.
25.
TIL: The top 10% of American drinkers consume nearly 60% of all alcohol sold - averaging 74 drinks per week.
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