Let's face it: drinking is a huge problem in today's world. Whether you're a "problem drinker" or just an "average drinker," consuming alcohol can take a major toll on your health. Underage drinkers tend to neglect the fact that drinking can cause liver disease later in their lives, which can lead to death. Just because you're not identified as a "problem drinker" doesn't mean you won't be affected by alcohol. Sure, it may seem like a party to you, but let's take a look at the long-term affects of drinking.
Alcohol is a poison. When you consume alcohol, it goes through the stomach and into the bloodstream. There is no digestion involved; it is simply absorbed. Eventually, the alcohol absorbed into your bloodstream reaches your brain. However, it's not necessarily the brain that you need to worry about when it comes to alcohol; the worst impact of alcohol is on the liver. The liver normally uses fatty acids as fuel, but when alcohol is present, the liver is forced to use the alcohol instead and let the fatty acids accumulate. Seeing that the liver can only metabolize about 1/2 ounce of ethanol per hour (about 1 drink), the alcohol will begin to circulate to all parts of the body in excess. That said, it is probably not a good idea to consume more than one drink per hour. Overtime, heavy drinking can cause the liver to accumulate too many fat cells, which greatly affects the liver's ability to filter toxins from the body. When the liver fails to do its job, your body will suffer severe health problems. Worst case scenario, your liver fails and you die.
So what if you're only a casual drinker? There are still other health risks that you should be aware of, such as an increased risk of cancer (liver, pancreas, rectum, breast, mouth, pharynx, larynx and esophagus). Consumers of alcohol also have an increased risk of heart disease. You don't have to avoid alcohol completely (unless, of course, you are underaged), but knowing the facts about how alcohol affects your health can help you make an informed decision about drinking.
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Here's the link to the website I based the article off of: http://www.healthchecksystems.com/alcohol.htm
ReplyDeleteVerry informative Kev. You explained how the alcohol is absorbed, and not digested, very well.
ReplyDeleteThis is ironic because of the song "..and the liver screamed help," because your liver does scream help when you drink too much, too fast.
(:
"Seeing that the liver can only metabolize about 1/2 ounce of ethanol per hour (about 1 drink), the alcohol will begin to circulate to all parts of the body in excess."
ReplyDelete-Kevin Steehler
Kevin if you say this does it mean that at any age a person should consume no more than 1 drink an hour, and if you do its bad for your health. I was only aware that when driving you should let 1 hour after having one drink 2 hours after 2 drinks etc. before driving. So a good rule of thumb would be if your out for say, any amount of hours don't drink anymore drinks than the amount of time, in hours, that you are out.
GREAT POST KEVIN VERY INFORMATIVE!
To answer your question Charlie, consuming more than one drink per hour is when you start to get drunk. Somebody with self control would be able to consume one drink per hour in order to keep from getting drunk. However, this doesn't mean it's okay to drive. If you're driving, DO NOT DRINK AT ALL.
ReplyDeleteI agree with the others that his post was very informative. We learned a lot of the same information in Drivers Ed, so it is good that the information was not extremely different...or I would have been worried. Haha. Because the alcohol is absorbed into the bloodstream and not digested the only thing that will sober you up is time. Two common myths are; eating snacks will lengthen the time it takes to get drunk and cold showers or coffee will make you sober up faster. (Those were from the Drivers Ed lesson.) If you are going to drive or you don't want to get drunk, like Kevin said in the previous comment, don't drink at all. But you guys should not have to worry about that until you are 21 according to the law (legal drinking age). Thanks for the information Kevin.
ReplyDeleteKevin,
ReplyDeleteThis article was very interesting. Although I have read a bunch of writings on alcohol, yours was different because it focused mostly on how it affects your body. I have heard that there are certain amounts of alcohol people can drink per hour without it becoming harmful, I just never knew exactly why it was so specific. I found the fact that alcohol absorbs into your bloodstream rather than digests to be interesting. I also did not realize how many cancers can be caused just by alcohol. My blog was about drinking, mostly statistics, and so combining these two articles and seeing the affect it has on so many people is simply shocking.
Wow Kevin, thats a lot of well written info. I always knew that the liver was effected by alcohol the most, but i never knew exactly how. Now i know that when alcohol is present in the liver, the liver has to use it. That is so scary that the long term affect of alochol is possibly death! :(
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