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Well. Let me make some general comments in the wake of the myriad alcohol seminars i have attended.
There are two different approaches really. The most common one is that drinking is inherently evil, or an evil in our society that we tolerate because its culturally accepted.
The other is actually education based . . . oh wait. I never heard that one lol.
IF you believe that people basically shouldn't drink, and if they do drink, that they should drink in a way that reflects the idea they actually shouldn't be doing it:
For example, have only one or a few drinks, never get intoxicated, don't play drinking games to get intoxicated etc.
If you believe that, you should just copy an existing "awareness program." There are dozens of "award winning" programs out there.
If you want to individualize it you could throw in some trivia like we are discussing.
If you really want to educate though . . . well that would be a challenge.
Did you know that research shows that "binge drinking" is often sparked by changes in blood sugar? When you are drinking alcohol your blood sugar levels get a little whacky, when they fall you crave another drink to bring them back up again. Its part of "losing that buzz" that people talk about.
If you take a couple grams of l-glutamine before drinking, you will generally drink less alcohol because glutamine makes you less sensitive to blood sugar changes.
In an experiment on alcoholic rats researchers found that glutamine added to the rats water would result in them completely abstaining from alcohol.
Did you know that if you take n-acetyl cysteine, b-1 and vitamin c before drinking, not only will you not get a hang over or be sick, but it blocks the damage alcohol does to the body?
N-acetyl cysteine (NAC) is a glutathione precursor. Glutathione protects the liver and kidneys, its an intercellular antioxidant. In an experiment where groups of rats were given a lethal dose of alcohol, all the rats in control group died, all the rats in the NAC group lived. Neat eh? It also protects against breathing shut down in cases of alcohol poisoning.
Did you know that epidemiological research shows that up to five drinks every day actually lowers mortality versus people that don't drink? That means you are less likely to die folks.
Did you know that men generally have a problem with kidneys degrading as they get older, but that at least one drink a day completely prevents that from happening? Kidney failure is reputed to "suck" by the way.
There is also the French paradox where wine, which has polyphenols and resveratrol, actually prevents cardiovascular disease even in the face of horrible diets? The greater the wine consumption the greater the effects.
Did you know that the quality of the alcohol that you drink has a direct efect on how much damage it does to you? Light beer is one of the worse because its stripped of antioxidants. Sky Vodka is one of the best because its highyl distilled.
I have had alcohol seminars through the school, greek life, conferences, student government, etc. And none of the presenters knew this stuff. Stuff that I learned on my own as an udergrad in a couple hours. Wierd eh?
You presenters should beware, your biggest worry is not that your audience will not absorb all the information they are hearing from you for the fortieth time. Your biggest worry is that a lot of your audience will think you are manipulative morons from what you leave out.
Manipulative if you know this stuff and don't mention it because you have an agenda. A moron if you don't know this stuff at all.
Best of luck to everyone.
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