The Dangerous Path of the Alcohol

Drinking alcohol, in excess, can cause severe damage in our internal organs. However, if we learn how our body metabolizes alcohol, we can prevent illness caused by alcohol abuse. The alcohol in beverages that we drink, contain ethyl alcohol which is made of a fermentation process of several products such as corn, potato mashes, fruit juices, beet, and sugar cane. Today, mass production of alcoholic beverage is through hydration process. Alcohol is easily mixable with water, and since plasma and serum have the same water content (92%), alcohol freely travels through our body altering and harming the gastrointestinal system, the cardiovascular system, the nervous system, and the reproduction system.



    The alcohol metabolism in our body starts in the gastrointestinal system, which is compound of the esophagus, stomach, liver, and intestines.   We normally consume alcohol orally where it flows down into the esophagus and then goes to the stomach where it retains 20% of the alcohol. In the stomach, alcohol absorption depends on several factors such as amount of alcohol, type of alcohol, gender and age of the person, and the gastric emptying, which is an empty stomach. As a mater of fact, the type of food that we eat such as fat, carbohydrate, or protein is not a factor in the delaying alcohol absorption. For example, it does not mater if it is a healthy or grease food, but we need to eat something while we are drinking. Another interesting factor for delaying alcohol absorption in the stomach is physical activity. Abuse of alcohol can cause gastritis and chronic esophageal inflammation which can lead to esophageal cancer.



The next step of alcohol in our gastrointestinal system is the liver. The liver is the biggest organ in our body and the most vulnerable to alcohol. The functions of the liver in our body are to help the stomach to digest food and to filter waste and poison in our system. Alcohol disturbs the liver functions by...