People have different attitudes towards alcohol. Even without a glass of beer, one person cannot sustain a night, while others have never been exposed to alcohol. Even people without a degree know that drinking alcohol every day is harmful to the body, but what if we talk about the best drinking dose? How much can you drink to minimize the health effects of alcohol? This question is related to many people. Let us try to find out.
Do not drink much alcohol
I will tell you immediately-there is no consensus on this issue. Some scientists say that even in small amounts, alcohol can have a devastating effect on the body. Others believe that drinking in small doses is even beneficial. And there are WHO (World Health Organization) recommendations. According to these recommendations, the dangerous dose of alcohol is 60 ml of ethanol for men and 50 ml of ethanol for women. But since few people consume pure ethanol (I hope it is), this is what most people are familiar with as an absolutely dangerous dose of alcohol in beverages:
- 180 grams of male vodka, 150 grams of female vodka
- 1. 5 liters of beer
- 0. 5 liters of wine
Absolutely dangerous alcohol dose-The average amount of alcohol consumed to cause death.
But don’t think that if you drink less than these values, nothing will happen to your body. Even if you consume the equivalent of 30 milliliters of ethanol (90 grams of vodka, 800 milliliters of beer or a large glass of wine) every day, it may seriously harm your health.
What if you drink every day?
Scientists have been studying this issue for a long time. Recent evidence suggests that alcohol can reduce the risk of atherosclerosis. To some extent, it helps prevent cholesterol plaque from blocking blood vessels. Why is cholesterol dangerous? This can cause circulation problems. Because the blood is full of cholesterol, the blood usually no longer circulates through the blood vessels and may even die. On the other hand, alcohol "washes" blood vessels and does not allow cholesterol to stagnate.
Does this mean you can drink every day? Do not. In this case, we are talking about very low doses of alcohol. According to the same recommendations from the WHO, experts recommend that you abstain from alcohol at least two days a week. Of course, the longer you don’t drink, the better.
The best dose of alcohol150ml dry red wine, it is not very harmful to health and may even bring some benefits.
But this does not mean that you need to drink a small glass of wine every day. Although there are many stories circulating on the Internet, some grandfathers drink a glass of wine every day and live to be 90 years old. Everything here is individual and it is necessary to consider many factors-from chronic diseases to genetic susceptibility. Not to mention that minors and pregnant women are absolutely prohibited from drinking alcohol.
If you drink alcohol every day, your body will not be able to remove it from your body, and you will start to develop diseases such as alcoholism. It is divided into 3 stages, in this article we will introduce them. But first, let us figure out-how does alcohol usually affect a person?
How alcohol works
What is alcohol in the scientific sense? This is ethanol, which is made by fermenting sugar, yeast and starch. All these "nuclear" mixtures have amazing properties: it can quickly go through all stages of digestion. In other words, when you digest lunch soup (about 30 minutes) or chicken (up to 2 hours), alcohol will quickly reach its goal-if you drink a lot of alcohol, the human circulatory system may even sometimes bypass the liver. She simply cannot transport large amounts of alcohol by herself.
Alcohol starts to become annoying in the circulatory system: it destroys red blood cells (the tiny objects that make up blood), which is why they stick together and form blood clots. In turn, blood clots can block blood flow in small arteries, which can cause blockage of cerebral blood vessels. Therefore, a feeling of intoxication is produced, which is similar to when the brain lacks oxygen.
Therefore, if you drink uncontrollably, your brain will always be in this state. This will lead to the decline of many mental and physical functions-this situation is equivalent to drinking a lot of alcohol at a time. A person cannot stand normally, nor can he explain his behavior.
Scientists have shown that alcohol can damage DNA and increase the risk of cancer.
Stages of alcoholism
Drinking can lead to alcoholism, which is divided into three stages.
- In the first stage of alcohol addiction, a person gradually loses control over the amount of alcohol consumed, which leads to a pathological craving for alcohol.
- In the second stage, a person even develops "immunity" against alcohol, or, it seems to him. Indeed, if a person consumes more than 1 liter of alcohol at this stage, the body seems to be more likely to perceive alcohol. In fact, this masks the development of serious diseases-hepatitis, liver cirrhosis, esophageal cancer and gastric cancer. The third stage of alcoholism is characterized by complete degradation of personality on the physical and psychological levels. A person can no longer drink alcohol and will die in most cases.
Scientists believe that alcoholism is affected by genetic predisposition, which is caused by insufficient production of enzymes that metabolize alcohol. But in fact, the amount of alcohol consumed can affect this. If you realize that you have lost control of yourself and your body is in an unpleasant state, then you don't need to drink alcohol.
Why does a hangover happen?
The next morning after the busy party, many people asked this question (usually saying "well, I definitely don't drink anymore"). In fact, this explanation is very simple: Alcohol enters the human blood quickly, but enters the human body very slowly. Until the substance is completely destroyed and digested, the human body can fully recover from the stormy night. This is how hangovers happen.
Of course, many people Googled how to avoid a hangover before they started celebrating another alcohol event. But the answer can be summarized in one sentence: Don’t drink a lot of alcohol, and then the alcohol will have time to leave the body before your head touches the pillow.
How to drink alcohol?
Researchers distinguish between the so-called "Northern" drinking pattern and the "Southern" drinking pattern. The first countries include Belarus, Kazakhstan, and the Baltic countries, and these countries often drink large amounts of alcohol in shock doses. The "southern" model is typical of Spain, Italy, and Greece, where they can drink more wine than in other countries, but less strong wine: for example, a glass of dry wine at dinner. No one drinks 100 grams of vodka a day.
Scientists agree that the southern model is safer for health, although they still point out that daily drinking is harmful to health. Therefore, do not overuse.