Alcohol can harm diets, overall healthJeanine Stice • May 20, 2010
Bridgeway Recovery Services Chief Executive Officer Tim Murphy is right: "Substance abuse is a big social problem."
It's also a big public health problem.
Sunday's front-page coverage highlighted the impact repeat DUI offenders have on the criminal justice system and the 935 Oregon lives lost between 2005 and 2008 as a result of DUI-related crashes.
Monday's news revealed the difficulty treatment programs such as Bridgeway Recovery Services have treating substance abuse because most clients don't know they have a chronic problem: "70 percent are people with alcohol problems who think they're social drinkers," Murphy said.
This so called "social drinking" can wreck havoc with one's physical and mental health. Although alcohol in moderation may have health benefits for some people, excess intake can foil efforts at weight management, contribute to hypoglycemic episodes in people who have diabetes, impair our ability to maintain optimal nutritional status and contribute to the development of depression.
Alcohol contributes seven calories per gram. Yet, when it comes to weight management, the math is not this simple.
Alcohol intake can increase your appetite by as much as 20 percent and displace foods that provide needed nutrients.
Alcohol also impairs the absorption and metabolism of vitamins such as folate, B12 and thiamin. Excess alcohol intake can prevent liver cells from processing vitamin D, placing drinkers at risk for vitamin D deficiency.
Vitamin A status can deteriorate as the cells in the eye, which normally process one form of vitamin A to the active form needed for vision, are processing ethanol instead as a result of excess alcohol intake.Ultimately, excess alcohol contributes to the development of fatty liver disease and chronic disease such as high blood pressure, stroke, heart disease, cancer and diabetes.
Once fatty liver develops, it increases the risk for glucose intolerance, otherwise called "prediabetes," and Type 2 Diabetes. For people with diabetes, maintaining consistent blood glucose is the key to preventing secondary diabetic complications such as kidney damage, eye damage, neuropathy and heart disease. Alcohol metabolism can interfere with critical hormones needed to maintain healthy blood glucose and contribute to dangerously low blood glucose levels.
Drinking more than one drink per day for women and two drinks per day for men, or binge drinking, places your health at risk.
Remember, a standard drink is defined as 1.5 ounces or a shot of 80-proof distilled spirits, a 12-ounce beer or a 5-ounce glass of wine. Social drinking beyond these amounts is not recommended.
Jeanine Stice is a registered dietitian. Contact her at nutritionetc@comcast.net.
Read more:
http://www.statesmanjournal.com/article/20100520/COLUMN0702/5200314/1096/COLUMN#ixzz0p2NpIIyy
