Tell Me More About Alcohol Dependence.
10. Is moderate alcohol drinking good for you?
Studies show that moderate drinkers, i.e. men who have two or less drinks per day and women who have one or less drinks per day, are less likely to die from one form of heart disease than are people who do not drink any alcohol or who drink more. It's believed that these smaller amounts of alcohol help protect against heart disease by changing the blood's chemistry, thus reducing the risk of blood clots in the heart's arteries.
However, exercising and eating low fat foods achieves the same benefit. Heavy drinking increases the risk of heart failure, stroke, and high blood pressure, and causes many other medical problems, such as liver cirrhosis.
If you are pregnant or thinking of becoming pregnant, alcohol can have a number of harmful effects on the baby. The baby can be born mentally retarded or with learning and behavioral problems that last a lifetime. We don't know exactly how much alcohol is required to cause these problems. We do know, however, that alcohol related birth defects are 100-percent preventable, simply by not drinking alcohol during pregnancy.
Reference:
National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, Alert No. 45, October 1999, Alert No 50, December 2000. |
