What proof is in your Christmas pudding? Is caring under the influence possible?

Abstract

Christmas puddings contain ethanol that does not all evaporate during the cooking process. However, the rise in BAC after ingestion of a typical slice of Christmas pudding was negligible and unlikely to affect work performance or safety or impair a health care worker's ability to make complex decisions.

Avoiding a crisis at Christmas: a systematic review of adverse health effects or ‘Chrishaps’ caused by traditional hazard sources and COVID‐19

“…After applying the exclusion criteria, 30 articles remained from the systematic literature search, 1,2,5–32 most of them case reports or retrospective analyses. For detailed information about publication type, occasion, and the Chrishaps from the included papers see Table 1.…”

“…After applying the exclusion criteria, 30 articles remained from the systematic literature search, 1 , 2 , 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 , 21 , 22 , 23 , 24 , 25 , 26 , 27 , 28 , 29 , 30 , 31 , 32 most of them case reports or retrospective analyses. For detailed information about publication type, occasion, and the Chrishaps from the included papers see Table 1 .…”

“…From these 30 articles, seven 6 , 10 , 13 , 15 , 18 , 20 , 23 related to allergic/irritating or phototoxic reaction, six 14 , 17 , 25 , 26 , 27 , 28 to inhaling, ingestion, or swallowing objects, another six 5 , 7 , 8 , 16 , 21 , 29 to (over)eating and drinking, five 9 , 11 , 19 , 24 , 30 to falls/injuries, and three 1 , 31 , 32 to COVID‐19. Three articles 2 , 12 , 22 could not be adequately sorted into any of the above groups.…”

“…We cherish Christmas as a time for good food, drink and merriment. Yet, the (in)famous Christmas pudding (especially well known in Great Britain) must be appreciated as a potential health hazard due to the alcohol and ethyl carbamate it contains 16 , 21 (especially when doused in brandy and set alight). Overeating (‘calorie overload’), to our surprise, has been rarely identified 5 as a Chrishap in our systematic literature search.…”