Sleeve gastrectomy alters alcohol tolerance

College Times says that the top three movies to watch when you’re tipsy are “Superbad,” “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas” and “The Rocky Horror Picture Show.” We say, if you find yourself binge-watching them (they are, after all, aggressively incoherent, even if amusing), well, then, there’s a pretty good chance you’re already one drink over the line.

But that doesn’t mean you’ve lowered your standards or lost the remote. It might be that after a sleeve gastrectomy for weight loss, your tolerance of alcohol plummeted.

A new study reveals that after sleeve gastrectomy, women can become legally intoxicated if they consume half the number of drinks it takes for women who haven’t had the surgery to register as drunk. Two drinks have the effect of four or five. And this comes along with research showing similar results for women who have had Roux-en-y gastric bypass. (This reduced alcohol tolerance probably holds for men too, because the body’s enzymes that process alcohol would be greatly reduced in anyone who’s had these operations.)

So, male or female, if you’ve had weight-loss surgery, ask your doc about changes in digestion of food and alcohol that it causes.

Gut check: Aspirin and gastrointestinal cancer

In addition to introducing Emily Wickersham as the future Agent Bishop, the Nov. 19, 2013, broadcast of the “NCIS” episode, “Gut Check,” challenged the team’s newest associate to solve the mystery of a security breach. Bishop’s commitment to solving the case (there was a bug planted in SECNAV’S pen) earned her a permanent desk. Seems a successful gut check can change the direction of a career, and, it turns out, your gut health.

A new study followed more than 130,000 people and found that those taking two or more regular aspirin (325 mg) a week for at least 16 years had a 20 percent lower risk of gastrointestinal cancers from the esophagus all the way to the exit.

Salicylic acid, aspirin’s active compound, has been used to treat pain for at least 5,000 years. Today, we know it helps prevent second heart attacks (one 81-mg aspirin twice a day with a glass of warm water before and after), while also protecting against nine other cancers.

There are risks from aspirin, such as increased bleeding, and you can’t take it with some other meds, but benefits keep adding up. So check with your doc to see if it’s good for your gut and more.

Email questions for Mehmet Oz and Mike Roizen to youdocsdaily@sharecare. com.