What is alcohol?

Alcohol is a part of many social occasions, from family dinners to parties, to sporting events and nightcaps. The problems associated with alcoholism are well known, but what about the impact of social drinking or a moderate intake of alcohol? Does alcohol belong in our diet, or does the risk that it presents outweigh any benefits that may be derived from consuming it?

Good nutrition can help to improve your health and prevent diseases. The essential nutrients that your body needs are carbohydrates, protein, fat, vitamins, minerals, and water. The term "essential" means that if you remove one of these nutrients from your diet there will be a deficiency that causes health problems. Alcohol would not fall under the category of essential nutrients because there is no problem or disease state that occurs if you do not consume it. However, some argue that there are added health benefits from consuming alcohol and argue it should be added to our diets.

The key to determining whether you need alcohol is to understand what alcohol is and how it is processed in your body. Calories provide energy for our bodies to function. We get calories from carbohydrates, protein, fat, and alcohol. For each gram, you get a set number of calories.

The vitamin, mineral, and water content add to the nutritional value for each of these nutrients but do not provide any calories. The key to a healthy diet is to spend your calories on foods that provide a variety of vitamins and minerals without a lot of calories. Alcohol can do the exact opposite of this. It doesn't provide a lot of vitamins and minerals and you can easily get an entire meal's worth of calories from a few cocktails! Alcohol interferes with how your body processes and stores nutrients so the healthy foods that you do eat don't get to do their job.

Many people do not realize that alcohol can be classified as a drug. Under this category, it is the most widely used drug in the world. According to the National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, in the United States, 17.6 million people - about one in every 12 adults - abuse alcohol or are alcohol dependent. The majority of the population consumes alcohol moderately or occasionally, but that does not mean that it's not a problem. You do not need to be an alcoholic for alcohol to interfere with your health and life. The potential to become addicted to alcohol is a serious problem that can affect anyone. Alcohol is not an essential nutrient in your diet and limits need to be followed on how much and how often it is consumed.


How is alcohol made?

Alcohol, also known as ethanol, is made through a process called fermentation. During fermentation, yeast breaks sugar down into ethanol and carbon dioxide. This process is done without any air present and once complete, the carbon dioxide gas bubbles out into the air, leaving ethanol and water behind. Distilled spirits, such as vodka, rum, gin, and whiskey, are fermented and then distilled to separate the ethanol from the water.

Various sources of sugar are used in these processes, resulting in different forms of alcohol. The sugar from crushed grapes is used to make wine; malted barley is used to make beer; sugar cane or molasses makes rum; grain, potatoes, beets, molasses, and a variety of other plants are used to make vodka.

The technique used to make the beverage will determine the alcohol content. You will see the percentage of alcohol per volume listed on the bottle, as well as the proof of the drink. The proof of a beverage is twice the alcohol content, so a drink with 12% alcohol per volume is 24 proof. Generally, a 12-ounce glass of beer, a 5-ounce glass of wine, and a 1.5-ounce shot of liquor all contain a ½ ounce of pure alcohol and are considered one drink.

N10bn Jet Scam: Court Orders Reps To Stop Probe Of Alison-madueke, NNPC

ABUJA—A Federal High Court sitting in Abuja, yesterday, aborted moves by the House of Representatives to commence hearing on the allegation that the Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison Madueke, spent about N10 billion on chartered private jets.
In a ruling yesterday, Justice Ahmed Ramat Mohammed, ordered the legislative house to shelve its plans to begin probe into the allegation on June 25.
The judge further directed all the parties to maintain status quo till July 3, a date the High Court slated to hear the substantive suit that is challenging the powers of the Public Accounts Committee, PAC, of the House of Representatives to investigate such allegation.
The court order was sequel to an oral application made by counsel to the minister, Mr. Etigwe Uwa (SAN), who, yesterday, informed the court that despite the pendency of the suit, the House, on May 23, wrote a letter to the Petroleum Minister and the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, asking them to ensure that they appeared before its probe committee on June 25, 26 and 27.
Uwa told the court that the House had in the said letter threatened that it would not hesitate to invoke its powers and issue a warrant of arrest against the minister should she fail to appear before the committee on the aforementioned dates.
He said: “My Lord, the 2nd defendant in particular (House of Reps), in their letter to my clients, said they noted with dismay that we approached this court in a bid to stop them from performing their constitutional duties. They also boasted that no arm of the government has the power to stop them.”
Letter of undertaking
Besides, Uwa told the court that they had already written a letter to counsel to the House of Reps, Mr. A. B. Mahmood (SAN), requesting him to enter an undertaking that his client would not take any action capable of overreaching or jeopardising the ‘Res’ of the dispute before the high court.
He said: “We sought an undertaking from him that his client will not proceed with the hearing as planned so as not to destroy the ‘Res’ of this suit or make nonsense of the proceeding before this court.
“If they are allowed to conduct the hearing, our suit, which has already been granted an accelerated hearing, will be overtaken by events and thus occasion an irreparable damage on my client.”
The House of Reps, through its lawyer, Mr. Aminu Sadauki, insisted that the court lacked the requisite powers to stop it from going ahead with the planned probe.
According to the House, “we cannot enter an undertaken on behalf of an arm of government carrying out its constitutional duty.
“If my Lordship makes the order as prayed by the plaintiff, it would amount to granting their reliefs even before hearing the substantive suit. I, therefore, urge this court to refuse this application.”
On its part, the National Assembly, which was joined as the 1st defendant in the matter, through its counsel Mr. Obasi Nwabueze, said they were equally served with a letter from the plaintiff seeking the maintenance of status quo.
Nwabueze said his client resolved to leave the issue to the discretion of the court.
Court berates House
After listening to all the parties, Justice Mohammed stressed that though Section 4 of the 1999 Constitution conferred exclusive powers on the National Assembly, he however noted that Section 6 of the same constitution imbued the court with the statutory powers to mediate and adjudicate disputes involving any organ of the government.
He berated the House for accusing the court of attempting to usurp its constitutionally guaranteed oversight function, noting that the 2nd defendant, having already briefed a lawyer and submitted itself before the court, ought to have shown respect to the court by putting its planned action in abeyance pending the outcome of the suit.
Justice Mohammed ruled: “The court has the inherent power to intervene with a view to protecting its sanctity and integrity. Consequently, I hereby direct parties in this suit to maintain status quo from now till the next adjourned date.”

Minister, NNPC’s suit
It will be recalled that the Petroleum Minister and NNPC, in their joint suit, prayed the court for an order of interim injunction restraining the defendants, whether by themselves, their members, committees or agents from summoning or directing them to appear before any committee, particularly PAC, which was set up by the House of Reps to conduct the investigation.
Besides, the plaintiffs sought for an order of the court stopping the House of Reps committee from asking any official of the ministry or NNPC to produce any paper, note or other documents or give any evidence in line with a letter from the House dated March 26, pending the hearing and determination of the motion on notice.
They are further urging the court to issue an order of interim injunction restraining the defendants from issuing a warrant to compel the Minister’s attendance, or the attendance of any official of the ministry or NNPC, with regard to the investigation and to also in the alternative, make an order of status quo, directing the parties to maintain the current position with regard to the investigation, as of the date of filing of the suit.

90-yr-old Woman Leads Protest Over Abandoned Road In Bayelsa

Yenagoa—Angry indigenes of Okoroba community in Nembe Local Government Area of Bayelsa State, led by a 90-year- old woman, Madam Omiekumo Numo, yesterday, protested against the abandonment of the Opume-Okoroba Road project by the Federal Government.

The 10 km road project, which is to link the coastal town of Okoroba to mainland Ogbia Local Government Area, was awarded in 2011 to Mangrovtech, now known as Kakatar’ce by Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC.

The project, it was learnt, was abandoned on the grounds of alleged disagreement over compensation and non- availability of sand.

PROTEST—90-yr-old Madam Omiekumo Numo (with walking stick), leading protests over the state of the abandoned Opume-Okoroba Road project in Bayelsa State.

The aggrieved indigene of the community, who braved the swampy stretch of the road to stage a peaceful protest some distance away from the Opume Junction, however, noted that the decision of NDDC to award the project to the construction firm, owned by an indigene of Ogbia, was laudable.

Armed with placards, some of which read: “EFFC: Probe payment of Compensation,” “NDDC save Our Soul,” “We say No to delay,” “Enough is Enough: Give us back our road,” “Sand is not an excuse,” among others, the aggrieved indigenes led by Madam Omiekuma Numo, said they were compelled to spend about three hours trekking through the swampy road which ordinarily they would have spent less than 15 minutes on, if the work had been completed.

According to the nonagenarian, “Our people are suffering and my children have abandoned me in the village due to the bad road. I am hungry and  I woke up since 5a.m., to join the three hours protest march through the muddy water on the abandoned road to show you how serious and pained we are as a people.”

Pres. Jonathan appoints Bode George’s wife, Roli, as new NDLEA boss

President Jonathan has appointed Mrs. Roli Bode-George as the new Director-General of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA). The appointment was announced this evening by Presidential Spokesperson, Reuben Abati.

Mrs Bode-George takes over from Mr Olufemi Ajayi, who is now the Executive Secretary of the Petroleum Technology Development Fund (PTDF). The appointment is with immediate effect.

Bode George was arrested and jailed for fraud and abuse of office when he served as chairman of the Nigeria Ports Authority, but his conviction was later upturned by the Supreme Court.

Photo: Police parade four rapists in Ebonyi State

Four young men from Ohaozara and Onicha LGAs in Ebonyi state were yesterday June 19th paraded by men of the Ebonyi state Police command for assault, attempted rape, robbery, malicious damage and other related offences. The four men had on separate occasions individually raped different women, also stealing from the women after raping them

At a press briefing yesterday, the state Police Public Relations Officer, ASP Chris Anyanwu narrated how the four men carried out their evil acts. See that below...
"On June 8, Mrs. Hanna Augustine Chukwu, 82, a native of Umuira Okposi in Ohaozara Local Government Area, boarded a commuter bus from Enugwulangwu road. The driver, one John Isaac, dropped other passengers and on noticing that the woman was the only one left in the bus, stopped and dragged her to the rear side of the vehicle and raped her. After the act, he robbed her of N8,500 and drove away. When he was later apprehended, the suspect admitted committing crime.

On June 12, at 11 a.m, Happiness Nwali, a 30-year old female from Obeagu Isu Onicha Local Government Area of Ebonyi State was in the farm cultivating wheat when one Okwudili Okoye came around and lured her to a nearby uncompleted building where he pounced on her with a motive to rape her. A struggle ensued between the duo with the suspect gaining upper hand as he hit the victim on her neck, breast and wrist with bricks in an attempt to strangle her. It was with the help of two passers-by, who were attracted by the loud screams of the victims, that she was rescued.

On May 16, 2014, Ifeoma Obasi, a 23-year-old SS3 student of All Saints Secondary School, Effium and a native of Okporo village in Ohaukwu Local Government Area of Ebonyi State hired a motorcycle operated by her close relative, Friday Omenyi. On their way, Friday Omenyi veered off towards Okporo forest where he attacked her and tore her dress before having unlawful carnal knowledge of her" he said.
The four men have confessed to the crimes and will be charged to court after investigation.

UPCOMING MATCHES World Cup in Brazil

UPCOMING MATCHES
June 18, 12 p.m.Australiavs.Netherlands
June 18, 3 p.m.Spainvs.Chile
June 18, 6 p.m.Cameroonvs.Croatia
June 19, 12 p.m.Colombiavs.Ivory Coast
June 19, 3 p.m.Uruguayvs.England
June 19, 6 p.m.Japanvs.Greece
June 20, 12 p.m.Italyvs.Costa Rica
June 20, 3 p.m.Switzerlandvs.France
June 20, 6 p.m.Hondurasvs.Ecuador
June 21, 12 p.m.Argentinavs.Iran

Nigeria Explosion Kills 13 At World Cup Viewing Center

At least 13 people including young children were killed when a bomb tore through a venue in Northeast Nigeria where fans had gathered to watch a World Cup soccer match, witnesses said.

Some people at the scene told Reuters an attacker dropped a device in front of the venue on Tuesday night in the town of Damaturu and ran off, while others said it was the work of a suicide bomber.

No one claimed responsibility for the blast, but Damaturu and the surrounding Yobe state are at the heart of a five-year-old insurgency by Islamist group Boko Haram.

The group was blamed for a an attack on another venue screening soccer matches in the northeastern state of Adamawa that killed at least 14 people and wounded 12..

A Reuters reporter at Damaturu's General Sani Abacha Specialist Hospital counted 13 people dead - including small children - and at least 20 wounded.

The Nigerian government has advised people to avoid gathering in public to watch the World Cup, concerned about potential attacks.

Many fans in soccer-mad Africa rely on informal venues - often open-sided structures with televisions set up in shops and side streets - to watch live coverage of the sport.

culled from Reuters