Health Effects of Alcohol consumption - Essay Example

Health Effects of Alcohol consumption Alcohol can be associated with various things from parties, celebrations, weddings to using alcohol as a getaway from frustrations and sadness. A glass of alcohol is perceived differently by different people and it has some really strong effects on people. However these effects that alcohol initiates varies from one person another. There has been extensive research investigating the mechanism through which alcohol causes different reactions in the human body. It cannot be denied that with the first sip of alcohol the body starts reacting to it. Recent research on alcohol has focused on the positive health benefits of alcohol consumption. Irrespective of what the studies that simply focus on the bad effects of alcohol, there is evidence that light drinking or consuming alcohol in very moderate quantities can actually have several health benefits. Alcohol produces both short as well as long term health and behavioural problems, while on the other hand there have been experimental research which have highlighted the positive results that alcohol consumption might have on the health. Therefore in spite of the bad effects that consumption of alcohol might have on the drinker there are also a few positive sides to drinking as well especially on diseases such as cancer, diabetes and cardiovascular diseases. Alcohol and the Human heart As soon as alcohol enters the bloodstream of the drinker it initiates certain reactions. Most of these reactions are however acute and short lived such as slurred speech, motor impairment etc. However, it has been seen that regular intake of alcohol has several detrimental effects on the human body. Since different beverages have different alcohol percentages the risks posed by each beverage is different. Many researchers have drawn a relation between alcohol intake and risk of heart diseases. According to some studies conducted in Great Britain, regular and heavy drinkers had a higher risk of developing coronary heart ailments. In America heart failure remains one of the major public health issues. Almost 500,000 American citizens die because of heart failure (Djousse et al, 2008). Alcohol drinking has been associated to heart failure since heavy drinking can cause cardiomyopathy. Since problems of the hearts is connected to a person’s blood pressure the effect of alcohol on the blood pressure needs to be taken into account while considering the risk of heart problems. Researchers have shown that regular intake of alcoholic beverages increases hypertension caused by increase in blood pressure levels in the body (Puddey and Beilin, 2006). It has been estimated that alcohol consumption increases the risk of hypertensive disease by almost 16%. Some researchers have seen that some alcoholic beverages can affect the heat in a positive way. Since times unknown red wine has been considered good for the heart even without scientific evidence. In fact, according to the “French paradox”, people in France were seen to have much lower rates of cardiovascular diseases despite their daily diet containing very little amount of saturated fats. The reason was attributed to the high consumption of red wine. Research has now established that limited and moderate intake of red wine (approximately one to two drinks per day/ 10-30 gm of alcohol) can actually have a positive effect on the heart. It affects several mechanisms of the hearts such as reduces development of plaques or atherogenesis and also reduces thrombosis (Lippi et al, 2010). Diabetes Mellitus and Alcohol Diabetes mellitus is a form of diabetes, a metabolic disorder where the patient develops resistance to insulin and therefore shows a very high deficiency of insulin the body. Patients diagnosed with this form of diabetes have to depend lifelong on external insulin treatment in order to survive. Investigators have found that one of the major risk factors of this disorder is high intake of alcohol. The glucose metabolism of the body is affected upon by alcohol. But if alcohol is considered a risk factor there exists evidence that moderate consumption of alcohol can help to keep the disease at bay. In case of diabetes too, the affect that alcohol will have on the body depends on the amount consumed. Heavy drinking can actually diminish the body’s sensitivity to insulin and lead to inset of Diabetes Type II. Carlsson et al, conducted a twin cohort study in Finland on 22,778 subjects. The research design comprised primarily of a survey collecting information about the habits of drinking and smoking and other lifestyle choices of the subjects. The researcher’s conducted regular follow ups up to a period of 20 years to keep a track of diseases and medications of the subjects. After analysing the data and results that the team accumulated it was concluded that moderate alcohol intake could actually reduce the risk of Type II Diabetes while binge drinking, regular or high consumption of alcohol can lead to onset of the disease (Carlsson et al, 2003). In fact, several studies have shown that there the graphical representation of the relation between alcohol intake and diabetes II is a U shaped relation for both males and females. When compared to people who never consumed alcohol, males who had a daily moderate intake of alcohol up to 60 g per day had a higher protection against the disease. This protection was deleterious when the alcohol intake exceeded 60g per day. The case was similar in case of females as well where intake of 24 g of alcohol intake was considered to lend protection while consumption of anything above 50 g was a risk factor for females. These studies help to understand that even though high intake of alcohol is a risk factor for the disease, moderate consumption serves as a protective factor against the disease (Baliunas et al, 2009). Alcohol and its Effect on Cancer Cancer is another major health concern. Alcohol is considered a major causal factor for several different types of cancer such as pharynx, larynx, liver, pancreas and colon cancer. In women alcohol has the potential to induce breast cancer as well. At the global level almost 389,100 cases of cancer deaths had been attributed to drinking alcohol thereby making alcohol one of the major risk factors (Bofetta et al, 2006). The effect of alcohol can be modulated at the genetic levels when genes encoding enzymes essential for different activities of the DNA become polymorphic. The first and primary product of alcohol is the toxic form-acetaldehyde. Acetaldehyde can causes problems with DNA methylation and stop mechanisms of DNA repair. Therefore in case these mechanisms are altered it leads to onset of cancer. In stark comparison to this some studies have shown that alcoholic beverage such as beer and wine may have an important role in the prevention of cancer. Epidemiologic studies were conducted by Chao in 2007 where the researcher used meta-analysis and dose-repsonse analyses to conclude that even though high intake of beer can cause lung cancer, moderate intake of alcoholic beverage such as red wine is inversely associated with development of lung cancer (Chao, 2007). The anti-cancer effect of alcohol especially red wine has been attributed to a compound called resveratrol. Red wine has the potential to stop carcinogenesis by acting as an anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidant, anti-mutagen, anti-proliferative and proapoptotic agent (Arranz et al, 2012). In beer too, the compound xanthohumol acts as an anti-carcinogen which acts by detoxifying enzymes and inhibiting activation of procarcinogens (Arranz et al, 2012). Conclusion At the global scale alcohol plays an extremely important but complicated role in society. It is true that excessive intake of alcoholic beverages increases the risk of developing several diseases and associated complications but the fact that constrained consumption of alcohol has health benefits cannot be overlooked. Perhaps it is because of the potential positive effects of alcohol that the beverages are a part of cuisines such as the Mediterranean cuisine. There exists a debate when it comes to considering the effects of alcohol on the consumer’s health. The negative health effects of alcohol includes long term damage to essential organs such as kidney and liver, cardiovascular disorders, neural problems, diabetes, weight problems and also social problems. We have already seen how research have shown the positive and the negative effects of alcohol intake however the one thing common in each of the research evidence is the amount of alcohol consumed. It is clear even from the research studies that the positive effects of the alcoholic beverages have been attributed to a limited intake. It is therefore recommended that if one chooses to consume alcohol on a regular basis then the amount should be within the prescribed amount so as to avoid the risk factor and in all circumstances, one needs to avoid binge drinking for a better and disease-free life. References Arranz,S. et al.(2012). Wine, Beer, Alcohol and Polyphenols on Cardiovascular Disease and Cancer. Nutrients, 4 (7),759-781. Baliunas, D et al.(2009). Alcohol as a Risk Factor for Type 2 Diabetes. 32 (11),2123-2132. Bofetta,P. et al.(2006). The burden of cancer attributable to alcohol drinking.International Journal of Cancer, 119(4),884-887. Carlsson,S. et al.(2003). Alcohol Consumption and the Incidence of Type 2 Diabetes A 20-year follow-up of the Finnish Twin Cohort Study.Diabetes Care,26 (10),2785-2790. Chao,C.(2007). Associations between beer, wine, and liquor consumption and lung cancer risk: a meta-analysis. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev,16 (11),2436-2447. Djousse, l. et al.(2008).”Alcohol Consumption and Heart Failure.” Curr Atheroscler Rep.,10 (2),117-120. Lippi,G. et al.(2010). Moderate red wine consumption and cardiovascular disease risk: beyond the "French paradox". Seminars in Thrombosis and Hemostasis, 36 (1), 59-70. Puddey,I.B. and Belin,L.J.(2006).”Alcohol is Bad for Blood Pressure”. Cinical and Experimental Pharmacology and Physiology,33 (9),847-852. Read More