1) People with higher fat or muscle concentrations will “hold their booze better.”

Verdict: True

The extra fat and muscle in these body types aid in the absorption of alcohol. People with this body type will register a lower blood-alcohol level than a smaller person who drank the same amount. The extra weight will also slow the elimination of alcohol however, causing a heavy person to stay drunk longer than his skinnier friend.

2) Drinking kills brain cells.

Verdict: False.

It is highly unlikely that you could drink enough alcohol in one sitting to directly kill brain cells. That being said, researchers who use animal testing to determine what regions of the brain are affected by alcohol discovered that chronic, repeated drinking damages (and sometimes kills) cells in certain regions of the brain.

3) Everyone drinks excessively in college, and if you don’t, you will be socially disadvantaged.

Verdict: False.

According to Scholly, a common misconception is that everybody on a college campus drinks. In reality, 25 percent of college students across the nation don’t drink. And of those who do, the majority drink moderately. Even though older friends and the media may imply that everyone drinks to crazy excess, the numbers show that most students choose to be cool and collected when they drink.

4) Drinking warms you up.

Verdict: False.

When drinking, there is an increase in the flow of blood to the skin, which causes more heat to radiate from the body and is also responsible for the ruddy hue in the faces of some drunkards. However, inner body temperature drops as alcohol constricts blood flow and slows the heart-rate. People who dress inadequately for cold weather and then drink will more easily develop hypothermia.

5) Drinkers can safely consume more alcohol than non-drinkers.

Verdict: False.

This may depend on what you mean by safely. Alcohol tolerance develops quickly, and people who drink frequently can metabolize alcohol much more quickly than non-drinkers can, explaining also why it takes more drinks to get a drinker drunk. At the extreme, alcoholics can survive doses of alcohol that would easily be fatal for non-drinkers. However, this does not mean that they are consuming alcohol “safely.” The effects on memory, motor skills, the liver, brain and the rest of the body still occur in alcoholics, and are actually likely to be worse.

6) Drinking helps you out in bed.

Verdict: False

While it’s true that alcohol can increase sexual desire, remove inhibitions, and calm nerves, its depression of the nervous system mostly contributes to a diminshed sexual ability. For men, in particular, most of alcohol’s effects on sexual prowess are very negative – there’s a reason the term “brewer’s droop” was invented.

According to “Buzzed,” “As many as 40 to 90 percent of chronic male drinkers report reduced sex drive,” which means alcohol’s negative effects on sexual performance may extend beyond temporary impairment. “Chronic drinkers show reduced capacity for penile erection, decreased semen production, and decreased sperm counts. In fact, in alcoholic men, the testes may actually shrink,” the book continues, something of which beer commercials neglect to inform us.