Alcoholism can cause the body to deplete nutrients that are necessary for the normal and healthy functioning of the body. Often times, alcoholics will have a vitamin deficiency especially the vitamins in the B complex category. A person with this illness might be eating some of the best balanced meals yet end up with a vitamin deficiency. There is also an indication that people with a deficiency of vitamin B might be more susceptible to becoming dependent on alcohol. Let’s take a closer look shall we….
Alcoholism is one of the most wide-spread problems in the world in terms of substance abuse. Along with caffeine, alcohol has been shown to be one of the most widely abused substances. Prolonged alcohol abuse can really take a toll on both the body and the social life of an individual, and in this article, we’ll explain some of the dangers that are associated with alcoholism in order to clearly show exactly what types of problems alcoholics face with regards to their health.
The alcoholic blackout is defined as a period of amnesia or memory loss that is caused when alcohol consumption levels prevent the formation of memories in the brain. The memory gap usually extends for many hours but can go on for several days. Interestingly, the person can act normally and carry on normal conversations during the period of blackout but will never remember anything that went on. Blackouts are sometimes referred to as alcohol poisoning by the medical community and are considered an early high-risk sign of alcoholism.
College students have a special risk factor towards the alcohol dependent disease, alcoholism. Students of higher education are typically away from parental and familial support groups. Some students are for the first time experiencing the taste of total freedom of choice. It is not uncommon to have young students “let loose” of their otherwise inhibitions, moral upbringing or convictions and try new things. Parties are perfect opportunities for youth to experiment with newly discovered freedom. Alcohol can be found at most college parties, even if alcohol is prohibited. Others use alcohol to deal with the pressures of college.
“The first usual test for a force-producing food,” says Dr. Hunt, “and that to which other foods of that class respond, is the production of heat in the combination of oxygen therewith. This heat means vital force, and is, in no small degree, a measure of the comparative value of the so-called respiratory foods. If we examine the fats, the starches and the sugars, we can trace and estimate the processes by which they evolve heat and are changed into vital force, and can weigh the capacities of different foods. We find that the consumption of carbon by union with oxygen is the law, that heat is the product, and that the legitimate result is force, while the result of the union of the hydrogen of the foods with oxygen is water. If alcohol comes at all under this class of foods, we rightly expect to find some of the evidences which attach to the hydrocarbons.”
Many people drink excessively but how to define when a drinker has reached the point that they need an intervention or professional help is a more difficult decision to make. Experts are no longer categorizing alcoholics just by the fact that they drink so much alcohol that it affects their lives but now alcoholism can be divided into varying degrees of alcoholism. Experts are now defining alcohol use by the level of harm the alcohol is causing. Alcohol is a drug that affects a persons mind, body, and spirit. Although, alcohol is a legal drug, addiction is a common problem and carries with it a multitude of social and psychological issues. Using these new categories, it is possible to get help for the alcoholics at earlier stages. For definition purposes the term “one drink” is referring to 12 ounces of beer, 5 ounces of wine, or 1.5 ounces of 90-proof liquor.
Drunk driving is the act of operating a motor vehicle while under the influence of alcohol to the degree that mental and motor skills are impaired. Drunk driving is illegal in all jurisdictions of the United States. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reports that approximately 40 percent of all traffic related deaths in 2004 were related to alcohol. Intoxication is determined by the levels of alcohol in the blood, which is call the blood alcohol concentration or BAC.
Alcoholism is a progressive and potentially fatal disease. Alcoholism itself is not curable but it is possible to recover completely. Recovering from alcohol is to abstain from all forms of alcoholic beverages and medications that contain alcohol such as cough medicines.
Alcoholism is considered a chronic illness. As with any chronic illness, it affects entire families. As a result, the recovery process also affects the entire family and network of friends of the alcoholic. The good news is that these people can serve as a good support network to enable the alcoholic to abstain from drinking alcohol. The same way a family would support a chronically ill person is how the alcoholic should be treated because alcoholism is chronic.
Women process alcohol differently than men. Women who are alcoholics or even occasionally drink too much alcohol face much greater health risks than men who drink the same amounts. Women who drink will get drunk faster than men get and become addicted to alcohol faster than men become. Although men are more likely to drink alcohol and drink in larger amounts, gender differences in body structure and chemistry cause women to absorb more alcohol, and take longer to break it down and remove. In other words, upon drinking equal amounts, women have higher alcohol levels in their blood than men, and the immediate effects occur more quickly and last longer. These differences also make women more vulnerable to alcohol’s long-term effects on their health.
Alcohol has no food value and is exceedingly limited in its action as a remedial agent. Dr. Henry Monroe says, “every kind of substance employed by man as food consists of sugar, starch, oil and glutinous matter mingled together in various proportions. These are designed for the support of the animal frame. The glutinous principles of food fibrine, albumen and casein are employed to build up the structure while the oil, starch and sugar are chiefly used to generate heat in the body”.
Action on the stomach.
The action of alcohol on the stomach is extremely dangerous that it becomes unable to produce the natural digestive fluid in sufficient quantity and also fails to absorb the food which it may imperfectly digest. A condition marked by the sense of nausea emptiness, prostration and distention will always be faced by an alcoholic. This results in a loathing for food and is teased with a craving for more drink. Thus there is engendered a permanent disorder which is called dyspepsia. The disastrous forms of confirmed indigestion originate by this practice.
How the liver gets affected.
What is the overall outlook of alcoholism on average? What basic information would be useful to consider? Take a look at this information and decide what you need to research further.
Some information shows that with Americans somewhere around 12-14 million would be medically considered to have a drinking disorder. While an estimated 17% or more Americans have abused alcohol in their lifetime thus far. Furthermore, many adult drinkers believe that they have a relative who has a drinking condition.
The resulting health problems from drinking in the United States can lead to an overall increase in hospital stays among problem drinkers and there are deaths in the million related to excessive drinking.
