For a number of years alcohol dependency exploration has demonstrated the fact that there is strong association between alcohol dependency and dangerous health conditions.
As an illustration, in 2005, scientific exploration and alcohol abuse and alcoholism statistics revealed that alcohol abuse and alcohol dependency cost the United States an estimated $220 billion annually. It may be noted that this considerable alcohol-related cash disbursement was substantially more than the cost linked with cancer ($196 billion) or with obesity ($133 billion). While it is pertinent to stress these facts, it is also important to highlight the fact that an interrelationship exists between all three of these health conditions.
More specifically, chronic alcohol abuse and alcohol dependency are also highly interrelated with obesity and with cancer.
Indeed, substance abuse exploration has shown that alcohol addiction can increase the risk for different types of cancer, particularly cancer of the voice box (larynx), esophagus, liver, rectum, colon, kidneys, and throat. Abusive and repetitive drinking can also lead to immune system problems and deformity to the fetus during pregnancy.
Irresponsible Drinking Destabilizes the Drinker’s Organs and Systems
Additionally, if alcoholism continues over a period of years, the person’s body organs will more likely than not be affected in a negative manner. For example, long-term, abusive 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. Unwarranted amounts of alcohol kills liver cells and obliterates the ability of liver cells to reproduce. This condition results in a progressive inflammatory malfunction of the liver that can at the end of the day lead to cirrhosis of the liver, a serious and possibly incurable medical problem.Heavy, long-term drinking not only can result in severe liver damage, but it can also result in damage to the heart and to the brain. Physical damage this serious may be irreparable and may, in turn, result in severe disease or an untimely death.
The Relevance of Alcohol Treatment
It is vital, consequently, to know how to recognize the various alcoholism symptoms and the “alcohol signs” so that the alcohol dependent individual can be given the opportunity to get the professional alcohol counseling he or she requires.
Alcohol Addiction and Sophisticated Brain Exploration
Fortunately, medical research is persistently unearthing original and important information. Recent alcoholism research supplies a good example. More to the point, for approximately the last ten years, complicated brain-imaging scanning instruments have demonstrated that continuous and long lasting excessive drinking changes the makeup of the brain to a substantial extent, therefore resulting in brain disease that can last months, years, or perchance as long as the person exists.
More explicitly, medical research has demonstrated that people who have been drinking in an irresponsible manner for a substantial length of time increase their risk for developing long lasting and significant alterations 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.
Malnutrition, Hazardous Drinking, and Mental Disorders
As a final example of various medical conditions that are substantially correlated to alcohol addiction, take into account the fact that in accordance with medical exploration, the abusive and repeated abuse of alcohol can result in erosive gastritis, a medical problem that decreases the absorption of nutrients, vitamins, and minerals.
This type of organ failure is related to malnutrition and to an array of acute mental and neurological syndromes including sleep disturbances, memory loss, and psychosis such as Wernicke’s Encephalopathy and Korsakoff’s syndrome. This latter medical condition is a long lasting debilitating medical condition that is characterized by recurring learning and memory problems.
Conclusion
It is clear that continued, abusive drinking is directly or indirectly correlated with a number of serious medical problems that can and do result in dangerous ailments and premature death. Such information needs to be underlined and presented to everyone in our society so that a massive amount of people will be able to refrain from irresponsible drinking while other people who have a drinking problem will get the professional treatment they need.