The controversy between traditional Chinese medicine and Western medicine has been around for a long time, and the discussion between Chinese liquor and health is also a hot topic.
In the absence of a conclusive conclusion, the authoritative health advice of the International Union of Nutritional Sciences (IUNS) and the Chinese Nutrition Society for people is still "quit smoking and limit alcohol", rather than "quit smoking and drinking". "I looked at the dietary guidelines for U.S. residents in 2000, 2005, 2010, and 2015, and only in 2010 did I not see moderate alcohol consumption, and the other three five-year dietary guidelines all advocated moderate alcohol consumption. ”
1 Medicine and wine are homologous
Traditional Chinese medicine goes almost with wine. Therefore, the Chinese character "medicine", the traditional Chinese character is written as "醫", and Xu Shen of the Eastern Han Dynasty explained in "Shuowen Jie Zi": "Medicine, healing workers." The "medicine" in the upper left part refers to external trauma, the upper right part "殳" refers to massage, hot compress, acupuncture and other actions during treatment, and the lower part of the "unitary" refers to wine; To sum up: after the injury, through massage, acupuncture and other means, and then take the internal and external application of wine, in order to achieve the purpose of **, it is called "medicine".
Ban Gu of the Han Dynasty said in the "Book of the Former Han Dynasty and Food and Goods" that "wine is the long of a hundred medicines"; Sun Simiao, the medicine king of the Tang Dynasty, said that "drink less, and blood and qi strengthen the body and keep out the cold, ward off evil spirits and prolong filth", and wrote in "A Thousand Golden Prescriptions": "One person drinks, and one family is free of disease; One family drinks, one mile without disease. The summary of wine in the Yuan Dynasty Hu Sihui's "Drinking and Eating is Essential" is: "Wine is sweet, pungent, hot, the main medicine is powerful, kills all evils, clears the blood, thickens the stomach, and dispels sorrow." Ancient Chinese medicine believes that "wine is the essence of the water valley, sweet and spicy, its hot, its fierce spirit, and all-pervasive", with the effects of "killing hundreds of ** poisonous gas", "removing wind and lower qi" and "curing diseases with wine". These expositions are all generalizations and summaries of the ancient ancestors' practice of wine in medicine and life.
Jin Zhang Hua's "Naturalist" recorded a real case: "Wang Su, Zhang Heng, and Ma Jun traveled in the morning in the fog, one drank alcohol, one was full, and the other was on an empty stomach; Those who are empty die, those who are full are sick, and those who drink are healthy. The so-called "wine is going to ward off evil". Coincidentally, during the epidemic in 2020, Zhou Xinming told the author about her personal experience.
At the beginning of the epidemic, I started to drink high alcohol and 'disinfect' my body, because my father (author's note: referring to Mr. Zhou Henggang, a famous wine industry leader) once told me that when dining in a place where the sanitary environment is worried, I must drink some high alcohol or eat garlic to disinfect bacteria. I once ate barbecue in Inner Mongolia, and the meat was still oozing with blood until it was seven ripe, and the locals said it was the best heat. I was advised to drink a lot (remembering my father's words, I had to drink more, this meat was not cooked and needed to be sterilized), and the accompanying driver could not drink. On the way back the next day, the driver had obvious discomfort in his stomach and intestines, but the other comrades who drank alcohol did not feel unwell. I often travel in groups, and my travelers are used to using boiling water to scald dishes and chopsticks, but I have two more tricks (wine and garlic) than others to make a healthy 'screensaver', which is simple and easy to do and will benefit you for life. ”
In the Qing Dynasty work "Empirical Divine Prescription", it is recorded: "Whenever the plague is prevalent, if you go out to the east and west, you must drink a few glasses and then go out." When you go home, you should drink a few glasses of alcohol before you can eat other things, and you will not be infected with the plague when you are naturally strong, but you should not get drunk. If you can't drink alcohol, you can eat ginger and garlic, or stuff garlic in your nose. ”
2. Shu meridians and activate blood vessels
This is the basic function of all wines, or the health function of the ethanol component alone. Therefore, the common people know that drinking alcohol relieves fatigue and relieves fatigue. After a hard day's work, a few sips of wine are essential for the life of manual laborers.
The human blood system, like a network of water pipes, is constantly circulating. After entering middle age, the blood becomes viscous, especially in patients with high blood pressure, high cholesterol and high blood lipids, the cholesterol lipids in the blood attach to the originally smooth arterial intima and accumulate in the arterial intima to form atherosclerotic white plaques similar to atherosclerotic substances, which is "atherosclerotic lesions". If these plaques accumulate over time, it will cause "arterial lumen stenosis". Physics common sense believes that if the pressure of the heart pumping blood is constant at this time, when the caliber of the blood vessel becomes narrow, the pressure is constant, the area becomes smaller, and the pressure will increase, which is one of the reasons for the formation of "high blood pressure". To ensure that the same amount of blood is pumped, normal blood circulation is maintained, and the need for oxygen and nutrients is ensured by every cell, the heart needs to work under high pressure for a long time, and over time, the myocardium will become hypertrophied, and the hypertrophic myocardium needs more oxygen to metabolize, and once the coronary arteries cannot meet the demand for oxygen, it will lead to cardiac ischemia, which will produce "angina". On the other hand, if the atheroma plaque further accumulates, two conditions will occur: one is complete blockage of blood vessels, which mostly occurs in the capillary locations of the heart and brain, inducing "myocardial infarction" and "cerebral embolism"; The second situation is that the more serious the blockage, the narrower the lumen of the blood vessels, the greater the local blood pressure, and the deterioration of the toughness of the blood vessels after middle and old age, which is prone to blood vessel rupture, which is the pathological principle of "cerebral hemorrhage".
Therefore, Fan Daiming, former president of the Fourth Military Medical University and academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, suggested that after people reach middle age, it is best to run once or twice a week, so that they can continue for a short period of time to reach or approach their personal maximum heart rate (author's note: personal maximum heart rate = 220 - age, aerobic exercise heart rate range: 60% 80% maximum heart rate, provided that the heart is healthy), so that the high-speed blood flow quickly washes the blood vessels, which is like doing a blood vessel cleaning once a week. When the substances attached to the blood vessel wall are still unstable, they are cleaned up.
The effect of moderate alcohol consumption on blood circulation is the same as that of running, as Dean Fan said. Drinking alcohol once is equivalent to a rinse and massage cleanse of the blood system.
Moderate alcohol consumption also increases blood levels of high-density lipoprotein (HDL), which transfers cholesterol from the walls of arteries to the liver, where it is eventually broken down. At the same time, high-density lipoprotein can promote fibrinolysis, reduce platelet aggregation, and promote smooth blood circulation, thereby significantly reducing the incidence of coronary heart disease. A comprehensive analysis of 51 clinical studies of epidemic diseases conducted by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the world's largest medical research institution, --- the United States, showed that moderate daily alcohol consumption reduced the risk of hypertension and coronary heart disease by an average of 35%.
A joint research team from the University of Karl Riga in Canada, the University of Texas in the United States, and Harvard Medical School in the United States followed the relationship between alcohol consumption and heart disease for 30 years. Beginning in 1980, a comprehensive study of 84 scientific reports and 4,235 samples showed that people who drank moderate daily alcohol were 25% less likely to develop heart disease than those who did not drink at all.
The research results of the United Kingdom, the United States, France and other developed countries in the field of drinking and health show that in terms of cardiovascular diseases, the relationship between alcohol consumption and mortality is "U"-shaped, moderate drinkers are at the bottom of the "U" shape, and non-drinkers and alcoholics are on both sides of the "U" shape.
3. Liquor and Chinese medicine solvents
The mechanism of action of the liquor store is the same as that of "promoting blood circulation and blood circulation", and the blood is under the action of ethanol, which accelerates the speed of blood flow, so that the places that are usually unreachable can be easily delivered. Therefore, since ancient times, traditional Chinese medicine has the functions of "warm wine, bitter and sweet taste, warm blood and blood, dissipate medicinal power, warm the stomach and intestines, dispel wind and cold, invigorate yang qi, and eliminate fatigue". Written more than 2,000 years ago, the "Yellow Emperor's Neijing" has a "soup mash chapter", which is specially discussed, so wine is also called "decoction" in ancient times.
To extract the pharmaceutical ingredients, a solvent is required. A solvent is a medium that can dissolve gases, solids, and liquids into a homogeneous mixture. It is customary to call gases and solids solutes, and liquids as solvents. Water is the most widely used inorganic solvent, while wine, gasoline, chloroform and acetone are the most commonly used organic solvents. For food-grade extraction, water and wine are commonly used. Most of the ingredients in Chinese medicine are alcohol-soluble and insoluble in water, so most Chinese herbal medicines are traditionally soaked in liquor.
For example, in the era of national anti-malarial, after trying more than 2,000 kinds of drugs, Tu Youyou once read Ge Hong's "Elbow Reserve Emergency Prescription" in "Artemisia annua, stain it with two liters of water, wring the juice, and take it", and found that Artemisia annua has obvious antimalarial effect. In the early days, Tu Youyou used ethanol as a solvent to extract the original ingredients of its effective new brewing platform, and later found that due to the high boiling point of ethanol, the active ingredients of the drug were destroyed to a certain extent. About 30 years later, Tu Youyou was awarded the Nobel Prize in Medicine for the discovery of artemisinin.
The Compendium of Materia Medica introduces the role of various liquors in the valley "wine", and contains 69 wine recipes, such as rice wine: medicinal potential, blood circulation, moisturizing, dispersing moisture, removing wind and gas, relieving horse meat and tung oil poison; Healing malaria wine: to cure malaria, frequent warm drinks; Tu Su wine: This Hua Tuo's recipe is also, drink it on New Year's Day, and dispel all unhealthy gases from the epidemic. The "Compendium of Materia Medica" has more than 200 kinds of formulas of various medicinal liquors in the prescriptions of various drug items.
4 Health functional factors of liquor
The above functions of "clearing blood and veins", "practicing medicinal potential" and "medium of traditional Chinese medicine" are mainly the basic health functions of ethanol, the main component of liquor. But if baijiu has only these functions, it is to classify Chinese baijiu, which has such a complex brewing process, as no different from ethanol (alcohol). Xu Yan, vice president of Jiangnan University, repeatedly refuted this view in his speeches: "I want to tell everyone that baijiu is not alcohol, and it cannot be simply analogous to baijiu based on experiments done with alcohol." I just want to explain to them one thing, baijiu is not alcohol, it's scientific. "Because Chinese baijiu benefits from its complex process, in addition to producing a certain amount of ethanol, it also contains trace components and flavor substances that account for 2% to 3% of the whole during the fermentation process. Don't underestimate these 2%, they are the soul of Chinese baijiu. Chinese liquor is a wisdom brewing, art brewing, and heavenly brewing wine that Chinese are proud of. The active substances and flavor substances in liquor are also the first ...... of spirits in the worldChinese baijiu is the most complex liquor ...... in the world, with the longest cycle, the highest cost and the richest history and culture
The trace components and flavor substances contained in Chinese liquor that are beneficial to human health are collectively referred to as "health functional factors", mainly as follows.
4.1. Organic acids and esters
There is a saying in the market: "Liquor cannot be made into vinegar", in fact, the wine is brewed, and there are many organic acids in the wine, which have become the main aromatic and flavorful substances of the wine. Among them, the main ones with strong volatility are: acetic acid, propionic acid, butyric acid, hexanoic acid, caprylic acid, etc.; They react with ethanol to produce the corresponding esters. For example, ethyl caproate constitutes the main aroma of strong flavor liquor, while ethyl lactate, ethyl acetate and -phenylethanol constitute the elegant fragrance of rice-flavored liquor. Acids with weak volatility are lactic acid, malic acid, gluconic acid, tartaric acid, citric acid, succinic acid, etc. According to the theory of traditional Chinese medicine, acid is the main spleen and stomach, protects the liver, and can soften blood vessels. Western medicine also believes that vinegar is good for health, so Westerners like to drink yogurt, and Orientals like to eat kimchi, both of which are lactic acid products.
According to the Compendium of Materia Medica, acetic acid has the effect of "clearing swelling and pain, dispersing stinginess, and rationalizing medicines"; L-lactic acid is an essential amino acid for the human body, which can promote the growth of bifidobacteria, maintain the balance of microecology in the body, and can maintain an acidic environment in the stomach and intestines, inhibit the growth of pathogenic bacteria, prevent the production of harmful substances such as phenol and indole, and prevent cell aging; Butyric acid is a cancer agent, which can inhibit the growth and reproduction of tumor cells; Ethyl acetate can eliminate substances that have the best effect on the human body in wine, accelerate the metabolism of the human body, and reduce the harm caused by excessive drinking to the human body; Ethyl lactate can promote ethanol to stimulate the cerebral cortex and make the human body excited; Ethyl caproate has the function of lowering lung fire and stabilizing the heart and lungs.
4.2 Higher fatty acids and esters
Higher fatty acids and their esters, such as ethyl caprylate, ethyl palmitate, ethyl linoleate, etc. After these higher fatty acid ethyl esters enter the human body, they are hydrolyzed into higher fatty acids, which inhibit the synthesis of cholesterol in the body, improve the activity of brain cells, increase memory and thinking ability, and prevent senile dementia; Ethyl linoleate also has cholesterol-lowering and blood-lowering effects, which can prevent atherosclerosis.
4.3 amino acids
Cui Li [7] made a detailed analysis of the nutrients in liquor, especially the role of amino acids, among the 8 kinds of amino acids necessary for the human body, liquor contains 7 kinds (no tryptophan), which has the functions of effectively regulating the body's metabolic balance, preventing and treating liver diseases, effectively improving human sleep, regulating nervous system disorders, and regulating the gastrointestinal tract.
4.4 Polyols
According to the national standard, all liquor production is not allowed to add any sugar-containing sweeteners. However, when we taste baijiu, especially high-quality and aromatic baijiu, we can clearly feel the "sweet aftertaste", which is the polyol in baijiu. Among them, glycerol can speed up blood circulation, dilate capillaries, and make it smooth and moist; Cyclohexanol has the effect of liver cirrhosis, hepatitis, fatty liver, high cholesterol in the blood, etc.; Sorbitol helps the secretion of bile and pancreas, which can prevent blood pressure rise, arteriosclerosis, etc.; Galactitol has a laxative effect and can prevent constipation.
4.5 Rich in trace elements
Traditional Chinese liquor uses solid-state fermentation, solid-state distillation, and open fermentation, and some trace metal elements will be introduced into the liquor during the brewing, distillation and storage process. During storage, the ethanol partially volatilizes, the acidity increases, and the various elements in the container are incorporated into the wine. Zhang et al. determined 29 trace elements such as calcium, iron, manganese, magnesium, strontium, sodium and zinc contained in 8 different liquors by inductively coupled plasma emission spectroscopy (ICP-AES). These trace elements, like other trace elements, have good health care functions.
4.6 Other health functional factors
In 2005, Shen Caihong's team from Luzhou Laojiao found that Guojiao 1573 wine contained superoxide dismutase (SOD), which has the effect of scavenging free radicals and preventing aging. In addition, the physiological activities of 20 trace components in liquor were studied through in vitro model experiments, and it was found that the pyrazine compounds represented by tetramethylpyrazine had multiple effects such as antioxidant, immune enhancement and triglyceride reduction. Animal model experiments were used to investigate the protective effect of tetramethylpyrazine on acute liver injury, and it was shown that tetramethylpyrazine had the effects of liver protection, liver protection, and prevention of liver fibrosis.
At present, through the efforts of scientists, more than 1,700 health functional factors in liquor can be detected and recognized. At the same time, according to the research of Luzhou Laojiao Zhang Suyi, Zhao Jinsong and others, these health functional factors are by no means a single ingredient acting alone, but a comprehensive effect of the synergistic effect of various components.
Of course, how these health factors cooperate with each other and what the mechanism of action is still worthy of further study, just as our understanding of microbial winemaking needs to be further explored. Only by using modern science to clearly understand these mechanisms of action can Chinese baijiu be further internationalized and healthy.
5 Feel good
The first three are based on people's physiological attributes, while the fourth is based on people's social attributes and psychological attributes. Modern medicine considers mental health to be one of the most important factors in human health. Many of the diseases that have not yet been identified in human beings are often related to mental health. Recently, Professor Robin Dunbar, a psychologist at the University of Oxford, wrote an article "The Practical Benefits of (Moderate) Drinking", advocating that men should drink alcohol at least twice a week when they gather with friends to ensure physical and mental health.
The traditional Chinese culture is: it is better to be happy alone than to be happy, making friends, talking about business, celebrating happiness, or confiding in your heart, can be a drinking business; If you can't solve a drinking game, you can do it again. Often after a hearty drinking game, the mood is comfortable and refreshed, especially when the wine meets a confidant, or talks about the past and the present, or the spring of thought, or the piano and the ink, or the pointing of the country, as Li Bai described in the original poem of the new liquor platform: "The two of them drink the mountains and flowers, cup after cup." I was drunk and sleepy, and the Ming Dynasty intended to hold the qin. According to modern medical research, its mechanism of action may be that people can promote the secretion of dopamine in the body in a happy state, and dopamine can regulate a variety of physiological functions of the central nervous system. Further research is needed on the mechanism of action, but the positive impact of this state of well-being after drinking alcohol on physical health is undoubtedly perceptible and immeasurable.
6 Drink good wine at the right time, in moderation
Although wine is good for health, there is a degree to everything, and if the amount is small, it will not be enjoyable, and the amount will be too much, just like "it is meaningless to talk about the efficacy of medicine without the dose". The author believes that healthy drinking needs to follow three principles: one is timely, the second is moderation, and the third is to drink good wine.
Timely. It means that it is not advisable to drink alcohol on an empty stomach, and the ancients had the custom of "not drinking alcohol in the morning and not drinking tea in the evening".
Amount. How much is the right amount? Doctors often warn us that we should not drink more than two taels a day, which is too arbitrary. Two taels of high-grade liquor, for those who drink very little or even alcohol allergies, is obviously seriously overdosed, and for people who usually drink according to the "catty", it is not enough. Each person's individual differences are very large, and the amount of alcohol consumed is closely related to the physical state at the time of drinking, the seasonal climate, the occasion, the drinking object, the atmosphere of the scene, the duration, the quality of the wine, etc.
The triple realm of responsible drinking is widely recommended as a reference for the Fang family:
One is a healthy drink: that is, you can drink two or three points of your own alcohol before going to bed every day. According to the survey of the elderly over 100 years old in China, it was found that 6626% of the elderly are moderate drinkers.
The second is business drink: on the occasion of business gatherings, it is advisable to drink six or seven minutes of their own alcohol, which not only harmonizes the atmosphere, but also does not disrespect, and is the full respect for the guests.
Three for the drink of friends: wine is a thousand glasses of less, if "the gentleman's friendship is as light as water", then "the friendship of the confidant should be as strong as wine". Hearty, very much alcohol without hiding, for the best of the sex. At this time, the amount of alcohol is 10 to 12 points of their own drinking, the author believes that this is not a "drunk" state, but a "hearty and comfortable" state, of course, in this situation, two or three times out of ten times of drinking, it is a fortunate thing in life.
Drink good wine. As mentioned above, the reason why the classic is a classic is a really high-quality and high-quality liquor, due to the good raw grain, good process quality control, real enough age, scientific testing and other reasons, to ensure that the content of some harmful substances in the liquor, such as fusel alcohols and aldehydes, is reduced to the lowest possible level, and the content of health functional substances is maximized, so as to ensure the health of drinking. At present, some small workshops that some consumers are keen on personalizing the original liquor, advertised as solid-state brewing grain wine, but due to their brewing skills, process control, testing methods and other level limitations, they often contain excessive harmful substances without knowing it. Drinking good wine is the basic premise of healthy drinking, just as the basic premise of collecting old wine is to collect high-quality good wine in the first place.