Up to 80% of people with an addiction to alcohol develop
Getting enough B vitamins is an essential part of curbing your alcohol cravings. These vitamins help prevent fatigue, produce red blood cells, and metabolize other nutrients in your diet. Leafy greens are one of the best sources of nutrients you can get in your diet.
Cobalamin, or vitamin B12, is a critical part of a safe and effective alcohol withdrawal regimen.
Include 250mg Vitamin C, 150mg magnesium, 1500mg calcium and 500 mg niacin from dietary sources each day. A good multivitamin/mineral supplement (like Centrum) is also recommended. Omega 3 fatty acids can help to minimize symptoms. Try including 3-4 ounces of fish 2-4 times per week or adding flaxseed to your foods.
For example, alcohol inhibits fat absorption and thereby impairs absorption of the vitamins A, E, and D that are normally absorbed along with dietary fats (12,13). Vitamin A deficiency can be associated with night blindness, and vitamin D deficiency is associated with softening of the bones (6).
People with alcoholism become deficient in folic acid due to poor dietary intake of folate sources such as green vegetables and whole grains that are often fortified with folate. It is also thought that alcohol inhibits folate absorption in the gastrointestinal tract.
Doctors may recommend multivitamin supplements containing B1, B2, B3, B6, and vitamin C. These supplements may be given for the initial 3–5 days of alcohol withdrawal, because the person is experiencing issues with nutrient absorption and not be getting enough of these vitamins.
Thiamine deficiency is particularly important because it can exacerbate many of the other processes by which alcohol induces brain injury, as described in other articles in this issue of Alcohol Research & Health.
Drinking a glass of wine a day provides antioxidants, limits plaque buildup in your arteries, boosts HDL cholesterol (the "good" kind of cholesterol), and may reduce the risk of heart attack, stroke, and diabetes.
With heavy alcohol intake, there can be a loss of magnesium from tissues and increased urinary loss (Pasqualetti et al., 1987; Shane and Flink, 1991). Chronic alcohol abuse has been reported to deplete the total body supply of magnesium (Vandemergel and Simon, 2015).
Deficiency of Vitamin B12 is also a reason for increased sugar cravings. Eating a bowl of fresh homemade curd can help you with this.
Do Alcohol Affect B12 Levels? The simple answer to this question is yes. Consumption of alcohol (of any kind) affects the level of B12 absorption in the body even if taken in moderate amounts. Studies show that even a little amount of alcohol can decrease vitamin B12 absorption by about 5-6%.
Alcohol use depletes your source of energy.
Once alcohol is absorbed through your stomach and small intestine and finally into your cells, it can disrupt the water balance in muscle cells, thus altering their ability to produce adenosine triphosphate (ATP), which is your muscles' source of energy.
People like to drink alcohol because of its ability to alter emotional states. Alcohol induces euphoria, relaxation, and disinhibition while reducing stress and anxiety.
You may feel like alcohol is your coping mechanism: a way to deal with depression, stress, anxiety or other difficult feelings. You might be nervous about what life would be like if you stopped drinking or cut back. But relying on alcohol to manage your mental well-being can become a problem in itself.
Health experts suggest considering a glass or two at a sitting and leaving two or three days between drinking. They advise against binge drinking and heavy consumption. The consensus is to make that bottle of wine last a week.
Experts strongly advise women against having more than 3 drinks of wine per day, and for men, 4 drinks of wine per day.
Drinking a bottle of wine a day may rapidly increase the likelihood of physical and chemical alcohol addiction developing. Drinking a bottle per day equates to approximately 9 units per day or 63 units per week, far in excess of UK NHS recommended guidelines (14 units per week)[1].
Early symptoms of thiamin deficiency are vague. They include fatigue, irritability, poor memory, loss of appetite, sleep disturbances, abdominal discomfort, and weight loss. Eventually, a severe thiamin deficiency (beriberi) may develop, characterized by nerve, heart, and brain abnormalities.
Initial symptoms of B1 deficiency include anorexia, irritability, and difficulties with short-term memory.
Up to 80% of people with an addiction to alcohol develop thiamine deficiency. Heavy alcohol use causes inflammation of the stomach lining and digestive tract, which reduces the body's ability to absorb vitamins. Poor dietary choices and a lack of nutrition also rob the body of essential vitamins.
Best Supplements for Alcohol Cravings – Amino Acid Options
When taken together, a trio of amino acid supplements may help reduce the intensity of your alcohol cravings: Glutathione. Glutamine. Carnitine.
Drug Interactions
Drug-Food Interactions: Consuming alcohol along with MAGNESIUM OXIDE is not advisable as it may cause unpleasant side effects, or you may become more sensitive to the effects of alcohol. Drug-Disease Interactions: Inform your doctor if you suffer from renal dysfunction or other medical conditions.
Chronic alcohol abuse leads to malnutrition, and thus to the deficiency of many nutrients, including vitamins and trace elements. Most often comes to the deficiency of all vitamins, however because the clinical implications, the most important is folic acid (vitamin B9) deficiency.