How much alcohol can you drink without serious harm to your health?

blood alcohol

Many people don't drink alcohol during the work week, but allow themselves to relax on the weekends with a few beers or stronger drinks a day. It should be borne in mind that this approach is dangerous and can lead to health problems. This is due to the fact that it is difficult for the body to process a large dose of alcohol that was received within 2 days.

To avoid serious problems, you need to know which dose of alcohol per day is considered safe.

How much alcohol not to drink

I'll tell you right away: there is no consensus on this problem. Some scientists claim that even in small amounts, alcohol has a devastating effect on the body. Others believe that in small doses, alcohol is even beneficial. And there are recommendations from the WHO (World Health Organization), according to whicha dangerous dose of alcoholis ​​60 ml of ethanol for menand50 mlfor women. But since very few people consume ethanol in its pure form (well, I hope), here's what an absolutely dangerous dose of alcohol looks like in terms of beverages familiar to most:

  • 180 g of vodka for men and 150 g of vodka for women
  • 1, 5 l. beer
  • 0, 5 l. wine

Absolutely dangerous alcohol dose- the average value of the amount of alcohol consumed, sufficient to lead to death.

But don't think that if you drink less than these values, nothing will happen to your body. Even if you consume the equivalent of 30ml of ethanol per day (90g of vodka, 800ml of beer or a large glass of wine), you can seriously damage your health.

ideal alcohol content

The formula for determining the individual alcohol content

Healthcare professionals have developed a formula that can be used to calculate an individual's alcohol intake. Using this method, you can independently determine the amount of alcohol you can drink per day without harm to your health.

The basis is 1. 5 g of ethyl alcohol per 1 kg of human weight. If a person weighs 70 kg, the individual dose of ethanol is 105 ml. In any case, it is necessary to understand that these values ​​are averaged, since much depends on age, sex and the physiological characteristics of the organism.

What happens if you drink alcohol every day?

Scientists have been studying this problem for a long time. Recent evidence suggests thatalcohol reduces the risk of atherosclerosis. In part, it helps to avoid blockage of blood vessels by cholesterol plaques. Why is cholesterol dangerous? It causes circulatory problems. The blood ceases to circulate normally through the vessels, as they are full of cholesterol and the person can even die. Alcohol, on the other hand, "rinses" the blood vessels and does not allow cholesterol to stagnate.

Does this mean you can drink alcohol every day? No. In this case, we are talking about extremely low doses of alcohol. Based on the sameWHO recommendations, experts recommendat least two days a week to abstain completely from alcohol. Of course, the longer you don't drink, the better.

The optimal doseof alcohol, which is not very harmful to health and can also bring some benefits, is ​​considered to be 150 mlof dry red wine.

But that doesn't mean you have todrink a small glass of wine every day, although there are numerous stories on the Web of how a grandfather drank a glass every day and lived to be 90. Here everything is individual and it is necessary to take into account many factors: from chronic diseases to hereditary predispositions. Not to mention thatalcohol is categorically contraindicatedfor minors and pregnant women.

Did you know that alcohol stays in your hair longer?

If you drink alcohol every day, the body will not be able to remove it from the body and a disease such as alcoholism will begin. It has 3 stages and in this article we will cover them. But first, let's find out: how does alcohol generally affect a person?

A wonderful intoxicating drink has been known for many millennia, although it was called differently in each country: digest, ale, braga, etc. In ancient times it was believed that an amber drink improves appetite, strengthens health, helps to grow and develop, so it was considered the norm for giving it to children. Beer can delight you on both a warm day and a cool evening. For example, in the mid-20th century in Italy, they were encouraged to have fun all year round, not just during the hot summer. At that time, beer was associated with the urban lifestyle, fashion trends, and even progress. And now there are many connoisseurs of this frothy drink, confident that it can be enjoyed for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

The famous joke "There are 24 hours in a day, there are 24 bottles of beer in a box - a coincidence? " this confirms. But jokes are jokes, and from the foam you can get good problems for your health if you do not know the measures. In this article, we will find out what are the benefits and risks of this drink, in what quantities it can be consumed and if there are any contraindications.

How alcohol works

how alcohol works

The brain of an ordinary person and an alcoholic. In the second case, most of the connections in the brain are destroyed

What is alcohol in a scientific sense? This isethyl alcohol, produced by the fermentation of sugar, yeast and starch. And all this "nuclear" mixture has a surprising property: it goes through all the stages of digestion incredibly quickly. That is, while digesting lunch soup (about 30 minutes) or chicken meat (up to 2 hours), alcohol quickly reaches its goal - the human circulatory system, sometimes even bypassing the liver, if you drink inSerious way. It simply is unable to pass such a large amount of alcohol through itself.

Alcohol begins to do its bad business in the circulatory system: it damages red blood cells (the tiny bodies that make up blood), which is why they stick together, forming blood clots. The blood clots, in turn, block the flow of blood in the small arteries and this leads to blockage of blood vessels in the brain. Thus, the feeling of intoxication arises, which is similar to when the brain lacks oxygen.

Red blood cells of a person who has consumed large amounts of alcohol. Almost all remained united

Therefore, if you don't drink alcohol in moderation, your brain will be constantly in this state. This will lead to the degradation of many mental and physical functions, a condition comparable to consuming a lot of alcohol at one time. A person cannot stand normally and does not account for his actions.

Scientists have already shown that alcohol damages DNA and increases the risk of cancer.

Beer in the modern world

Any store now offers a large selection of spirits. To make the right choice, you need to understand what types of foam are and how they differ from each other. Beer can be divided into 2 types: simple and strong.

Regular beer contains little alcohol, around 4 percent. It is further divided into 2 types - light and dark. The strength of a draft drink can reach 8 percent.

beer in the modern world

Strong drinks can contain up to 12% alcohol. It differs from the simple one in that it has an unusual rich taste, smell and a slightly bitter aftertaste.

This drink is considered whole. It is worth noting that about 90% of the assortment provided to customers refers specifically to the whole one. The average alcohol content in this form is about 7%.

Stages of alcoholism

Consistentalcohol consumption leads to alcoholism, which has three phases.

  1. Withthe first stagealcohol addiction, a person gradually loses control over the amount of drink drunk, which leads to the appearance of a pathological craving for alcohol.
  2. Alsecond stagea person even develops "immunity" to alcohol, or rather, it seems so. In fact, if a person in this phase consumes more than 1 liter of alcohol, the body will apparently begin to perceive alcohol more easily. In fact, this hides the development of serious diseases: hepatitis, liver cirrhosis, esophageal cancer and stomach cancer.
  3. Alcoholismof the third stageis ​​characterized by the complete degradation of the personality on the physical and mental plane. A person can no longer drink alcohol and in most cases dies.

Scientists believe that alcoholism is influenced by a hereditary predisposition caused by insufficient production of enzymes that metabolize alcohol. But in fact, the amount of alcohol consumed affects this. You simply don't need to drink if you realize that you are losing control of yourself and an unpleasant state of the body occurs.

alcoholism disease

Alcoholism is a disease and must be treated

Benefits of the drink

Strangely enough, beer also has valuable health benefits, but most of them are not related to its ingestion. It is used externally:

  1. Beer foam is used to smooth wrinkles for masks that improve the condition of the facial skin.
  2. Beer is an essential ingredient in hair masks, making them strong, voluminous and silky.
  3. If a person gets sick with acute respiratory infections and drinks some hot beer, recovery and health improvement will come faster.
  4. A reasonable dose of beer will help remove harmful heavy metals from the body, so drink the drink at an acceptable rate and your kidneys will be healthy.
  5. If you drink beer occasionally, due to the silicon content in it, the skeletal system will become stronger.

Look at your health!

ATTENTION! The information published in the article is for informational purposes only and is not instructions for use. Be sure to consult your doctor!

Why does a hangover occur?

This question is asked by many in the morning after a hectic party (usually with the words "well, I definitely won't drink anymore"). In fact, the explanation is quite simple: alcohol enters the body's bloodstream very quickly, but leaves it VERY slowly. And the human body cannot fully recover after a stormy night until the substance is completely destroyed and digested. This is howhangover occurs.

Last year in our country they tried to make beer with vitamins without a hangover. Wonder if they did it?

Surely many have askedhow to avoid a hangover, before starting to celebrate the next event with alcohol. But the answer can be summed up in one sentence: do not drink in large quantities, and then the alcohol will have time to leave the body before your head makes contact with the pillow.

How to drink alcohol?

Researchers distinguish between the so-called "northern" and "southern" drinking model. The first includes Belarus, Kazakhstan, the Baltic countries, who drink a lot of alcohol, moreover, in shock doses, and not always often. The “southern” model is typical of Spain, Italy, Greece, where they can drink even more often, but less and less alcohol: for example, a glass of dry wine at dinner. Nobody drinks 100g of vodka every day.

Scientists agree that the "southern" model is safer for health, although they continue to note that daily alcohol consumption is harmful to health. So don't be abused.

Historical data

Beer is one of the oldest drinks. According to history, it was first prepared around 8, 000 years ago. It should be noted that at that time it was women who were engaged in the production of the drink. It was mainly produced in house. Only after the beer began to gain popularity and began to be sold did men become interested in the business of brewing.

Of course, in our times, brewing is considered an exclusively male occupation, even if, as is known from history, it all started in a completely different way. Most of the drink was produced in the Middle Ages and was famous for its wonderful taste in England, the Czech Republic and Germany. It is for this reason that these countries have not lost their title and continue to produce a delicious heady drink.

This case was popular in many countries. People who knew how to brew beer were held in high regard. Various ingredients were chosen for the production, so the taste of the beer was also different.