Is drinking alcohol frequently harmful to health?

As people have more and more entertainment options in modern society, if we observe carefully we will find that many white-collar workers go to bars after get off work. They drink and have fun at the same time, which not only helps them relieve the pressure from work better, but also allows them to indulge themselves for a while. But some friends have asked, is drinking alcohol harmful to health? In response to this question raised by everyone, I would like to invite my friends to discuss it with me in the next period of time.

In daily life, the alcoholic beverages that are often consumed include beer, wine and liquor. The sources, brewing processes and ethanol content, that is, the alcohol content of various wines are different. Alcohol content usually refers to the percentage of ethanol contained in the wine (by volume). For example, Beijing beer contains 5.4% ethanol, wine contains about 11-16% ethanol, usually called 11-16 degrees, and liquor contains 38-60% ethanol. Among them, the one containing 38% ethanol is called low-alcohol liquor.

Article 7 of the "Dietary Guidelines for Chinese Residents" states that "drinking alcohol should be limited", and there is a paragraph explaining the harm of excessive drinking. Drinking a small amount of low-alcohol wine is not necessarily harmful, but drinking excessively or even alcoholism is definitely harmful and has no benefits. So what kind of alcohol can we drink? And how can we limit the amount of alcohol we drink? A large amount of data from epidemiological studies suggest that if the daily alcohol intake does not exceed 24 grams of ethanol, which is equivalent to 540 milliliters of beer, 200 milliliters of fruit wine, and 60 milliliters of 40-degree liquor, the risk is reduced. Long-term drinking can lead to deficiencies of multiple nutrients in the body. Wine is one of the pure energy foods. Can be broken down in the body to produce energy. But it does not contain any nutrients. Excessive drinking firstly reduces the intake of other foods containing various important nutrients (such as protein, vitamins, and minerals). Secondly, it can reduce appetite, reduce food intake, and long-term excessive drinking can damage the intestinal mucosa and affect the intestinal absorption of nutrients. All of the above can lead to deficiencies in multiple nutrients.

The ethanol in wine has a direct toxic effect on the body's tissues and organs, and the organ most sensitive to ethanol is the liver. Continuous excessive drinking can damage liver cells, interfere with the normal metabolism of the liver, and thus cause alcoholic hepatitis and cirrhosis. Excessive drinking affects fat metabolism. Ethanol slows down the oxidation of fatty acids, which may be beneficial to the storage of dietary lipids, increase liver fat synthesis, increase serum triglyceride levels, and increase the possibility of hypertriglyceridemia. In addition, epidemiological studies have shown that long-term excessive drinking can increase the risk of hypertension and stroke. Alcoholism can also lead to violent accidents, which is harmful to personal health and social security. The beneficial effects of fruit wine have been talked about a lot recently.

I believe that through the above discussion, most of our friends have their own unique insights and more standard answers to the question of whether drinking is harmful to health. Of course, I would like to say one more thing. A large amount of alcohol can damage our liver, and the liver is a famous detoxification organ in the human body. Therefore, drinking a lot of alcohol can cause great harm to our health, which needs to attract people's attention.