Even a drop of wine will have a bad effect on the body, but the effect is too small for us to notice.
In 20 18, The Lancet published an important research result on alcohol, and the conclusion of this research is that the safe drinking dose for people is 0.
It is an exaggeration to say that drinking 0. 1 ml wine is harmful to your health.
If you drink alcohol for a long time or in large quantities, the damage to your health is self-evident.
After alcohol (chemical name: ethanol) enters the human body, most of it is metabolized in the liver-
In the first step, alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH) converts ethanol into acetaldehyde.
In the second step, acetaldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH) converts acetaldehyde into acetic acid.
Finally, acetic acid is oxidized into carbon dioxide and water to be excreted.
Research shows that nearly half of China people lack acetaldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH2).
People blush because they lack acetaldehyde dehydrogenase.
After alcohol is metabolized into acetaldehyde, it cannot be smoothly converted into acetic acid, acetaldehyde accumulates, and skin capillaries dilate, leading to blushing.
Acetaldehyde, as toxic as formaldehyde, has always been regarded as carcinogenic.
Scientists have always believed that drinking alcohol is closely related to the incidence and death of cancer, which may be related to the metabolites of alcohol in the human body-acetaldehyde will affect DNA, thus inducing mutation.
A national survey in Britain found that alcohol is the most harmful of all legal and illegal addictive substances.
On the scale of 100, alcohol ranked first with 72 points, while heroin and cocaine ranked second and third with 55 points and 54 points respectively.
Alcohol does more harm to the mind and body than we usually think.
The liver is the most common organ damage of alcoholics or alcoholics.
Long-term excessive drinking, through ethanol itself and its metabolite acetaldehyde, can repeatedly cause fatty degeneration, necrosis and regeneration of liver cells, leading to alcoholic liver disease.
The liver usually has the following changes-
Fatty liver (reversible) alcoholic hepatitis (reversible) alcoholic liver fibrosis alcoholic cirrhosis (irreversible) liver failure
Once you get cirrhosis, the mortality rate is 50% within 4 years.
Long-term alcoholism will shrink the brain to the naked eye. Of course, this is a long process.
Scientists use positron emission tomography (PECT) to scan the brains of normal people (left) and alcoholics (right) respectively.
It is found that there are many "blisters" on the brain surface of addicts, and the longer the addiction time, the more "blisters".
What are these blisters? It's damaged nerve cells.
At the same time, alcohol can also damage the frontal lobe of the brain.
The frontal lobe of the brain mainly controls people's attention, execution and ability to get along with others.
The atrophy of the frontal lobe of the brain will directly make people "stupid", and the hippocampus in it controls people's long-term memory. Once atrophied, memory function will be impaired.
Common diseases caused by drinking include pancreatitis, hypertension, and various digestive tract tumors.
In addition, drinking can also lead to serious damage to family function and social function, and alcoholics cause too many domestic violence and accidental injuries.
Everyone knows that drinking should be moderate, but many people have no specific concept of quantity.
The exact amount of ethanol is calculated as follows-
Alcohol quantity (g) = alcohol consumption (ml) alcohol content (%) alcohol density (0.8)
Dietary Guidelines for China Residents suggest that if adults drink alcohol, the amount of alcohol consumed by men should not exceed 25g a day, and that of women should not exceed 15g.
15g alcohol =375ml beer (5% alcohol) 156ml red wine (12% alcohol) 46ml whisky (40% alcohol) 37ml white wine (50% alcohol).
For people who like drinking and have drinking habits, don't exceed this amount every day, and stop at least 2 days a week, so that drinking can avoid alcohol addiction to a certain extent.
Alcohol addiction is the result of the interaction of genetic and environmental factors.
1. People with a family history of alcoholism. If the father is addicted to alcohol, his male offspring are four times as likely as the average male, and the female offspring are three times as likely as the average female.
2. People whose lives are surrounded by alcohol. For example, it is easier to get alcohol. In the cultural atmosphere without alcohol, I like to use alcohol to relieve the pressure of life and work, and I also like to drink alcohol when I have happy events.
At some point in the past year, at least three situations have been experienced or exhibited-
(1) Strong desire or impulse to drink.
② The start, end and dosage of drinking behavior are difficult to control.
③ Physical withdrawal symptoms appear when abstaining from alcohol.
Tolerance is based, and alcohol consumption increases.
⑤ The intention of drinking is higher than all activities, and other happiness or benefits are gradually ignored.
6 knowing that drinking is harmful to health, but continuing to drink regardless of the obvious harmful consequences.
If it is still difficult to judge according to the above six items, then only consider one core question-do you have self-control over wine?
If it's hard to stop just drinking, it's probably that you are addicted to alcohol.
1. The human body will have a chronic and pathological adaptation to alcohol because of long-term drinking.
The body will become less and less sensitive to alcohol, and the original pleasure can only be obtained by increasing the amount.
This is why alcoholics drink more because of the increase in alcohol consumption.
2. If you lose weight suddenly, the morbid balance of your body will be broken, and all kinds of uncomfortable manifestations will appear, that is, "withdrawal symptoms of your body".
At this time, in order to "avoid" physical pain, people will choose to continue to drink a lot.
When addicts have a thirst and tolerance for alcohol, it is quite difficult for individuals to quit drinking.
The treatment of alcohol addiction generally takes three stages-
The first stage is abstinence. Moderate and severe patients need hospitalization to help them control their behavior in an environment away from alcohol.
The second stage is rehabilitation. Doctors use drugs and psychological means to promote the rehabilitation of patients' mental, physical and social functions. This stage also includes brain rehabilitation treatment of brain injury caused by alcohol.
The third stage is to prevent recurrence. Need further long-term outpatient follow-up, because although I quit drinking and recovered my physical and psychological functions, I still remember the intense pleasure I had, so it is easy to relapse.
In the third stage, it is also an important way to help alcoholics quit drinking with AA (Anonymous Alcoholics Association).
Therefore, getting rid of dependence on alcohol and abstinence from alcohol is only the first step of treatment.
The whole treatment is a long-term or even repeated process, which can't rely on one's own will, but also needs the help of professional medical institutions.
Finally, talk about spoilers.
Shenzhen Kangning Hospital Pingshan Campus
Addiction medical ward
/kloc-0 officially opened on Tuesday, October 20th. 10.
Contributed by: Liu Fen (Department of Addiction Medicine)
Editor: Xie
Review: Xu