In this blog post, we will look at the various effects of alcohol on the body and find out if even moderate drinking is harmful to health.
Drinking alcohol is a risk factor for premature death. According to a study published by the World Health Organization (WHO), drinking alcohol shortens the life expectancy of Koreans by about 11.1 months. As drinking alcohol not only adversely affects individual health but also the health of the nation as a whole, the issue of drinking alcohol is emerging as a serious social and economic problem. So, what effect does alcohol have on the human body?
Alcohol, the main component of alcohol, is not digested and is absorbed into the body’s tissues through blood plasma. Acetaldehyde, which is produced during the process of the liver breaking down alcohol, is a highly toxic substance that interferes with DNA replication and, in severe cases, even destroys DNA. If this substance is secreted in excess, it can affect the brain and other organs of the body after drinking, which is the cause of a hangover. Hangovers can go beyond simple discomfort or headaches, and some studies have shown that repeated hangovers can lead to long-term health deterioration. The redness of the face when drinking alcohol is also related to acetaldehyde, which dilates blood vessels and increases blood flow, causing the capillaries to expand visibly, resulting in redness. This redness is not a simple physiological reaction, but may be a sign that the body is not properly metabolizing alcohol.
Alcohol destroys memory cells and significantly reduces memory. In particular, excessive drinking during adolescence or young adulthood can have adverse effects on brain development, which can lead to serious long-term consequences such as cognitive decline. It also reduces the activity of the central nervous system, causing a loss of self-control. This is why people become violent or talkative after drinking. Sometimes, the next day after drinking a lot, you may not remember the previous day. This phenomenon of not remembering anything after drinking or losing your memory in the middle of the night is called Korsakoff’s syndrome. ‘Korsakoff’s syndrome’ is a memory disorder caused by a deficiency of thiamine and vitamin B1 due to excessive alcohol consumption or other causes. This is because alcohol shrinks the hippocampus, the organ responsible for memory, causing it to lose its function. In severe cases, it can progress to alcoholic dementia. According to recent studies, the number of patients with alcoholic dementia is increasing worldwide, and it is considered to be one of the main causes of dementia in the elderly in particular. In addition, alcohol can paralyze the cerebellum, causing a loss of balance, and if you continue to drink heavily, you can develop alcoholic cerebellar degeneration, alcoholic peripheral neuritis, or Wernicke’s encephalopathy.
Alcohol enters the body through the mouth, causing oral cancer, tongue cancer, and pharyngitis. It also causes a lot of irritation to the esophagus, which can lead to esophagitis or esophageal cancer. In particular, the risk of developing these cancers is higher when drinking and smoking at the same time, because alcohol promotes the absorption of carcinogens. Alcohol that enters the body in this way suppresses the secretion of gastric juice and causes the stomach lining to become eroded. It also stimulates the stomach to produce a lot of hydrochloric acid, which can damage the gastric mucosa and cause alcoholic gastritis and gastric ulcers. Long-term drinking significantly increases the risk of digestive system diseases, which can eventually lead to chronic health problems.
The part of the body that is most damaged by alcohol is the liver. The amount of alcohol that a person can drink is determined by the amount of enzymes that the liver produces to break down alcohol. In other words, the more alcohol-decomposing enzymes a person has, the more alcohol they can drink without getting drunk. However, having a high drinking capacity does not mean that you can avoid the harmful effects of alcohol. When alcohol enters the body, triglycerides in the adipose tissue are transferred to the liver, where the synthesis of fatty acids occurs. In addition, liver disorders can cause the liver to fail to produce the proteins needed to transport fat from the liver to the tissues, resulting in the accumulation of fat in the liver. This alcoholic fatty liver is only removed after 2-3 days of drinking and returns to normal. However, continued drinking causes the fat to accumulate in the liver, leading to fatty liver, and even cirrhosis and liver cancer. In Korea, liver cancer is one of the leading causes of cancer deaths, and the main cause of this is alcohol consumption, which further highlights the dangers of drinking. The pancreas is an organ that secretes all digestive enzymes that break down carbohydrates, proteins, and fats, and is closely related to diabetes. When stimulated by alcohol, a large amount of pancreatic juice is secreted and the duodenum swells, obstructing the exit of pancreatic juice, which can lead to a dangerous situation in which pancreatic juice flows back into the tissue. Pancreatitis can be life-threatening if it occurs acutely, and if it develops into chronic pancreatitis, it increases the risk of developing diabetes.
When the heart is stimulated by alcohol, the heart rate increases and blood pressure rises, putting a strain on the heart, which can lead to cardiovascular disease and arteriosclerosis. Alcohol also suppresses the production of red blood cells in the bone marrow and reduces the number of white blood cells, which lowers the body’s ability to defend itself and destroys platelets. This can not only weaken the immune system and make people vulnerable to various infectious diseases, but also cause major risks due to poor hemostasis during bleeding. In particular, the risk of these effects of alcohol consumption can be greater for the elderly or people with chronic diseases.
Alcohol causes calcium to be excreted in the urine, reducing its concentration in the body. A lack of calcium directly and indirectly affects the body’s osteoblasts, causing anemia, weakening bone function, and preventing the formation of new bone. In patients with osteoporosis, drinking alcohol further weakens bone strength, increasing the risk of bone fractures. Alcohol also weakens and paralyzes muscles. In severe cases, it can lead to diseases such as myocardial infarction, hypertension, stroke, and arrhythmia. These physical risks of drinking increase social costs, and medical expenses incurred by accidents or diseases caused by drinking are also a major burden on the country.
As we have seen, alcohol has adverse effects on many organs, including the nervous, digestive, circulatory, and reproductive systems. It is often said that moderate alcohol consumption has health benefits, such as preventing dementia, but recent studies have shown that even small amounts of alcohol can be harmful to health and that there is no link between moderate alcohol consumption and health. In fact, it was announced that drinking a small amount of alcohol, such as one or two drinks a day, increases the risk of cancer by as little as 5% and as much as 30%. In response, the government revised its cancer prevention guidelines to recommend that people stay away from alcohol as much as possible. In addition, since alcohol addiction can spread beyond the individual to become a social problem, social support and education to prevent and address it are becoming more important. Therefore, it is beneficial for health to have a correct understanding of the effects of alcohol on the human body and to stay away from it.
