Know your liquor: a quick guide - Part 2

White Wine

• Good to know: White wine is made from the fermented juice of grapes stripped of their seeds and skins.
• Calories:Around 130 calories per 175 ml glass; slightly more in sweeter wines.
• Pros: American researchers found that grape flesh contains the chemicals tyrosol and hydroxytyrosol, which help lower arteryclogging LDL cholesterol.
• Cons: It's the sulphites formed naturally or added to white wine as preservatives to stop it going brown which are the most likely cause of the 'white wine hangover' many people complain of.
  Sulphites also carry the risk of an allergic reaction which can worsen symptoms such as a headache, or asthma. White wines also wear away tooth enamel faster, making teeth more sensitive.
• Hangover severity:6/10

Red  Wine

• Good to know: Red wine is made from fermented grape juice - but unlike white wine, with the skin and pips included. It's then left to mature for a minimum of three years, during which pigments from the skins leech out and colour the wine red.
• Calories:Around 120 calories in a standard glass - it's slightly lower in sugar content than white wine.
• Pros: Contains more reservatrol - a plant anti- oxidant - than white wine. This helps to prevent blood clots and reduce inflammation, which is now considered to play a key role in heart disease. Also, the pips and skins used in red wines contain tyrosol and hydroxytyrosol, chemicals which help lower artery-clogging LDL cholesterol.
• Cons: Red wine drinkers can get worse hangovers than beer or white wine drinkers. Because of the way it's made, red wine produces two types of alcohol - ethanol and methanol. The liver processes the ethanol part of the drink first and leaves methanol until last. 'As a result, it's likely to be floating around in the body for a lot longer than ethanol, giving you that familiar "morning after" feeling,' says Professor Jones.
• Hangover severity:7/10

Champagne

• Good to know: Fast acting: Champagne

Champagne and sparkling wine are made in roughly the same way as wine - but then more yeast is added and it's left to ferment in the bottle a second time, producing carbon dioxide.

• Calories:An average 175 ml glass of Champagne contains 133 calories, slightly more than a glass of white wine because syrup is added to improve taste.
• Pros: The antioxidants in Champagne may help protect your brain against damage incurred during a stroke and against neurological disorders such as Parkinson's and Alzheimer's diseases, according to a team of researchers from the University of Reading . They found that high levels antioxidants, called caffeic acid and tyrosol, helped protect brain cells from damage.
• Cons: The bubbles speed up the absorption of alcohol into the bloodstream. And contrary to popular belief, Champagne won't lift your spirits - alcohol affects brain receptors in the same way, whatever its source.
  'Alcohol basically works in the same way in the brain receptors as Valium,' says Professor Jones. 'It depresses brain activity and relieves anxiety. You might think you're in a good mood, but it's more likely the result of alcohol causing "disinhibition", making you more talkative and exhibitionist.'
• Hangover severity:7/10

Beer

• Good to know: Slow mover: Low in alcohol, beer is the least dangerous to drink
  Beer is made by fermenting barley. Hops are added for flavour and yeast to make the grains ferment into sugar and alcohol.
• Calories:It's the most calorierich alcoholic beverage - just one pint contains between 170 and 200 calories, about the same as seven chocolate fingers biscuits.
• Pros: Beer is the least dangerous to drink and makes you feel you drunk the slowest.
  It has the lowest alcohol content - between 3 and 6 per cent for lager, and up to 8 per cent for ale and stout.
  A pint also contains more than a quarter of an adult's recommended dose of Vitamin B folate, which stops the build-up of homocysteinea chemical linked to heart attacks.
• Cons: Beer is high in compounds called purines, which boost the levels of uric acid in the blood, according to a study at Massachusetts General Hospital. This can form crystals in joints, leading to painful attacks of gout. The 12-year study found that drinking more than two beers a day doubled the risk.Meanwhile, research published in the International Journal of Cancer showed that one pint a day adds a 10 per cent risk of bowel cancer, while two pints a day increases the risk by 25 per cent.
• Hangover severity:4/10

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