The Medical Effects of Alcohol on the Human Body

Liquor companies create warm and fuzzy images of their product, such as old friends enjoying each other at a friendly neighborhood bar. or the wholesome ritual of a father buying his son his first drink on his 21st birthday. Lately these companies even tout red wine as a health food.

On the other hand, images of heroin emphasize addiction and are portrayed with photos of hopeless, zombie-like outsiders with arms and lives that are both full of scars.

Yet the truth is that the legal drug (alcohol) – inflicts more damage than the illegal one (heroin) does:

•More than 100,000 people die every year from alcohol-related causes, making alcohol the third leading cause of preventable mortality.

•Alcohol in combination with other drugs accounts for one in four admissions to Emergency Rooms.

•Drinking even moderately during pregnancy can mean a baby born with a multitude of birth defects, including severe mental retardation.

•If used inappropriately, alcohol is one of the few drugs that attacks every vital organ system in the human body.

•The American Academy of Family Physicians says that more than 7 percent of patients have a problem with alcohol, representing more than 23 million people.

So despite its warm and fuzzy image, alcohol kills more people and destroys more families than any other drug in the United States. Here are just some of the ways that alcohol abuse damages the human body.

Heart damage – Alcohol raises blood pressure and increases heart rate, which weakens the heart. Alcoholics often develop abnormal heart rhythms that put them at risk for strokes. Cardiomyophathy, or “beer drinker’s heart,” is a life-threatening condition in which the heart becomes inflamed and weak.

Liver failure – A person in the early stages of alcoholism often has an inflamed “fatty” liver. These conditions develop because drinking too much overworks the liver, which can only handle one drink per hour. Binge drinking is particularly dangerous because of the damage it does to the human liver.

If the person keeps drinking once he develops liver disease, the condition will advance, resulting in hepatitis or cirrhosis. Between 10 and 35 percent of alcoholics have hepatitis or inflamed livers. Cirrhosis occurs when healthy liver cells become replaced by scar tissue. The damage can be so bad that the only treatment option is a liver transplant.

One life-threatening complication of liver cirrhosis is esophageal varices, or enlarged veins in the tube that connects throat to stomach. These veins can rupture, causing death.

If a person undergoing treatment for cirrhosis keeps drinking, he has an 80 percent chance of dying within seven years. Liver disease also can lead to kidney failure, brain disorders, and esophageal varices.

Brain damage and other neurological problems – Alcohol damages the central nervous system and the brain. In the early stages of alcoholism, this damage shows up as headaches, blackouts, and peripheral neuropathy (pain and numbness in the hands and feet).

Alcohol reduces blood flow to the brain, which can cause permanent structural damage and premature aging. Between 45 percent and 70 percent of alcoholics do not perform well in tests of problem solving, abstract thinking, memory, and shifting concepts. About 10 percent have serious impairments. Teenagers in particular are more sensitive to brain damage from alcohol, because their brains are still developing, and do not usually reach full maturity until around age 25.

Some alcoholics develop Korsakoff’s psychosis, which is caused by lack of Vitamin B. One symptom is severe memory loss due to alcoholic blackouts. During withdrawal from alcohol, people can experience seizures, convulsions, delusions, hallucinations, dementia, terrifying thoughts, and violent language and behaviors – all of which indicate damage to their central nervous systems.

Gastrointestinal diseases – Alcohol is not digested, but instead is absorbed into the bloodstream through the mouth, throat, stomach, and small intestines. It irritates the linings of these organs and orifices, causing gastritis (inflamed stomach lining), ulcers, acid reflux disease, diarrhea, and irritable bowel syndrome.

Alcoholics also are at risk for cancers in their heads, necks, throats, and livers. Those who both smoke and drink are much more likely to get cancers of the mouth and esophagus – 80 percent of these cancers result from that combination. Alcoholics are also at risk for inflammation of the pancreas (pancreatitis) and pancreatic cancer.

Nutritional deficits – Alcohol makes it harder for the body to break down food into usable molecules, because it decreases secretions of the pancreas. It makes it harder for the liver to process food, resulting in low glucose levels that cause brain damage. Alcoholics therefore are often malnourished and have low energy levels.

Alcohol interferes with the absorption of calcium, putting alcoholics at risk for osteoporosis and bone fractures. It also depletes the immune system by reducing the ability of white blood cells to create antibodies, slowing down their speed, and impairing their ability to reproduce – making alcoholics more subject to routine infections, such as influenza and serious diseases like cancer.

Reproductive impairments – Most male alcoholics have lowered levels of testosterone, lower sperm counts, shrunken testicles, and enlarged breasts. They often suffer from impotence.

Female alcoholics often quit menstruating, begin early menopause, or menstruate without ovulation. If they get pregnant, they often miscarry. The babies who survive often suffer from fetal alcohol syndrome, which can include physical abnormalities of the heart, kidneys, bones, and genitals; undersized heads and brains; problems in their central nervous systems; and mental retardation.

References:

Burge, Sandra. PH.D., and F. David Schneider, M.D., M.S.P.H. University of Texas Health Science Center, San Antonio, Texas. “Alcohol Related Problems: Recognition and Intervention,” The American Academy of Family Physicians, see http://www.aafp.org/afp/990115ap/361.html.

“Esophageal Varices,” Mayo Clinic.com, Tools for Healthier Lives, see http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/esophageal-varices/DS00820

Kittleson, Mark (editor). The Truth About Alcohol. New York: Book Builders, Inc, 2000.

Nadelson, Carol (MD). Drowning Our Sorrows: The Psychological Effects of Alcohol Abuse. Philadephia: Chelsea House Publishers, 2000.

Shuker, Nancy. Everything You Need to Know About An Alcoholic Parent. New York: Rosen Publishing, 1998.