Stories related to: alcohol consumption

The turbulent economy may be driving consumers to drink. While some might be crying in their beer, the world's biggest wine maker, Constellation Brands—whose labels include Robert Mondavi and Ravenswood—reported a huge 50% increase in profit the first quarter of 2008, reports the Wall Street Journal . Analysts believe fewer people are drinking in restaurants, opting instead to drown their sorrows at home. More »

Is it happy hour yet? About 20% of Americans regularly go out for drinks with colleagues after work, says a survey from careerbuilder.com. Reuters runs down the highlights: Most go out just to be social, but about 30% say they do so to gossip or only because they feel obligated. Only 4% dared admit to breaking out in karaoke with co-workers. 5% said they shared company secrets while under the influence.   More »

Hangovers have afflicted the recently drunk since the Stone Age, yet a dependable remedy remains elusive. A hangover takes hold just as the body succeeds in eliminating the alcohol from the blood stream, Joan Acocella notes in the New Yorker . It results from a pileup of insults the system sustains in getting the job done, she explains, deconstructing the telltale symptoms in vivid detail. More »

Young people intentionally binge on booze and drugs to improve their sex lives, according to new research. A third of European men under the age of 36 and a quarter of women said they drank to increase their chance of sex—and were more likely to engage in unsafe sex when they were high, reports the BBC. Cocaine, ecstasy, and marijuana were used to enhance arousal or prolong sex, according to the study published in BMC Public Health. More »

Alcohol can increase the risk of breast cancer in older women by more than 50%, according to a new study. In an analysis of data from more than 184,000 post-menopausal women, those who had one or two drinks a day were 32% more likely to develop breast cancer tumors, researchers found. Three or more drinks a day raised the risk 51% higher.   More »