For a number of years alcohol addiction research has demonstrated the fact that there is strong correlation between alcohol dependency and serious health conditions.
For example, in 2005, medical examination revealed that alcohol abuse and alcoholism cost the United States an estimated $220 billion per year. It can be emphasized that this gigantic alcohol-related expenditure was substantially more than the cost linked with cancer ($196 billion) or with obesity ($133 billion). While it is pertinent to accentuate these facts, it is also noteworthy to point to the fact that an interrelationship exists between all three of these health issues.
That is to say, chronic alcohol abuse and alcoholism are also highly interrelated with obesity and with cancer.
Without a doubt, substance abuse research has revealed that alcohol dependency can amplify the risk for various forms of cancer, particularly cancer of the esophagus, kidneys, throat, rectum, liver, voice box (larynx), and the colon. Abusive and recurring drinking can also result in immune system difficulties and damage to the fetus during pregnancy.
Hazardous and Heavy Drinking Weakens the Problem Drinker’s Systems and Organs
Furthermore, if alcoholism continues over a period of years, the person’s body organs will likely be affected in a harmful manner. For example, repeated, excessive drinking is particularly injurious to the liver due to the fact that the liver does most of the work of processing the alcohol that has been consumed. Unwarranted amounts of alcohol kills liver cells and destroys the ability of liver cells to reproduce. This condition leads to a progressive inflammatory injury to the liver that can in the end lead to cirrhosis of the liver, a dangerous and possibly terminal medical problem.
Excessive, long-term drinking not only can result in serious liver damage, but it can also result in damage to the heart and to the brain. Physical damage this serious may be irreversible and may, in turn, result in serious llness or an early death.
The Significance of Alcohol Treatment
It is important, as a result, to know how to identify the different alcohol addiction signs and symptoms so that the alcohol addicted person can be given the opportunity to seek the professional alcohol rehabilitation he or she requires.
Alcohol Dependency and Technologically Advanced Brain Exploration
Fortunately, scientific exploration is continuously finding unique and significant information. Recent alcoholism exploration supplies an excellent illustration. More exactly, for approximately the last ten years, complicated brain-imaging scanning instruments have demonstrated that repetitive and recurring excessive drinking modifies the constitution of the brain to a substantial extent, as a consequence resulting in brain disease that can last months, years, or perchance as long as the person lives.
More explicitly, medical exploration has demonstrated that people who have been drinking in an irresponsible manner for a sizeable length of time increase their risk for developing permanent 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 the alcohol’s effects on the brain or to severe liver disease.
Excessive Drinking, Malnutrition, and Mental Disorders
As a final example of various medical problems that are to a large extent associated with alcohol dependency, take into consideration the fact that according to medical research, the hazardous and repeated abuse of alcohol can lead to erosive gastritis, a health problem that reduces the absorption of nutrients, vitamins, and minerals.
This kind of organ malfunctioning is related to malnutrition and to a variety of critical mental and neurological syndromes including sleep disturbances, memory loss, and psychosis such as Wernicke’s Encephalopathy and Korsakoff’s syndrome. This latter health problem is an enduring debilitating health problem that is epitomized by recurring memory and learning difficulties.
Summary
It is apparent that repetitive, excessive drinking is directly or indirectly related to many dangerous medical problems that can and do result in dangerous diseases and premature death. Such information needs to be highlighted and presented to everyone in our society so that a multitude of individuals will be able to refrain from abusive drinking while other individuals who have a drinking problem will get the professional treatment they need.
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