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The Japanese Guide to Healthy Drinking: Advice from a Saké-loving Doctor on How Alcohol Can Be Good for You
'People in Japan take their drink seriously. But alcohol is seriously bad for you. This book will tell you how to hold your drink - without dying from the consequences'
HENRY GEE, Senior Editor, Nature , and author of The Accidental Misunderstandings of Human Evolution
'Drinking can be one of life's great pleasures, but it can also be very harmful and dangerous. Here is a sensible, science-driven, and thought-provoking look at both the pluses and minuses of alcohol as well as tips on how to hopefully enjoy your favourite tipple in a safer way. Kanpai !'
BRIAN ASHCRAFT, author of The Japanese Saké Bible and Japanese Whisky
'A refreshingly honest look at booze and how to get the best out of it. I can definitely drink to that.'
HELEN McGINN, author of The Knackered Mother's Wine Club
ALCOHOL CAN BE GOOD FOR YOU!
In this uniquely Japanese mix of quirky fun and hard science, alcohol is revealed not as a poison, but as the best of all medicines . . . up to a point. If we drink healthily, drinkers need never give up what we love.
Kaori Haishi is a journalist and the director of the Japan Saké Association; Dr Shinichi Asabe is a liver specialist who likes a drink. Kaori Haishi interviewed a line-up of twenty-five booze-loving physicians, including Japan's leading expert on throwing up, a sleep specialist on how nightcaps can cause depression and a professor on how drinking too much beer can prevent the secretion of testosterone. Now, with Dr Asabe's expert medical help, she has written this book.
Universally relevant information about the effects of wines, beers and spirits on the human body is delivered with clarity and precision, backed up by plentiful footnotes citing the latest academic research. The unfailingly amusing Haishi has particularly empathetic advice for women, including the merits of saké as a miracle skin-care product. The book explores all sorts of issues, such
Bitter Medicine - how beer can help to prevent dementia.
Shakes on a Plane - is in-flight drinking dangerous?
Mellow Yellow - checking the colour of your pee.
Snack Attacks - secrets for avoiding weight gain.
And that perennial mystery . . . how do the French get away with it?
HENRY GEE, Senior Editor, Nature , and author of The Accidental Misunderstandings of Human Evolution
'Drinking can be one of life's great pleasures, but it can also be very harmful and dangerous. Here is a sensible, science-driven, and thought-provoking look at both the pluses and minuses of alcohol as well as tips on how to hopefully enjoy your favourite tipple in a safer way. Kanpai !'
BRIAN ASHCRAFT, author of The Japanese Saké Bible and Japanese Whisky
'A refreshingly honest look at booze and how to get the best out of it. I can definitely drink to that.'
HELEN McGINN, author of The Knackered Mother's Wine Club
ALCOHOL CAN BE GOOD FOR YOU!
In this uniquely Japanese mix of quirky fun and hard science, alcohol is revealed not as a poison, but as the best of all medicines . . . up to a point. If we drink healthily, drinkers need never give up what we love.
Kaori Haishi is a journalist and the director of the Japan Saké Association; Dr Shinichi Asabe is a liver specialist who likes a drink. Kaori Haishi interviewed a line-up of twenty-five booze-loving physicians, including Japan's leading expert on throwing up, a sleep specialist on how nightcaps can cause depression and a professor on how drinking too much beer can prevent the secretion of testosterone. Now, with Dr Asabe's expert medical help, she has written this book.
Universally relevant information about the effects of wines, beers and spirits on the human body is delivered with clarity and precision, backed up by plentiful footnotes citing the latest academic research. The unfailingly amusing Haishi has particularly empathetic advice for women, including the merits of saké as a miracle skin-care product. The book explores all sorts of issues, such
Bitter Medicine - how beer can help to prevent dementia.
Shakes on a Plane - is in-flight drinking dangerous?
Mellow Yellow - checking the colour of your pee.
Snack Attacks - secrets for avoiding weight gain.
And that perennial mystery . . . how do the French get away with it?
272 pages, Hardcover
Published February 22, 2022
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
October 14, 2021
Read it in Thai edition—คุณหมอจะบอกให้ "ดื่ม"ยังไง "ไม่ให้พัง" but I cannot find a directory here, so I just gonna review this one in English LOL. This book guided us how to drink the alcohol the right way, which side dish is best while drinking. Supported by many researches and interviews from other doctors. Plus, the book had numerous data visualizations, huh interesting 😎 However, as this book was written by a Japanese author in a Japanese context. I—as a non Japenese found it hard to apply. In Thai culture, the alcohols we commonly drink are beer & whisky. Sake, Soju are the alternative.
When the book guided us to take Natto, cheese, Tarako, Kimpira (I had no idea what they were if the book didn't put a description after it) before drinking to help reducing the side effect. These foods are difficult to find in my region. In spite of a few applicable takes e.g. Don't take a bath after just drinking an alcohol, sadly, most of them are for Japanese culture and I couldn't apply majority of them to my environment.
Thai translation met my expectation btw.
When the book guided us to take Natto, cheese, Tarako, Kimpira (I had no idea what they were if the book didn't put a description after it) before drinking to help reducing the side effect. These foods are difficult to find in my region. In spite of a few applicable takes e.g. Don't take a bath after just drinking an alcohol, sadly, most of them are for Japanese culture and I couldn't apply majority of them to my environment.
Thai translation met my expectation btw.
July 12, 2024
The book title immediately appealed to me because Japanese drinking culture is indeed quite unique, and I appreciate the unusually optimistic perspective on alcohol - a thousands of years old cultural asset!
After the introduction however, the "Guide" can be summarized with a few universal principles about alcohol consumption ("drink only in moderation and not on an empty stomach"). Other tips are often so specific to the Japanese context that they offer little practical knowledge to people elsewhere (e.g., best to combine shōchū with natto).
Also, the positivity hinted at on the book's back cover ("Alcohol is good for you!") is quickly brought down to earth. About 80% of the content deals with the various health risks of drinking alcohol, while the few chapters mentioning health-promoting effects seem anecdotal and comparatively unscientific.
What remains is a book that primarily makes you want to drink less, but perhaps also enjoy it a little more consciously.
After the introduction however, the "Guide" can be summarized with a few universal principles about alcohol consumption ("drink only in moderation and not on an empty stomach"). Other tips are often so specific to the Japanese context that they offer little practical knowledge to people elsewhere (e.g., best to combine shōchū with natto).
Also, the positivity hinted at on the book's back cover ("Alcohol is good for you!") is quickly brought down to earth. About 80% of the content deals with the various health risks of drinking alcohol, while the few chapters mentioning health-promoting effects seem anecdotal and comparatively unscientific.
What remains is a book that primarily makes you want to drink less, but perhaps also enjoy it a little more consciously.
May 2, 2022
This book overall was a good one to read! Very informative! I guess the only reason why I wouldn’t like it was because at time I felt like the author went off topic or the topic the chapter was suppose to focus on didn’t give too much information as it should have.
Yet the book gave me a new perspective on drinking and the pros and cons of drinking.
Mind you, the book doesn’t specifically stick to drinking the Japanese way; but it does use statistics and examples from Japan.
This book teaches you the correct way or the moderate way to drink and it gives you information on why drinking can be good but mostly why excessive drinking is bad.
I read this because I myself am a high risk drinker and I want to make better drinking habits, this book for sure has given me tips and a new way of thinking when it comes to consuming alcohol.
Yet the book gave me a new perspective on drinking and the pros and cons of drinking.
Mind you, the book doesn’t specifically stick to drinking the Japanese way; but it does use statistics and examples from Japan.
This book teaches you the correct way or the moderate way to drink and it gives you information on why drinking can be good but mostly why excessive drinking is bad.
I read this because I myself am a high risk drinker and I want to make better drinking habits, this book for sure has given me tips and a new way of thinking when it comes to consuming alcohol.
February 23, 2023
Some interesting facts, although some of the writing is a bit clunky and a few too many detailed graphs for my liking. Worth a read potentially, although it was a bit of a struggle sometimes.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews