Health Write Up Alcohol

Chapter 10 Handout Summary Alcohol is one of the most abused drugs in America. It is easily accessible, cheap, and perfectly legal to buy and consume. The way alcohol works is that it enters your bloodstream and moves into the biological membranes in your body. Up to 20% of alcohol consumed is absorbed through your stomach lining and 75% is absorbed in your upper intestine directly into the blood stream. Absorption rate is increased if you mix with carbonation, it is decreased with food, and if you drink higher concentration of alcohol (ie 80 proof or higher) absorption is also slower. The amount of alcohol absorbed along with factors of weight, body fat, sex, and in some cases race all depends on your blood alcohol concentration (or BAC). This is the ratio of alcohol absorbed to the rate of your metabolism. Alcohol is only metabolized through the liver, and cannot be speed up with the use of exercise, drinking coffee, eating certain food, or taking a cold shower. Alcohol has a generally negative impact on health. Chronic use of alcohol will have the user develop sever cirrhosis (scarring of the liver), higher blood pressure, various cancers, and major cognitive impairments, memory loss, including dementia. The constant abuse of alcohol or alcohol dependence will cause people to live shorter lives and they will have withdrawal symptoms when they don’t have a drink for periods of a time. However, there is help very readily available for those who are seeking a change in their drinking habits with many programs of all types.