Alcohol is addictive.
Alcohol addiction is one of the most well-understood and dangerous risks of drinking. A propensity for addiction can run in families, but can affect anyone who drinks in excess. None of the health benefits of alcohol can negate the destruction caused by addiction, and anyone who drinks should be careful to avoid this terrible condition.
How Alcohol Affects the Body.
Even a small amount of alcohol has an effect on your body. When you drink, alcohol is absorbed into your bloodstream and distributed throughout your body. A tiny amount of alcohol exits your body in your urine and your breath.
You absorb alcohol more slowly if you eat, especially if the food is high in fat. However, if you drink more than your body can process, you’ll get drunk. How quickly alcohol is metabolized depends on your size and gender, among other things.
Alcohol consumption causes physical and emotional changes that can do great harm to your body. The long-term effects of alcohol abuse are many, putting your health in serious jeopardy and endangering your life.
Alcohol damages the liver.
Alcohol metabolism occurs in the liver and can cause severe
damage when consumed in large quantities. Liver damage can usually be reversed
if alcohol consumption stops.
Alcohol is associated with
breast cancer.
Drinking
is weakly associated with an increased risk of breast cancer. This is likely
because alcohol increases aromatic activity in the human body, which increases oestrogen production.
Oestrogen imbalance is a known cause of breast cancer.
However, the association between drinking and breast cancer is negated by sufficient folate intake. Folate or folic acidis
a B vitamin found in leafy green vegetables, fruits and legumes (and fortified
foods). In other words, a healthy diet protects against alcohol
induced breast cancer risk.
Alcohol protects against mortality from heart disease.
Drinking alcohol reduces your risk of dying from a heart attack
by preventing blood clotting. This effect is not limited to red wine, all
spirits elicit substantial protection. The association appears to be
dose-dependent, meaning that the more you drink the more protection you get.
HOWEVER, you start raising your risk for the above mentioned problems with
every additional drink per day. For men the ideal dosage is 2 drinks per day,
for women it is 1 drink per day.
Alcohol raises good HDL cholesterol.
Moderate
drinking also reduces your risk of getting heart disease in the first place by
raising beneficial HDL cholesterol without raising LDL cholesterol. Low HDL is
a serious problem in America, and alcohol could be a significant benefit for
some people. Here are other ways
to raise your HDL cholesterol.
Red wine may slow aging.
Aging research has been revolutionized by the discovery of a
compound in red wine called resveratrol. Resveratrol has been shown to slow
aging substantially in several model organisms. Though the effect in humans is
still unknown, red wine is associated with many benefits that seem to go above
and beyond the benefits of alcohol in general.
Red wine may protect against Alzheimer’s disease.
Several studies have shown that red wine is associated with a
decreased risk for Alzheimer’s Dementia, a devastating neurodegenerative
disease that affects 1 in 4 people over the age of 90. The mechanism of action
is unclear, but the benefits may be linked to the effect of red wine on fatty
acids in the blood (raising the good stuff), or by slowing the aging process
itself.
Alcohol causes accidents and behavioral problems.
Even
relatively safe levels of drinking can be deadly when combined with poor
decision making. If you do choose to drink alcohol, always be
sure that you’re in a safe environment and can get help if you need it. Being
safe sometimes, or even usually, is simply not good enough.
There are plenty of good reasons to avoid alcohol if you choose,
and many of the benefits can be garnered by simply increasing the amount or
intensity of your daily physical activity.
However, the evidence is pretty clear that moderate alcohol
consumption (1-2 drinks per day) can improve health and may be an important
component of a healthy lifestyle. This is even true for those who pick up
the habit later in life.
And last but certainly not least, some of the best times of my
life have been over a drink with friends. And I guarantee you most of us aren’t
thinking about our heart health while enjoying a great bottle of wine. As long
as you consider safety first, never forget that smiling is one of the
healthiest things you will ever do.
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