Alcohol Health Risks or Benefits?
Alcohol Health Risks or Benefits?
You read about a study that indicates alcohol has serious health consequences, even when consumed in moderation. Then, you hear about a study that indicates that a drink can help reduce your risk of a heart attack. What are you to think?
A recent article in the Harvard Medical School newsletter addressed this very issue. A new study did indeed indicate that a moderate amount of alcohol can protect the heart and the arteries. That information alone is not enough to determine the benefits. The amount consumed along with the individual’s health and a host of other elements combined are needed to determine the effectiveness of alcohol as a protective ingredient. The authors of the recent study stated that, “our findings lend further support for limits on alcohol consumption.”
People underestimate the power of alcohol on every part of the body from the body to the mind, the organs, tissues, cell communications, muscles, thinking processes, memory, and sense of self. Alcohol is a “major cause of preventable deaths and contributes to liver disease, cancers, and other health problems.” It is the leading cause of brain damage and cirrhosis of the liver in women.
Immediate Health Risks
- Motor vehicle accidents, falls, drownings, burns
- Violence, including intimate partner violence and child maltreatment
- Risky sexual behaviors that can result in unintended pregnancy, sexually transmitted diseases, or intimate partner violence
- Miscarriage, stillbirth, physical and mental birth defects
- Alcohol poisoning
Long-term health risks
- Dementia and stroke
- Heart attack, cardiomyopathy, atrial fibrillation, hypertension
- Depression, anxiety, suicide
- Family problems, unemployment
- Cancer of the mouth, throat, esophagus, liver, colon, breast
- Cirrhosis of the liver, alcoholic hepatitis
- Pancreatitis, gastritis
Long term effects of alcohol use are serious, and it is never too late to enter alcohol rehabilitation centers for help.
(Source: http://www.health.harvard.edu/newsletters/Harvard_Heart_Letter/2011/October)
