Category: Health

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There is no such thing as a safe level of alcohol consumption

no safe level

The idea that drinking small amounts of alcohol will do you no harm is a myth, claims Professor David Nutt

Last week I attended a discussion group chaired by the Observer’s health correspondent Denis Campbell where one of the other experts, a public health doctor, asserted that alcohol should be treated differently from tobacco (and by inference other drugs) because there is no safe dose of tobacco whereas alcohol is safe until a person’s drinking gets to “unsafe” levels. Its health benefits for the cardiovascular system are also often used to support the claim that in low doses alcohol is safe, for how else could it be health-promoting?

The myth of a safe level of drinking is a powerful claim. It is one that many health professionals appear to believe in and that the alcohol industry uses to defend its strategy of making the drug readily available at low prices. However, the claim is wrong and the supporting evidence flawed.

There is no safe dose of alcohol for these reasons:

  • Alcohol is a toxin that kills cells such as microorganisms, which is why we use it to preserve food and sterilise skin, needles etc. Alcohol kills humans too. A dose only four times as high as the amount that would make blood levels exceed drink-driving limits in the UK can kill. The toxicity of alcohol is worsened because in order for it to be cleared from the body it has to be metabolised to acetaldehyde, an even more toxic substance. Any food or drink contaminated with the amount of acetaldehyde that a unit of alcohol produces would be immediately banned as having an unacceptable health risk
  •  Although most people do not become addicted to alcohol on their first drink, a small proportion do. As a clinical psychiatrist who has worked with alcoholics for more than 30 years, I have seen many people who have experienced a strong liking of alcohol from their very first exposure and then gone on to become addicted to it. We cannot at present predict who these people will be, so any exposure to alcohol runs the risk of producing addiction in some users.
  •  The supposed cardiovascular benefits of a low level of alcohol intake in some middle-aged men cannot be taken as proof that alcohol is beneficial. To do that one would need a randomised trial where part of this group drink no alcohol, others drink in small amounts and others more heavily. Until this experiment has been done we don’t have proof that alcohol has health benefits. A recent example of where an epidemiological association was found not to be true when tested properly was hormone replacement therapy. Population observations suggested that HRT was beneficial for post-menopausal women, but when controlled trials were conducted it was found to cause more harm than good.
  •  For all other diseases associated with alcohol there is no evidence of any benefit of low alcohol intake – the risks of accidents, cancer, ulcers etc rise inexorably with intake.
  • Hopefully these observations will help bring some honesty to the debate about alcohol, which kills up to 40,000 people a year in the UK and over 2.25 million worldwide in the latest 2011 WHO report.

We must not allow apologists for this toxic industry to pull the wool over our eyes with their myth of a safe alcohol dose, however appealing it might be to all us so-called “safe” drinkers. Remember these words of a man whose great family wealth and influence was built on illegal alcohol:

“The great enemy of the truth, is very often not the lie – deliberate, contrived and dishonest – but the myth – persistent, persuasive and unrealistic. Belief in myths allows the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought.” John F Kennedy

David Nutt is professor of neuropsychopharmacology at Imperial College London and chairs the Independent Scientific Committee on Drugs

http://www.theguardian.com/science/2011/mar/07/safe-level-alcohol-consumption

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Alcohol causes mouth cancer & gum disease

  •  Alcohol irritates all the soft tissue in the mouth and decreases the amount of natural saliva. In terms of the tissue, the skin of the mouth is very delicate and the alcohol is corrosive to the gums, cheeks and skin. It can affect the way the tissue cells divide, which is why people who drink heavily have a greater chance of getting mouth or throat cancer.
  • Gum disease causes teeth to get loose within the gum. The gum erodes and can no longer support the teeth. Drinking  causes dry mouth. Saliva is a natural healing property that helps to fight bacteria. When the mouth is dry, bacteria grows, which breaks down the gums, and jeopardizes the teeth.
  •  Alcohol causes irritation to the gum tissue.  Those individuals who are involved in substance abuse tend to have poor dental hygiene habits. This makes them far more prone to such problems.
  • Heavy drinkers  tend to eat poorly, and this leads to nutritional deficiencies which opens the door for all types of disease to arise. These deficiencies in diet can also lower the effectiveness of the immune system and increase the likelihood of developing gum disease.
  •  Alcohol is often used in chemistry as a drying agent, and it does the same for your mouth when you consume alcoholic beverages. In addition to reducing saliva, it also creates a more acidic environment in your mouth, which can soften enamel. Add to that the high sugar level in many types of alcohol, especially sweet liqueurs, and it’s easy to see why alcohol can damage your teeth.
  •  Alcohol, even just a glass of wine, is also acidic and can erode the teeth.
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Alcohol and diabetes

Drinking alcohol can contribute to the conditions that cause diabetes

There are three main ways drinking alcohol to excess can be a factor in causing diabetes:

1.Heavy drinking can reduce the body’s sensitivity to insulin, which can trigger type 2 diabetes (7).
2.Diabetes is a common side effect of chronic pancreatitis, which is overwhelmingly caused by heavy drinking.
3.Alcohol contains a huge amount of calories – one pint of lager can be equivalent to a slice of pizza. So drinking can also increase your chance of becoming overweight and your risk of developing type 2 diabetes (8).

https://www.drinkaware.co.uk/

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Alcohol and sugar

How much sugar is in alcohol and how does it affect the body?

The fact that alcoholic drinks are full of empty calories and have no nutritional value is bad news for your waistline, but what many people don’t consider is that they’re also full of sugar.

A pint of cider can contain as many as five teaspoons of sugar – almost as much as the World Health Organisation recommends that you do not exceed per day! (1) What’s more, alcohol can negatively alter blood sugar levels, putting heavy drinkers at increased risk of diabetes.

How sugar affects your body

Too much sugar is bad for your heath in a number of ways. Firstly, it’s very high in calories, and excessive consumption can lead to unhealthy weight gain. Being overweight can make you more susceptible to long term health problems, including life threatening illnesses such as heart disease. A high-sugar diet can also lead to type 2 diabetes, which occurs when a person’s blood sugar levels are too high.

Quite apart from the damage it can do to your body, sugar is also the main cause of tooth decay, which can lead to cavities if left untreated.

Sugar in alcohol

According to the NHS, alcoholic drinks account for 11% of the UK population’s daily intake of added sugar. Despite this, many people forget to factor in what they drink when calculating daily sugar intake. All alcoholic beverages contain some sugar, but Dr Sarah Jarvis, a member of Drinkaware’s medical panel, identifies fortified wines, sherries, liqueurs and cider as being particular causes of excessive consumption. It’s also important to consider what you’re mixing your drinks with, as the carbonated drinks popular with spirits are often very high in sugar. 

Alcohol and blood sugar

However, it’s not only the high sugar content of alcohol that can affect your body – drinking to excess has also been shown to have a negative effective on blood sugar.
When a person drinks alcohol, the body reacts to it as a toxin, and channels all energy into expelling it. This means that other processes are interrupted – including the production of glucose and the hormones needed to regulate it. This is most noticeable in heavy drinkers, as over time drinking too much alcohol decreases the effectiveness of insulin, which leads to high blood sugar levels.

Alcohol also affects blood sugar levels each time it’s consumed, which means occasional drinkers can also be negatively impacted. Alcohol consumption causes an increase in insulin secretion, which leads to low blood sugar (otherwise known as hypoglycaemia). This causes light headedness and fatigue, and is also responsible for a host of longer term health problems.

https://www.drinkaware.co.uk/