For a number of years alcoholism research has revealed the fact that there is strong linkage between alcohol dependency and critical health conditions.
For instance, in 2005, medical examination revealed that alcohol abuse and alcoholism cost the United States an estimated $220 billion annually. It can be emphasized that this gigantic alcohol-related cash outlay was substantially more than the cost associated with cancer ($196 billion) or with obesity ($133 billion). While it is important to accentuate these facts, it is also noteworthy to point to the fact that an interrelationship exists between all three of these health issues.
More explicitly, chronic alcohol abuse and alcoholism are also highly correlated with obesity and with cancer.
Undeniably, substance abuse research has demonstrated the fact that alcoholism can amplify the risk for various types of cancer, particularly cancer of the liver, voice box (larynx), kidneys, colon, esophagus, rectum, and the throat. Hazardous and repetitive drinking can also result in immune system issues and abnormality to the fetus during pregnancy.
Hazardous and Abusive Drinking Enfeebles the Person’s Organs and Systems
Additionally, if alcoholism continues over a period of years, the individual’s body organs will more likely than not be affected in an unhealthy manner. As an illustration, long-term, hazardous drinking is especially injurious to the liver due to the fact that the liver does most of the work of processing the alcohol that has been consumed. Excessive amounts of alcohol kills liver cells and obliterates the ability of liver cells to regenerate. This medical condition leads to a progressive inflammatory disease of the liver that can eventually lead to cirrhosis of the liver, a dangerous and potentially incurable medical problem.
Heavy, long-term drinking not only can result in serious liver damage, but it can also lead to damage to the heart and to the brain. Physical damage this severe may be unalterable and may, in turn, result in serious disease or an untimely death.
The Importance of Alcohol Treatment
It is critical, consequently, to know how to recognize the different alcohol addiction symptoms and signs so that the alcohol dependent individual can be given the opportunity to seek the quality alcohol treatment he or she needs.
Alcohol Addiction and Technologically Advanced Brain Exploration
Fortuitously, medical examination is constantly generating original and important information. Recent alcoholism exploration supplies a high-quality example. Stated another way, for roughly the last ten years, technologically advanced brain-imaging scanning instruments have shown that repetitive and recurring excessive drinking changes the structure of the brain to a significant extent, therefore resulting in brain disease that can last months, years, or perchance as long as the individual lives.
Stated differently, medical exploration has shown that people who have been drinking in an excessive manner for a sizeable length of time increase their risk for developing long lasting and substantial modifications in the brain.
This type of damage may be indirectly associated with the drinker’s poor overall health or directly related to severe liver disease or to the alcohol’s effects on the brain.
Mental Disorders, Malnutrition, and Hazardous Drinking
As a final example of assorted health problems that are largely related to alcohol addiction, consider that according to medical exploration, the hazardous and repeated abuse of alcohol can result in erosive gastritis, a medical condition that decreases the absorption of minerals, nutrients, and vitamins.
This form of organ failure is associated with malnutrition and to an assortment of acute mental and neurological maladies including sleep disturbances, memory loss, and psychosis such as Wernicke’s Encephalopathy and Korsakoff’s syndrome. This latter medical problem is a lasting debilitating condition that is characterized by persistent memory and learning problems.
Summary
It is clear that continued, excessive drinking is directly or indirectly linked to a variety of serious medical problems that can and do lead to dangerous ailments and premature death. Such information needs to be underlined and presented to everyone in our society so that a massive amount of individuals will be able to abstain from hazardous drinking while other individuals who have a drinking problem will get the professional treatment they need.