The hazards of alcohol abuse
Alcohol occupies a unique place in many human societies. It is a widely used drug, tolerated physiologically and socially, with a place in religious ceremony, in ritual, in spontaneous celebration, and in everyday social transactions. However, it also a drug that contributes extensively to illness, to violence, to social disorder, and to mortality.
Humans have consumed alcohol on a regular basis over the past 10,000 to 15,000 years. Like fat and sugar, alcohol is rare in nature, and as with fat and sugar, we have few biologic curbs on excess consumption. The joys of abstinence, moderation, and drunkenness have produced a welter of maxims throughout human history. Some of them have been in support of the healthful consequences of alcohol: “Use a little wine for thy stomach’s sake” (Saint Paul); “There are more old drunkards than old doctors” (French proverb). Yet only recently have we had sufficient data to consider the full impact of alcohol on public health.
Recent evidence uncovered by university researchers proves that a moderate amount of alcohol, approximately 4 ounces daily, may reduce the risk of high blood pressure and heart disease. Using a very controlled narrow scientific view that evaluates humans primarily as machines and data, it is very possible to show that drinking a mild amount of alcohol will reduce the risk of heart disease. At best, however, this is misleading research because it does not view the person within in the context of living life in an environment that is low in oxygen, high in toxins and high in stressors.
The benefits derived from alcohol are largely due to the toxic side effects that the chemical produces in the blood stream. Ethanol, the official chemical name for this drug, actually causes the blood vessels to dilate by inhibiting nerve control. This effect may relieve the symptomatic representation of high blood pressure and arteriosclerosis (narrowing of the blood vessel in the heart), but it is certainly is not a long-term solution for the problem. In addition, it may even exacerbate other health concerns that may be masked by the inhibition of normal body functions.
Alcohol use is widespread, although the per capita consumption has varied from decade to decade. While U.S. consumption of alcoholic beverages increased after World II, since 1981 it has declined slightly. But even with declines in alcohol use, two of three American adults drink alcoholic beverages. About half of all alcohol consumed in this country is ingested by heavy drinkers, estimated to be between 6.5 and 10 percent of the total population. The extent and frequency with which these individuals drink cause serious health and behavioral problems – disrupting their own lives and that of their family, friends, and employers – and also extracts a heavy societal toll.
Alcohol use is involved in:
- One-half of all murders, accidental deaths, and suicides
- One-third of all drowning, boating, and aviation deaths
- One-half of all crimes
- Almost half of all fatal automobile accidents
The health problems associated with alcohol abuse include brain damage, cancer, heart disease, and cirrhosis of the liver.
How alcohol effects the human body
Alcohol is a potent nonprescription drug sold to anyone over the national legal drinking age. This drug is a tranquilizer and a member of the family of sedative-hypnotic drugs. When consumed in substantial amounts, alcohol seems to act as a foreign substance in the human body, which causes a toxic reaction in the body’s metabolic functions. The short-term expression of this toxicity is felt as a hangover. Toxicity resulting from long-term overexposure may develop into alcoholism and alcohol-related diseases such as cirrhosis.
Unlike carbohydrates, fats, and proteins, which can be manufactured by the body, alcohol is an introduced substance that is not synthesized within the body. It is a food because it supplies a concentrated number of calories, but it is not nourishing and does not supply a significant amount of needed nutrients, vitamins, or minerals – these are empty calories. Alcohol may be considered to have triple the calories found in fat!
Most foods are prepared for digestion by the stomach so that their nutrients can be absorbed by the large intestine, but 95 percent of alcohol is absorbed directly through the stomach wall or the walls of the duodenum and the small intestine. Various factors affect the speed of alcohol’s absorption into the body.
Alcohol moves from the bloodstream into every part of the body that contains water, including major organs like the brain, lungs, kidneys, and heart, and distributes itself equally both inside and outside the body’s cells. Only 5 percent of consumed alcohol is eliminated from the body through the breath, urine, or sweat; the rest is oxidized or broken down in the liver.
Physical effects of alcohol abuse
Since alcohol so easily permeates every cell and organ of the body, the physical effects of chronic alcohol abuse are wide-ranging and complex. Large doses of alcohol invade the body’s fluids and interfere with metabolism in every cell. Alcohol damages the liver, the central nervous system, the gastrointestinal tract, and the heart. Alcoholics who do not quit drinking decrease life expectancy by 10 to 15 years. Alcohol also can impair vision, impair sexual function, slow circulation, cause malnutrition, cause water retention (resulting in weight gain and bloating), lead to pancreatitis and skin disorders (such as middle-age acne), dilate blood vessels near the skin causing “brandy nose,” weaken the bones and muscles, and decrease immunity.
The liver breaks down alcohol in the body and is therefore the chief site of alcohol damage. Liver damage may occur in three irreversible stages.
Fatty liver: Liver cells are infiltrated with abnormal fatty tissue, enlarging the liver.
Alcoholic hepatitis: Liver cells swell, become inflamed, and die, causing blockage. (Causes between 10 and 30 percent mortality rate.)
Cirrhosis: Fibrous scar tissue forms in place of healthy cells, obstructing the flow of blood through the liver. Various functions of the liver deteriorate with often fatal results. (Found in 10 percent of alcoholics.)
A diseased liver:
- Cannot convert stored glycogen into glucose. This lowers blood sugar and produces hypoglycemia.
- Inefficiently detoxifies the bloodstream and inadequately eliminates drugs, alcohol, and dead red blood cells.
- Cannot manufacture bile (for fat digestion), prothrombin (for blood clotting and bruise prevention), and albumin (for maintaining healthy cells).
- Alcohol in the liver also alters the production of digestive enzymes, preventing the absorption of fats and proteins and decreasing the absorption of the vitamins A, D, E, and K. The decreased production of enzymes also causes diarrhea.
The brain and central nervous system
Alcohol profoundly disturbs the structure and function of the central nervous system, disrupting the ability to retrieve and consolidate information. Even moderate alcohol consumption affects cognitive abilities, while larger amounts interfere with the oxygen supply to the brain, a possible cause of blackout or temporary amnesia during drunkenness. Alcohol abuse destroys brain cells, producing brain deterioration and atrophy, and whether the organic brain damage and neuropsychological impairment linked to alcohol can be reversed is unknown. Alcohol also alters the brain’s production of RNA (a genetic “messenger”), and serotonin, endorphins, and natural opiates whose function may be linked to the addictive process.
A neurological disorder called Wernicke-Korsakoff’s syndrome results from vitamin B deficiencies produced by alcoholism and the direct action of alcohol on the brain. Symptoms of this condition include amnesia, loss of short-term memory, disorientation, hallucinations, emotional disturbances, double vision, and loss of muscle control. Other effects include mental disorders such as increased aggression, antisocial behavior, depression, and anxiety.
The digestive system
Large amounts of alcohol may inflame the mouth, esophagus, and stomach, possibly causing cancer in these locations, especially in drinkers who smoke. Alcohol increases the stomach’s digestive enzymes, which can irritate the stomach wall, producing heartburn, nausea, gastritis, and ulcers. The stomach of a chronic drinker loses the ability to adequately move food and expel it into the duodenum, leaving some food always in the stomach, causing sluggish digestion and vomiting. Alcohol may also inflame the small and large intestines.
The heart
Moderate daily drinking may be good for the heart, but for many the risks outweigh the benefits. Even one binge may produce irregular heartbeats, and alcohol abusers experience increased risk of high blood pressure, heart attacks, heart arrhythmia, and heart disease. Alcohol may cause cardiomyopathy (a disease of the heart muscle). Cessation of drinking aids recovery from this condition.
Withdrawal symptoms
Three to 6 days after a heavy drinker (drinking a fifth of liquor a day) completely stops drinking, alcohol is finally gone from the body, and acute and life-threatening effects may occur. Withdrawal phenomena include sleep disorders such as insomnia, visual and auditory hallucinations, disorientation, alcoholic convulsions, epileptic seizures of the grand mal type, and delirium tremens accompanied by acute anxiety and fear, agitation, fast pulse, fever, and extreme perspiration. Consequently, alcoholics who decide to quit drinking should do so under competent medical supervision.
A quick Look at alcoholism
Evidence indicates there may be genetic factors that help determine whether a person will become an alcoholic. A child of an alcoholic has four times the risk of becoming an alcoholic compared with a child of nonalcoholic parents. However, alcoholism is an equal opportunity disease, striking persons of every economic class and race, both genders, and many ages. Being successful and happy at home or in business is no protection against alcoholism.
For many years, alcoholics were objects of scorn and pity and were viewed as morally defective persons rather than sufferers of a life-threatening disease. While acceptance of this condition as a disease clears the way for understanding, treatment, and recovery, alcoholics can and must take responsibility for their own recovery. And since alcoholism, like diabetes, is treatable but not curable, recovery from alcoholism takes a lifetime.
Living sober
Learning to live without alcohol requires many adjustments in attitudes, values, and lifestyles. If serious psychological disturbances have developed because of drinking, psychiatric counseling designed for alcohol abusers may be required. Occupational rehabilitation or vocational guidance also may be necessary.
Abstinence is the absence of alcohol or drugs; sobriety is a way of life. Recovery begins where formal treatment leaves off, and this lifelong process never ends. In developing a new way of life, many factors play a part. Recovering alcoholics should avoid people, places, and objects associated with their drinking. After being sober for some time, alcoholics should make new friends and engage in new activities by going to school, returning to work, learning a new hobby, doing volunteer work, or renewing a lost association with their churches or religious groups.
Positive addictions should be substituted for alcohol addiction: Walking, jogging, sports, or a regular schedule of exercise promotes well being and self-esteem and provides a healthy outlet for energy. Research indicates that exercise releases brain chemicals that stimulate a natural high. Even a walk after dinner can act as a tranquilizer that helps alleviate the urge for alcohol.
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