Alcohol consumption can have both short-term and long-term effects on your body and overall health. In this blog post, we delve into the various impacts of alcohol, from its immediate influence on mood and behavior to its potential long-term consequences on liver function, brain health, and overall well-being. While moderate drinking may be safe for some, excessive alcohol use can lead to serious health problems such as addiction, heart disease, and liver damage. Whether you’re curious about the effects of alcohol or looking to make informed decisions about your drinking habits, this post offers a comprehensive overview.
“Effects of alcohol” – How Much Alcohol Can Human Liver Tolerate?
Your liver can process around one unit of alcohol in one hour. If consume more than this, you system becomes saturated. The additional alcohol will accumulate in the blood and body tissues. The higher someone’s blood alcohol content, the longer it takes to process alcohol.
Drink more than 8 units of alcohol a day for 2-3 weeks, And you will develop something called fatty liver. For women, drinking just 5 units a day (a couple of 175ml glasses of wine) can cause fatty liver. This is because men tend to have more muscle tissue than women.
Women also have less of the enzyme alcohol dehydrogenase which breaks down alcohol, leading to a faster effect. Once fat builds up in your liver, it is difficult for the liver to carry out functions. Such as breaking down medications and absorbing nutrients from your food.
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However, this condition is reversible if you stop drinking follow a healthy lifestyle. Keep drinking and the condition may become irreversible. The first warning signs of liver damage are fatigue. You may feel a vague discomfort in your abdomen because your liver is swollen. You might also feel sick and loose your appetite.
But once you’re far along the path to liver failure you will likely get a yellowing of the skin and eyes called jaundice, your urine color will get darker, as your liver stops clearing toxins from your blood, the brain is affected causing confusion, you may vomit blood which is caused by swollen and burst veins in your esophagus and stomach.
You may also develop severe swelling in your legs or gut, in severe cases, the liver cells become so damaged, that the cells get replaced by scar tissue.
Drinking more than about 3 ounces of alcohol a day for 10 years, can lead to liver cirrhosis at this point, the liver inflammation becomes frequent and for so long that it becomes lumpy and hard.
Blood and other bodily fluids can no longer easily pass through and be filtered. The liver becomes less and less able to function, ultimately resulting in liver failure. Up to 20% of people who have cirrhosis will need a transplant.