For a number of years alcohol addiction research has revealed the fact that there is strong correlation between alcohol addiction and dangerous health conditions.
For instance, in 2005, scientific examination revealed that alcohol abuse and alcoholism cost the United States an estimated $220 billion annually. It can be stressed that this massive alcohol-related cash outlay was substantially more than the cost associated with cancer ($196 billion) or with obesity ($133 billion). While it is relevant to call attention to these facts, it is also important to emphasize the point that an interrelationship exists between all three of these health problems.
More correctly, chronic alcohol abuse and alcohol addiction are also highly associated with obesity and with cancer.
Definitely, substance abuse research has revealed that alcohol addiction can increase the risk for different types of cancer, especially cancer of the liver, voice box (larynx), kidneys, colon, esophagus, rectum, and the throat. Hazardous and repetitive drinking can also result in immune system difficulties and impairment to the fetus during pregnancy.
Hazardous and Heavy Drinking Destabilizes the Person’s Systems and Organs
What is more, if alcoholism continues over a period of years, the individual’s body organs will more likely than not be affected in an unhealthy manner. For instance, chronic, abusive drinking is especially hurtful to the liver due to the fact that the liver does most of the work of processing the alcohol that has been ingested. Unwarranted amounts of alcohol kills liver cells and obliterates the ability of liver cells to redevelop. This medical condition leads to a progressive inflammatory disease of the liver that can in due course lead to cirrhosis of the liver, a grave and possibly terminal disease.
Excessive, long-term drinking not only can lead to critical liver damage, but it can also lead to damage to the heart and to the brain. Physical damage this serious may be unalterable and may, in turn, result in severe llness or premature death.
The Importance of Alcohol Treatment
It is imperative, consequently, to know how to recognize the various alcohol dependency symptoms and signs so that the alcoholic can be given the opportunity to seek the professional alcohol therapy he or she needs.
Alcohol Addiction and Technologically Advanced Brain Research
Fortunately, scientific investigation is persistently generating original and significant information. Recent alcoholism exploration supplies a first-rate example. Stated another way, for roughly the past ten years, complicated brain-imaging scanning instruments have shown that continuous and recurring excessive drinking modifies the constitution of the brain to a great extent, thusly resulting in brain disease that can last months, years, or perchance as long as the person lives.
More precisely, medical exploration has revealed that individuals who have been drinking in an excessive manner for a considerable length of time increase their risk for developing long-term and serious 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.
Excessive Drinking, Malnutrition, and Mental Disorders
As a final example of assorted health problems that are considerably correlated to alcoholism, consider that according to scientific exploration, the excessive and repeated abuse of alcohol can result in erosive gastritis, a medical condition that lessens the absorption of nutrients, vitamins, and minerals.
This form of organ failure is related to malnutrition and to a number of acute neurological and mental syndromes including sleep disturbances, memory loss, and psychosis such as Wernicke’s Encephalopathy and Korsakoff’s syndrome. This latter medical condition is a lasting incapacitating condition that is epitomized by repetitive memory and learning difficulties.
Conclusion
It is plain to see that continued, excessive drinking is directly or indirectly related to a number of critical medical conditions that can and do result in dangerous diseases and premature death. Such information needs to be underlined and presented to everyone in our society so that most people will be able to abstain from excessive drinking while other individuals who have a drinking problem will get the professional rehab they require.