Author: Alex Thompson

No level of alcohol consumption is safe for our health

People who drink heavily over a long period of time are also more likely to develop pneumonia or tuberculosis than the general population. The World Health Organization (WHO) links about 8.1 percent of all tuberculosis cases worldwide to alcohol consumption. Long-term alcohol use can affect bone density, leading to thinner bones and increasing your risk of fractures if you fall. Over time, alcohol can cause damage to your central nervous system. Experts recommend avoiding excessive amounts of alcohol if you have diabetes or hypoglycemia. These effects might not last very long, but that doesn’t make them insignificant.

In general, a healthy diet and physical activity have much greater health benefits than alcohol and have been more extensively studied. Alcohol causes at least seven types of cancer, including the most common cancer types, such as bowel cancer and female breast cancer. Ethanol (alcohol) causes cancer through biological mechanisms as the compound breaks down in the body,which means that any beverage containing alcohol, regardless of its price and quality, poses a risk of developing cancer. In fact, your overall diabetes risk tends to drop with moderate alcohol consumption. However, when it comes to heavy drinking and binge drinking, your risk rises (53, 54, 55, 56). While alcohol intoxication is only temporary, chronic alcohol abuse can impair brain function permanently.

Reporting about alcohol: a guide for journalists

Regular drinking can also affect overall mental health and well-being, in part because alcohol may worsen symptoms of certain mental health conditions, including anxiety, depression, and bipolar disorder. On the other hand, alcohol abuse and alcohol addiction are linked to severe negative effects on both physical and mental health. Keep in mind that your cancer risk may increase — regardless of how much you are drinking.

1. For women, more than three drinks on any day or more than seven drinks a week is heavy drinking.
2. Recommendations for alcohol intake are usually based on the number of standard drinks per day.
3. These effects are only temporary, but chronic alcohol abuse may cause permanent changes in your brain, often leading to impaired brain function (9, 10, 11).
4. If you drink, you’ve probably had some experience with alcohol’s effects, from the warm buzz that kicks in quickly to the not-so-pleasant wine headache, or the hangover that shows up the next morning.
5. Alcohol is the leading risk factor for premature mortality and disability among those aged 15 to 49 years, accounting for 10%of all deaths in this age group.
6. Excessive alcohol consumption can have numerous adverse effects on your brain.

Many people assume the occasional beer or glass of wine at mealtimes or special occasions doesn’t pose much cause for concern. But drinking any amount of alcohol can potentially lead to unwanted health consequences. By not drinking too much, you can reduce the risk of these short- and long-term health risks. For example, any amount of drinking increases the risk of breast cancer and colorectal cancer.

Alcohol use: Weighing risks and benefits

Around the globe, there is low awareness of the negative impact of alcohol consumption on health and safety. This report provides an assessment of taxes applied to alcoholic beverages at the global level. As a result, they eventually need to drink more to notice the same effects they once did.

As a result, drinking alcohol with meals may cut the rise in blood sugar by 16–37% more than water. Blood sugar between meals — known as fasting blood glucose — may also decline (51, 52). Many people facing anxiety and depression drink intentionally to reduce stress and improve mood. While drinking may provide a few hours of relief, it may worsen your overall mental health and spark a vicious cycle (23, 24). While alcohol intake and depression seem to increase the risk of one another simultaneously, alcohol abuse may be the stronger causal factor (20, 21, 22). In heavy drinkers, binge drinking may cause your liver to become inflamed.

Restricting alcohol availability: How can common barriers be overcome? Webinar by WHO – 3 October 2022

In fact, red wine may be linked to more health benefits than any other alcoholic beverage (75, 76, 77, 78, 79). Chronic alcohol abuse can wreak havoc on your body and brain, increasing your risk of many diseases. Chronic alcohol abuse can have catastrophic health effects, impacting your entire body and causing a range of health problems. Alcohol dependence is one of the main causes of alcohol abuse and disability in the US and a strong risk factor for various diseases (70).

Poorer individuals experience greater health and social harms from alcohol consumption than more affluent individuals. Research published in November revealed that between 2015 and 2019, excessive alcohol use resulted in roughly 140,000 deaths per year in the United States. About 40 percent of those deaths had acute causes, like car crashes, poisonings and homicides. But the majority were caused by chronic conditions attributed to alcohol, such as liver disease, cancer and heart disease.

Impulsiveness, loss of coordination, and changes in mood can affect your judgment and behavior and contribute to more far-reaching effects, including accidents, injuries, and decisions you later regret. If you drink, you’ve probably had some experience with alcohol’s effects, from the warm buzz that kicks in quickly to the not-so-pleasant wine headache, or the hangover that shows up the next morning. Since those effects don’t last long, you might not worry much about them, especially if you don’t drink often. When it comes to alcohol, if you don’t drink, don’t start for health reasons.

A significant proportion of the disease burden attributable to alcohol consumption arises from unintentional and intentional injuries, including those due to road traffic crashes, violence, and suicide. Fatal alcohol-related injuries tend to occur in relatively younger age groups. When you stop drinking, you might notice a range of physical, emotional, or mental health symptoms that ease as soon as you have a drink. The connection between alcohol consumption and your digestive system might not seem immediately clear. Past guidance around alcohol use generally suggests a daily drink poses little risk of negative health effects — and might even offer a few health benefits.

It is the alcohol that causes harm, not the beverage

Characterized by abnormally high blood sugar, type 2 diabetes is caused by a reduced uptake of glucose, or blood sugar, by your cells — a phenomenon known as insulin resistance. Conversely, drinking moderately has been linked to a reduced risk of dementia — especially in older adults (16, 17, 18). These effects are only temporary, but chronic alcohol abuse may cause permanent changes in your brain, often leading to impaired brain function (9, 10, 11). Liver diseases caused by alcohol consumption are collectively known as alcoholic liver diseases. One of its main roles is to neutralize various toxic substances you consume. For this reason, your liver is particularly vulnerable to damage by alcohol intake (3).

Excessive alcohol consumption can have numerous adverse effects on your brain. The first of these to appear is fatty liver, characterized by increased fat inside liver cells. On the one hand, moderate amounts have been linked to health benefits. Health, safety and socioeconomic problems attributable to alcohol can be reduced when governments formulate and implement appropriate policies. Drinking too much alcohol over time may cause inflammation of the pancreas, resulting in pancreatitis.

Alcohol can cause both short-term effects, such as lowered inhibitions, and long-term effects, including a weakened immune system. For more information about alcohol and cancer, please visit the National Cancer Institute’s webpage “Alcohol and Cancer Risk” (last accessed October 21, 2021). Heavy drinking also has been linked to intentional injuries, such as suicide, as well as accidental injury and death.