Health Effects of Alcohol
Long-term effects of alcohol:
Regularly having more than two drinks a day increases the risk of developing alcoholism, alcoholic liver disease, and some forms of cancer. Having between one to two alcoholic drinks a day has been shown to have positive effects on health, unless contraindicated, chiefly because of its cardiovascular effects. A few researchers have questioned the extent of positive effects as most studies compare moderate drinkers health to non-drinkers, but fail to take into account the amount of people who abstain because they are already ill, rather than lack of alcohol causing their ill-health.
Short-term effects of alcohol:
The short-term effects of alcohol on the human body can take several forms.Alcohol, specifically ethanol, is a potent central nervous system depressant, with a range of side effects. The amount and circumstances of consumption play a large part in determining the extent of intoxication; for example, consuming alcohol after a heavy meal is less likely to produce visible signs of intoxication than consumption on an empty stomach. Hydration also plays a role, especially in determining the extent of hangovers. The concentration of alcohol in blood is usually measured in terms of the blood alcohol content.
How Alcohol Travels Through the Body:
Alcohol is metabolized extremely quickly by the body. Unlike foods, which require time for digestion, alcohol needs no digestion and is quickly absorbed. About 20 percent is absorbed directly across the walls of an empty stomach and can reach the brain within one minute. Once alcohol reaches the stomach , it begins to break down with the alcohol dehydrogenase enzyme. This process reduces the amount of alcohol entering the blood by approximately 20%. In addition, about 10% of the alcohol is expelled in the breath and urine.
Alcohol and pregnancy:
Women who drink heavily during pregnancy are at risk of having babies with a condition called fetal alcohol syndrome. This can result in growth deficiencies, nervous system problems, lowered intelligence, and facial abnormalities in the child. It is also called fetal alcohol spectrum disorder - all the symptoms are not always present and can vary in how serious they are.
What diseases are due to alcohol consumption?
A number of disease conditions are wholly attributable to alcohol. These include alcoholic psychoses, alcohol-dependence syndrome, as well as some diseases affecting the nerves (alcoholic polyneuropathy), the heart (alcoholic cardiomyopathy), the stomach (alcoholic gastritis), and the liver (alcoholic liver cirrhosis).Alcohol can cause a number of different cancers: The risks of developing lip, tongue, throat, oesophagus and liver cancer increases proportionally with the amount of alcohol consumed. Even moderate alcohol consumption can cause breast cancer, according to recent research, and a series of studies confirm that the risk increases with the amount consumed.
Health effects of alcohol consumption:
Lifting your glass and saying “to your health!” is no longer a meaningless toast. Several recent studies have examined the health effects of alcohol and for many people, moderate consumption appears beneficial. The largest study to date to look at the relationship between alcohol consumption and mortality found that those who drank one drink a day had a 20% lower death rate from all causes compared to nondrinkers. For deaths due just to cardiovascular diseases, the death rates were 30-40% lower for those reporting at least one drink daily compared to nondrinkers.
