p. 27 | Alcohol Neither a Food nor a Medicine

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D.C. · Jul 2, 1908

Alcohol Neither a Food nor a Medicine

By GEO. KNAPP ABBOTT, M. D.

In a previous article mention was made of the fact that the cause of temperance has been weakened by the prevalent ideas concerning alcohol as a medicine. Brandy and whisky have long been regarded as stimulants and therefore, as such, useful in emergencies.

“A falsehood which dies hard is the idea that stimulants, of whatever kind, actually give strength, and are necessary for the maintenance of health and vigor. Such is not the case, and the well-worn comparison that they are the whip and spur, and not the corn and grass, is strictly accurate. Anything accomplished under the influence of stimulants is done at the expense of blood and tissue, and, if frequently repeated, at the expense of the constitution.”—Sir W. Broadbent, M. D., LL. D.

But let us even grant that a whip is sometimes necessary under exceptional circumstances. Is alcohol a stimulant? Is it useful in shock, in surgical collapse, or other conditions where prompt assistance is imperative? Dr. Munro, Physician to the Glasgow Royal Infirmary, says: “It has yet to be proved that the heart muscle can be stimulated by alcohol.” Let us examine the evidence. The following is from Martin and Stevens (1889) of the Biological Laboratory of Johns Hopkins University. “Experiments have shown that blood containing only one quarter of one per cent of alcohol diminished within a single minute the work done by the heart; and that blood containing one-half per cent so seriously affected its working power that it was scarcely able to drive a sufficient amount of blood to supply its own nutrient arteries.”

Again: it might be asked, Is it not useful in reviving those who have fainted? In giving any remedy by mouth, the mere act of swallowing stimulates the heart, causing it to beat more quickly. This is especially noticed if the liquid is warm or irritating. So that the same result may be obtained by non-alcoholic liquids, thus obviating the depressing effects which follow almost immediately on the taking of alcohol into the system. George W. Crile, A. M., M. D., in an article on “Blood Pressure in Surgery” has, by direct experiment on the state known as “shock,” shown that alcohol only aggravates the conditions resulting therefrom.

The prolonged use of alcohol results in an abnormal enlargement of the heart, due to dilatation and increase in fat at the expense of the heart muscle. “Drs. Bauer and Bollinger found that in Munich one in every sixteen of the hospital patients died from this disorder.”—Sir Victor Horsley. This condition is common among beer-drinkers. Is it not strange that what produces death should have ever been supposed to revive in the least the vital forces?

We are told by the “brewers’ association” that it has been proved that alcohol is a food. The proof is said to rest upon the experiments of Professor Atwater, in showing that alcohol is oxidized in the human body. This he claimed was one of the essentials of a food. In reply one could not do better than to quote further from “Alcohol and the Human Body:” —

“A food may be defined as any substance which, when absorbed into the blood, will nourish, repair waste, and furnish force and heat to the body without causing injury to any of its parts. It does not follow, because a substance is oxidized in the living tissues, that the results of such oxidation are of use to the body: on the contrary, many poisons are so oxidized. For instance, morphia and phosphorus are oxidized as far as possible by the tissues, the body striving to get rid of such poisons by the method of oxidation, just as in daily life we get rid of noxious materials by burning them in a rubbish heap. The fact that a substance is burned up in the body does not in the least entitle it to be called a food.”

With this evidence in mind, we may, with positiveness, say that alcohol has not place either as a food or a medicine. In any amount, however small, and under all circumstances, it acts as a poison.

GEO. KNAPP ABBOTT, M. D.