Is alcohol addiction a disease?

A person who has an alcohol addiction can not go one day without a drink, and maybe can’t get past even a few hours.

Mainstream Thinking
Alcohol treatment is typically group therapy such as Alcoholics Anonymous meetings and forms of peer pressure. Mainstream thinking is that it has psychological causes that can be rectified once the drinker becomes “dry.”

What if alcoholism is a disease?

• The author was once an “alcoholic” meaning I drank too much and had no control over my desire for one more drink once I started. I found that I couldn’t be a “social drinker” like some people, have one drink, and feel satisfied. It felt like I always needed more.
• I was “addicted” to alcohol. My thought pattern was that any disturbing situation “called for a drink” and one was never enough. That led to a lot of booze abuse.
• I am now a “recovering” alcoholic meaning that it’s been a long time since I had a drink, but if I were to have one, I’d probably start abusing booze again.
• When I went to AA meetings I discovered that virtually everyone there drank coffee with sugar in it. That told me that we alcoholics have a big sugar problem. Also, about 90%of the people smoked, as did I. So we had a double addiction.
• In my case if I later accidentally had a dessert with alcohol in it, I immediately felt pain in my body. Also, if I touched a beer the pain was in the head, but wine was a pain in the belly. Obviously, my body couldn’t relate to alcohol. This helped me get off alcohol, but others have had a much more difficult time.
• Researchers fed rats (you’ve got to test on something) standard rat food plus either water with 10% alcohol in it or no alcohol. It turned out that 10% of the animals who drank alcohol gravitated towards the alcohol and became alcoholics. Think of that, alcoholic rats.
• The next step in the research was to remove micronutrients from the food (particular B-complex vitamins, calcium, and magnesium) and lo and behold more than 95% of the rats became alcoholic.
• The third step was to reestablish the above nutrients and give mega doses of nutrients. The result? Virtually the entire population stopped drinking. Only 5% remained on alcohol. That’s a 90% reduction.

Nutrition as a Proposed Cure

We are human beings and not four-legged little critters, but we have similar digestive systems. So, if you or someone you know is addicted to alcohol, make sure they get the following nutrients:

B-complex vitamins
As explained above, B vitamins are very important in avoiding a desire for excess alcohol.

Calcium & magnesium together plus Vitamin D for assimilation.
These nutrients are also important in avoiding addiction.

Complex carbohydrates
Research has validated my personal experience that alcoholics have a hypoglycemic (low blood sugar) problem, and alcohol gives their brains a quick boost of energy. Complex carbs will continue to feed one’s body with sugar throughout the day so the need for alcohol should be lessened.

• L-glutamine three times a day on an empty stomach This is a supplement you can find in health food stores.

Multivitamin & mineral complex
This can compensate for the nutrient losses that occur from heavy drinking

Vitamin C
Every day and especially when cravings hit (up to 1,000 mg/day)

Joan Mathews-Larson, PhD as a resource

Dr. Mathews’ former son was an alcoholic who didn’t make it past his teen age years. She has subsequently studied the problem and found answers. The above recommendations are based on her nutritional approach. She has been treating alcoholics at the Health Recover Center in Minneapolis MN since 1981.

• Read her book Seven Weeks to Sobriety. In it she outlines a week-by-week nutritional protocol for over-coming alcohol addiction. The book is available at the below web site.

Resource Center:

http://www.healthrecovery.com/

 

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