Alcohol and the Body

Most people don’t know how alcohol affects the body. With most moderate drinkers, although even in small amounts alcohol affects all parts of the body, the amount of alcohol consumed could create positive effects – but when drinkers consume alcohol on a regular basis in large amounts it can lead to physical problems.

This site at Healthline.com describes how alcohol acts on the entire body. Here’s an excerpt:

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.

When I was younger, I thought all such information was simply much ado about nothing. How could a few beers cause damage when so many people are drinking beer and appear to be in good condition? The harm comes in when a person drinks alcohol heavily over a period of time. Sometimes, though, alcohol can cause problems even if the person isn’t drinking heavily and hasn’t been drinking for a long time. It’s good to know the truth about what we put in our bodies. Humans consume lots of food and drinks that eventually have harmful effects.

I think the main thing is to not let marketing cloud the truth about alcohol. Alcohol is, after all, a powerful drug that if it were discovered today would require a prescription to purchase. Because alcohol has been society’s drug of choice, and society chose to make it legal, this obscures the fact that it is a drug and can do a lot of damage if misused, more damage than most other drugs that are illegal – however, it’s marketed as if it’s as harmless as a fruit drink.

The statistics related to alcohol are staggering – from National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism:

In 2012, 3.3 million deaths, or 5.9 percent of all global deaths (7.6 percent for men and 4.0 percent for women), were attributable to alcohol consumption.¹³

• Alcohol contributes to over 200 diseases and injury-related health conditions, most notably alcohol dependence, liver cirrhosis, cancers, and injuries.¹⁴ In 2012, 5.1 percent of the burden of disease and injury worldwide (139 million disability-adjusted life-years) was attributable to alcohol consumption.¹³

• Globally, alcohol misuse is the fifth leading risk factor for premature death and disability; among people between the ages of 15 and 49, it is the first.¹⁵ In the age group 20–39 years, approximately 25 percent of the total deaths are alcohol attributable.

The point is not scare anyone about alcohol and to start a prohibition movement. Moderate drinking is hardly ever a problem, but it’s crazy to ignore the facts and to start drinking alcohol without knowing what can happen.