Effects of Chronic Heavy Drinking

Psychological Effects Alcohol and Behavior Effects of Chronic Heavy Drinking Alcohol and Brain Functioning Alcohol and the Liver Alcohol and Reproductive Functioning Fetal Alcohol Syndrome Moderate Drinking and Health The Development of Alcohol Abuse and Dependence Traditional Approaches to Etiology "Biopsychosocial" Approaches to Etiology Summary... 

Table 9.6 lists the major effects of chronic heavy drinking on body systems. As you can. see, alcohol can be highly toxic to the human body and cause extensive damage to it in a variety of ways. Two prominent body systems that alcohol harms are the brain and the liver. We will look at alcohol s chronic effects on these systems in more detail. Alcohol s chronic effects also extend to human reproductive fimetioning, which has to do with alcohol s altering the fimetioning of the hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal endocrine axis and with fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS). 

Effects of Chronic, Heavy Drinking on Body Systems... 

Acute alcohol intake may possibly increase serum phenytoin levels, but moderate social drinking appears to have little clinical effect. However, chronic heavy drinking reduces serum phenytoin levels so that above-average doses of phenytoin may be needed to maintain adequate levels. 

Toxicologists nowadays take a broad view of developmental toxicity they consider not only structural but also functional abnormalities to qualify as adverse, as long as they were produced as a result of exposures incurred in utero. Thus, for example, the developmental effects of chronic alcohol abuse by pregnant women, known as fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS), are characterized not only by the presence of certain craniofacial abnormalities, but also by a variety of disabilities such as shortened attention span, speech disorders, and restlessness. Although fully expressed physical deformities included in FAS are associated with heavy drinking, debate continues on the level of alcohol consumption, if any, that is without these more subtle effects on behavior. 

Chronic heavy drinking is difficult to define precisely. Suffice it to say that many of alcohol s long-term effects take years to become evident, and heax y drinkers vary greatly in their susceptibility to alcohol-related impairments. 

The Critical concentrations with respect to the soil organisms should be related to a low effect level on the most sensitive species. The effects on the process of metabolism and other processes within the organisms should be considered and also the diversity of the species, which is most sensitive to the heavy metals, has to be accounted. Critical limits must refer to the chronic or accumulated effects. For assessment of the critical concentrations in crops and in drinking water, human-toxicological information is required. In general, for establishing critical loads we should also account the additive effects of the different metals and combination effect between the acidification and biogeochemical mobilization of the heavy metals in soils and bottom sediments. 

ANTI HYPERTENSIVES AND HEART FAILURE DRUGS ALCOHOL 1. Acute alcohol ingestion may t hypotensive effects 2. Chronic moderate/ heavy drinking 1 hypotensive effect 1. Additive hypotensive effect. 2. Chronic alcohol excess is associated with hypertension Monitor BP closely as unpredictable responses can occur. Advise patients to drink only in moderation and avoid large variations in the amount of alcohol drunk... 

Chronic overdose. Excessive prolonged consumption of caffeine causes anxiety, restlessness, tremors, insomnia headache, cardiac extrasystoles and confusion diarrhoea may occur with coffee and constipation with tea. The cause can easily be overlooked if specific enquiry into habits is not made including children regarding cola drinks. Of coffee drinkers, up to 25% who complain of anxiety may benefit from reduction of caffeine intake. An adult heavy user may be defined as one who takes more than 300 mg caffeine/day, i.e. 4 cups of 150 ml of brewed coffee, each containing 80 20 mg caffeine per cup or 5 cups (60 20) of instant coffee. The equivalent for tea would be 10 cups at approximately 30 mg caffeine per cup and of cola drinks about 2.01. Plainly, caffeine drinks brewed to personal taste of consumer or vendor must have an extremely variable concentration according to source of coffee or tea, amormt used, method and duration of brewing. There is also great individual variation in the effect of coffee both between individuals and sometimes in the same individual at different times of life (see Sleep, above). 

Chronic heavy use of alcohol may have numerous physiological and psychological effects. All the effects involve increased dysfunction, and some may be fatal. Some chronic alcohol effects are caused directly by alcohol s toxicity to the body, such as damage to the liver. Other effects are indirectly related to long-term abusive drinking. For example, Wernicke s disease, which involves impaired cognitive functioning, is caused by nutritional deficiencies that tend to occur in people who are dependent on alcohol (Brands et al., 1998). 

Chronic moderate to heavy drinking raises the blood pressure and reduces, to some extent, the effectiveness of antihypertensive drugs. A few patients may experience postural hypotension, dizziness and fainting shortly after having drank alcohol. Alpha blockers may enhance the hypotensive effect of alcohol in subjects susceptible to the alcohol flush syndrome. 

NUTRITIONAL AND MEDICINAL EFFECTS OF SPIRITS. Food Composition Table F-21 lists a variety of alcoholic beverages—beers, wines, and liquors. In contrast to beers and wines, which contain certain minerals and vitamins, distilled liquors are so highly refined that they supply mainly empty calories. For example, the caloric content of 1 oz (29.6 ml of gin, rum, vodka, or whiskey ranges from 65 Calories (kcal) for 80-proof spirits to 83 Calories (kcal) for 100-proof spirits. Furthermore, other beverage spirits such as brandies, cordials, liqueurs, and mixed drinks may contain sufficient added sugar to make their caloric values much higher than the unsweetened spirits. (Most of the liqueurs sold in the United States contain from 100 to 120 Calories [kcal] per ounce.) Hence, heavy drinkers may obtain too much of their caloric requirement from liquor, and too little from the foods which furnish essential nutrients. It is well documented that chronic alcoholics often suffer from various types of malnutrition. 

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