Alchol and its effects on health Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Alchol and its effects on health - Essay ExampleBinge drinking has become rampant in many parts of the man including Europe (Picture-1). According to a study by Anderson & Baumberg (2006), 55 million adults are estimated to drink at harmful levels in the Europe. Harmful consumption of alcoholic beverageic drinkic drink means more than 40g of alcohol i.e. 4 drinks a day for men and over 20g i.e. 2 drinks a day by women (Anderson & Baumberg, 2006).To understand the effects of alcohol on the health of humans, it is important to first understand the metabolism of alcohol. The cell membranes of human body are highly permeable to alcohol. Once alcohol is jailed from the stomach, it reaches every tissue in the body. It is mainly metabolized in the liver. The mode of metabolism is oxidation. The first step in the oxidation is transmutation of ethanol to acetaldehyde and this is catalyzed by alcohol dehydrogenase. During this process, NADH (NAD, nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide) is rele ased. The acetaldehyde is further oxidized to acetic acid which then enters the citric acid cycle and metabolized to carbondioxide and water. NADH is used up in the conversion of pyruvic acid to lactic acid, in the synthesis of lipids and in the electron transport chain (Paton, 2005). Most of the damage to cells caused by ethanol is due to acetaldehyde and NADH. acetaldehyde causes damage due to immune response and increased NADH causes altered NADH/NAD ratio leading to increased oxygen consumption and hypermetabolic state (Tome & Lucey, 2004).The effects of alcohol change over time. This is known as biphasic effect. The side effects depend on the level of intoxication which is again dependent on many another(prenominal) factors like the amount and circumstances of consumption, whether taken before or after meals and also the hydration status of the body. Consumption of alcohol after a heavy meal does not produce much intoxication while consuming on empty stomach leads to increas ed side