Alcohol || 2022
Alcohol is a toxic and psychoactive substance with addictive properties. In many societies today, alcoholic beverages are a routine part of the social environment of many residents.
This is especially true for people in social settings with high visibility and social influence, both nationally and internationally, where alcohol often accompanies socializing. In this context, it is easy to overlook or neglect the health and social harm caused or contributed to by drinking.
Alcohol consumption contributes to 3 million deaths each year worldwide, as well as the disability and ill health of millions of people. Overall, harmful alcohol use is responsible for 5.1% of the global burden of disease.
Harmful alcohol use is responsible for 7.1% and 2.2% of the global burden of disease in men and women, respectively. Alcohol is the leading risk factor for premature death and disability among people aged 15 to 49, accounting for 10 percent of all deaths in this age group. Disadvantaged and particularly vulnerable populations have higher rates of alcohol-related deaths and hospitalizations.
Key Facts By WHO On Alcohol.
- The harmful use of alcohol is a causal factor in more than 200 disease and injury conditions.
- Worldwide, 3 million deaths every year result from harmful use of alcohol. This represents 5.3% of all deaths.
- Overall, 5.1% of the global burden of disease and injury is attributable to alcohol, as measured in disability-adjusted life years (DALYs).
- Beyond health consequences, the harmful use of alcohol brings significant social and economic losses to individuals and society at large.
- Alcohol consumption causes death and disability relatively early in life. In people aged 20–39 years, approximately 13.5% of total deaths are attributable to alcohol.
- There is a causal relationship between harmful use of alcohol and a range of mental and behavioral disorders, other noncommunicable conditions and injuries.
How Alcohol Digest ?
- Alcohol digestion is not like other foods. Once you swallow alcohol, a small amount is absorbed directly through the tongue and lining of the mouth. Although this amount is generally negligible because residual alcohol leaves the mouth quickly.
- Alcohol in the mouth dries out and can even dehydrate your entire body. The drying effects of alcohol can result in white tongue, a condition that occurs when the papillae become inflamed and bacteria and dead cells become trapped, causing a white film to cover the surface of the tongue.
- After the alcohol leaves the mouth, it flows down the esophagus and into the stomach.
- There is no solid food in the stomach, most of the alcohol moves down into the small intestine and more easily comes into contact with the intestinal walls and quickly passes into the blood, all the alcohol from one drink can be absorbed within 30 minutes. If a person drinks alcohol with food in the stomach, it will be caught with food in the stomach, where absorption is not very effective. it cannot reach the small intestine immediately, which greatly slows the absorption of alcohol into the bloodstream and the person will deteriorate more slowly and also reach a lower peak alcohol concentration, alcohol increases the acidity in the stomach, which can lead to severe stomach pain in people who abuse alcohol in the intestines.
The Physical Effects of Alcohol || Image Source By Michael Rucker
This is why it’s a good idea to eat a nice big meal when you drink. In fact, the presence of fatty foods can significantly reduce the peak blood alcohol concentration (BAC) by up to 50% compared to the concentration produced by consuming alcohol on an empty stomach.
The vast majority of absorption occurs in the small intestine due to the extremely large surface area of the small intestine. gut The cells that line the small intestine are called epithelial cells.
These cells are ideal for absorption because they have fingers – which increases the surface area for absorption of nutrients and other molecules across membranes Alcohol is absorbed through epithelial cells through the interstitial space and into capillaries Capillaries are made of endothelial cells.
The structure of the biological membrane allows small uncharged molecules such as ethanol, CO2 and water to pass directly through the membrane by the process of diffusion.
Like all internal organs, the stomach and small intestine are enveloped by a fine network of capillaries once the alcohol has passed through the internal space.
It is carried by the bloodstream into the veins, where it can be distributed to the cells of various organs, such as the liver, brain, kidneys, lungs, skin and even in the unborn child! in the brain, alcohol directly affects neurotransmitters that control behavior and thinking, blocking chemical signals between brain cells called neurons leading to common immediate symptoms of intoxication, including mood changes and impaired thinking, impulsive behavior, slurred speech, poor memory, slowed reflexes and movement coordination.
The effects are directly related to the amount of alcohol consumed, however, like many drugs, alcohol also stimulates the release of dopamine in your body, which makes your body feel pleasure and can subsequently make you feel great after drinking alcohol. The tricky part is that the more alcohol you drink to get that feeling, the less dopamine your body releases.
Over time, you end up mentally addicted, forever searching for that pleasurable feeling you think alcohol gives you. Dependencies apply here. The main organ that processes alcohol is the liver, the liver weighs more than three kilograms and is the largest organ. in the body One of the main jobs of the liver is to get rid of poisons such as alcohol – which enter the body We could not live without the liver.
More than 90 percent of ingested alcohol is metabolized in the liver at a rate of about half an ounce per hour, but the rate varies from person to person The rate of degradation and elimination by the liver depends on a variety of genetic and environmental factors, including body size, previous alcohol exposure, dietary intake and overall health of a person While waiting for degradation, alcohol remains in the blood and some is excreted through the breath. (this is how breathalyzers work) urine, saliva and sweat The liver breaks down most of the alcohol you drink so it can be removed from the body.
There are mainly two enzymes alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH) and aldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH) These enzymes help break down the alcohol molecule, allowing it to be eliminated from the bodies. This creates substances that are even more harmful than alcohol. Heavy drinking over several years can damage and cause serious liver disease Men and women differ in their ability to metabolize alcohol This difference is due to changes in the amount and activity of alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH), the enzyme responsible for metabolizing alcohol Men have highly active forms of ADH in the stomach and in the liver.
The presence of ADH in the stomach of men can reduce the absorption of alcohol by 30% Scientists have found that women produce less of the enzyme alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH) have almost no ADHV in the stomach, as a result, women absorb more alcohol into the bloodstream. In addition, ADH in the liver of women is much less active than ADH in the liver of men of this sex due to differences in alcohol metabolism, if both consume the same amount of alcohol For the same number of drinks, women become intoxicated more easily.
In Summary.
So to recap, your body processes alcohol in two stages:
(1) from alcohol to acetaldehyde; and (2) from acetaldehyde to acetate. In terms of alcohol metabolism your liver does most of the work and efficiently converts nearly all the alcohol it encounters to the innocuous acetate. Your gut (and the microbes in your gut) process a small amount of alcohol before it gets absorbed, but the majority of that alcohol is converted to toxic acetaldehyde, not acetate.
Up next is part 2 of the series, where we discuss the effects alcohol has on your body, and part 3, where we outline best habits and practices while drinking to help your body as it’s processing alcohol.
This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute medical advice. The information contained herein is not a substitute for and should never be relied upon for professional medical advice.
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