Alcohol Consumption: The Health Effects Essay

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When one consumes alcohol, it is distributed to all body parts. Only 2 to 10 percent of the ethanol content leaves the body in the form of sweat, lungs, and urine (Yang et al., 2019). The remaining percentage undergoes metabolism, whereby ethanol is metabolized by dehydrogenase and converted to acetaldehyde. The metabolized alcohol, acetaldehyde, reacts with aldehyde dehydrogenase to produce H2O and CO2. At this phase, the alcohol concentration has been reduced. Different variants of the ADH genes further break down the alcohol to obtain acetaldehyde which further undergoes metabolism with its reaction to ALDH2 (Yang et al., 2019).

During alcohol consumption, the fatty acids are substituted with ethanol in the liver and act as hepatic fuel. The fats accumulate on the liver depending on the fats consumed, while on the other hand, continued alcohol consumption affects mitochondria distribution, which blocks the citric cycle activity. Ketone production increases due to mitochondria damage and fatty acid accumulation (Yang et al., 2019). A process known as esterification occurs whereby alcohol combines with carboxylic acid to produce ester and water. An alcoholic, therefore, develops moderate hyperlipemia brought about by the disposal of lipids as serum lipoprotein.

Evidence from research shows various benefits of consuming alcohol in controlled amounts. The first benefit is that an individual has a lower chance of developing heart failure disease. The second benefit associated with drinking alcohol in controlled quantities is one has minimal chances of being attacked by an ischemic stroke which causes the blocking of brain arteries leading to reduced blood flow (Varghese & Dakhode, 2022). Lastly, regulating the consumption of alcohol also reduces the risks of diabetes. There are, therefore, various diet patterns that moderate the intake of ethanol. An example of such a diet whereby ethanol consumption is advised moderately by professionals to address methodological problems such as exposure to chronic disease.

Excess alcohol consumption is not advised since it causes physiological impacts. Some of these impacts are, in this case, memory problems. An addict may have trouble remembering and concentrating; hence they may perform poorly in school. Additionally, long-term consumption of alcohol can expose an addict to cancer of the mouth, throat, voice box, and liver which are expensive to fight. Lastly, long-term alcohol consumption exposes an addict to high blood pressure, chronic diseases, and digestion problems.

Reference

Varghese, J., & Dakhode, S. (2022). . Cureus. Web.

Yang, L., Yang, C., Thomes, P. G., Kharbanda, K. K., Casey, C. A., McNiven, M. A., & Donohue, T. M. (2019). . Frontiers in Pharmacology, 10. Web.

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