Beer and Alzheimer's

Moderate beer drinking might prevent Alzheimer's disease. It is reported in Food Chemical Toxicology, 46: 49-56, 2008, that Spanish researchers have identified that the silicone contained in beer might bind to the aluminium in your body and prevent the uptake of the aluminium by the brain. Most researchers believe that the cause of Alzheimer's is an accumulation of aluminium in the brain.

Aside from the benefits that might be derived with relation to Alzheimer's, it is also noted that drinking two beers a day reduces the risk of stroke, heart attack, and blood vessel disease. Another bonus of beer is that it serves to increase levels of HDL which is the good cholesterol. The good news just keeps on coming because the two beers that you get to drink also include polyphenols which are the antioxidants that prevent the free radicals from doing their damage. However, to get the same amount of polyphenols of a glass of red wine you would need to drink a pint of beer. The moral of this story would be to alternate your beer and wine days. After all variety is the spice of life!

Yet, we all know that excesses of anything have their down sides. In this case too much beer will lead to health issues such as obesity becoming more prevalent. However, it is the other effects of alcohol such as violence, bad behaviour, stupidity, accidents, and the like which demand that moderation be the key to your drinking.

Time for a beer!

Challenges - A Recent Debate

This might not be the usual fare that I type here in my blog but it was a recent conversation I had with two colleagues (perhaps friends even) over a couple of bottles of red wine! It was far from one of those drunken conversations where any old crap goes. On the contrary it was somewhat reasoned but mostly it was opinionated based on what could be best described as personal anecdotal observations of life in action!

The question posed related to once a woman was married was she off limits to all resident Casanovas or was it simply a case of being a bigger challenge? My colleagues tended to think that generally the answer here was one of being off limits. I, on the other hand, tended towards an increased challenge. My view is based on the fact that there is so much more at stake for a married person so the challenges would seem to be inversely proportional to the commitment to the marriage.

This is to say the more committed to the marriage the greater the challenge and conversely the less commitment there is to the marriage then so does the challenge decrease.

The argument was moot in the sense that no cheating on our individual parts was being contemplated. It was one of those debates that arose out of knowing someone where the subject matter of the debate was relevant!

In the end we agreed to disagree!

However, another interesting tangent to this debate was the idea that some men seem to harbor a belief that they are "God's gift to women" and this means that not even lesbians are safe from their God given charms in seducing women! For me this is an interesting argument as well. It could conceivably work in reverse with a woman thinking she could convert a gay man from one side to the other.

I am no scientist (which is probably a good thing for the world as I would probably be a 'mad' one) but this kind of argument intrigues me because I have always considered homosexuality and lesbianism to be genetic and not a learned behavior (and therefore not an illness to be cured). So, in that sense if you're gay then you're gay and similarly if you're a lesbian then you're a lesbian. There is no chop and changing between this and heterosexuality (bisexuality aside).

The point of this post is to solicit (perhaps elicit would be a better choice of word) any one who reads and wishes to comment on the challenges identified here. Comments posted after a enjoying a bottle of red or two are especially welcome :D (the picture is one from the Hrdlicka collection).

The Cork & Screw...

It sounds more sexual than it really is! Yet, then again a really good bottle of wine can be an experience that makes you feel warm and fuzzy and perhaps tingly all over :)

I have gotta say I have been a bit of the proverbial loser on the going out front and have not been devoting sensible time to going to one of the now many many excellent wine bars that have sprung up across the capital (Jakarta). I am sure there must be a fine wine (and cigar) guide that lists all these establishments and the relative cost involved!

I did have cause to go to the Cork and Screw in Wisma Kodel last week after the launching of a new website that I am involved with...Why a week you ask? Well, as I am sitting here in front of my computer screen thinking that I should be doing some work and not blogging, I am also thinking about how a nice glass of red would taste! A Margaret River or a Penfolds would probably hit the mark...

Red wine -- my poison of choice!

Perhaps I will make a concerted effort to write a few reviews of the myriad of wine bars in Jakarta...I might just be able to swindle a bottle or two for my efforts (I might have to embellish my visitor stats a little in order to convince them I am reaching a lot of people).

Unfortunately, the Cold Chisel song, Cheap Wine is out of place here as there is not a lot of cheap imported wine, but when it is all said and done I could find myself mellowing out in a wine bar to the rockin' grooves of Cold Chisel...