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Chronic alcohol abuse can have catastrophic health effects, impacting your entire body and causing a range of health problems. Numerous factors can predispose people to problematic drinking, such as family history, social environment, mental health and genetics. Alcohol dependence is one of the main causes of alcohol abuse and disability in the US and a strong risk factor for various diseases . In fact — while drinking beer regularly may cause an increase in waist circumference — the well-known “beer belly” — wine consumption may have the opposite effect . Beer has a similar number of calories as sugary soft drinks, ounce for ounce, whereas red wine has twice as much . Many people facing anxiety and depression drink intentionally to reduce stress and improve mood.
Because each of us has unique personal and family histories, alcohol offers each person a different spectrum of benefits and risks. Whether or not to drink alcohol, especially for “medicinal purposes,” requires careful balancing of these benefits and risks. It’s possible that the fast-acting enzyme breaks down alcohol before it can have a beneficial effect on HDL and clotting factors. Interestingly, these differences in the ADH1C gene do not influence the risk of heart disease among people who don’t drink alcohol. This adds strong indirect evidence that alcohol itself reduces heart disease risk.
Abuse is disastrous for health
Meanwhile, much higher risk increases were seen while progressing from seven to 14 drinks per week, and even higher risk profiles among both genders were recorded when consuming 21 or more drinks on a weekly basis. The research shows that while a small amount is alcohol good for you of alcohol may reduce risk for heart disease and diabetes, it starts to raise risk for other diseases, especially cancer, from the first sip. But the health benefits of drinking may not be so cut and dry, and the risks, on the other hand, are hard to ignore.
This modest increase would translate to significantly more women with breast cancer each year. We’ve known about the association between moderate drinking and good health for quite some time. It’s fairly well-established that, if you look at society at large, people who drink a moderate amount are the healthiest in a number of ways. All in all, the study finds we should all probably do our best to avoid alcohol altogether.
Is zero alcohol a realistic option?
Taken with acetaminophen, methotrexate or leflunomide , alcohol can make you more susceptible to liver damage. The problem is that moderate drinking isn’t an isolated behaviour. You can’t easily separate moderate drinking from the people who drink moderately, which means that you can’t easily identify whether it’s actually the alcohol that’s improving people’s health or something more complex.
They found that drinkers who consumed less than an ounce of ethanol — the form of alcohol found in beer, wine and liquor — showed no significant increase in lifespan compared to non-drinkers. Liver diseases caused by alcohol consumption are collectively known as alcoholic liver diseases. On the one hand, moderate amounts have been linked to health benefits.
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While drinking may provide a few hours of relief, it may worsen your overall mental health and spark a vicious cycle . Because your brain is very sensitive to damage, chronic alcohol abuse may https://ecosoberhouse.com/ increase your risk of dementia and cause brain shrinkage in middle-aged and older adults . Fatty liver gradually develops in 90% of those who drink more than a 1/2 ounce of alcohol per day .
Is it better to drink a little alcohol or none at all?
The World Health Organization declared last year that no amount of alcohol is safe for one's health. However, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that, if people choose to drink, men consume two drinks or less per day and women have one daily drink or less.