- Drinking alcohol affects everyone a little differently.
- Muscle, water, genes, tobacco use and other factors change an individual’s risk equation.
- Here’s how alcohol affects a person’s body, from the first sip to the potential long-term consequences.
This dry January, the US surgeon general is warning that cancer risks rival smoking and obesity. A lot of this has to do with how our bodies process alcohol, breaking it down into potentially cancer-causing substances along the way.
Everyone is a little different when it comes to how the body manages alcohol, so it’s not exactly scientific to say “there is no safe level of alcohol.”
Our body size, sex, muscle-to-fat ratio, how much water is in our system to dilute a drink, and certain genetic mutations all play major roles. So does the alcohol content in what we drink. A glass of vodka is more toxic to the body than a sip of beer, for example.
Given all this, developing hard and fast rules about how much alcohol is too much and whether a little alcohol is definitely harmful is tricky.
What alcohol does to your body in the first hour of drinking
How long does it take for the alcohol to kick in? This depends on several factors, including whether a person has eaten recently, how well hydrated they are, and their level of muscle mass. Max Mumby/Indigo/Getty Images
Alcohol is a small molecule that washes away almost every cell in the body when we drink.
The basic pathway of alcohol in the body is from a person’s mouth, through the esophagus, to the stomach, intestines, and liver, where about 80-90% of the alcohol people consume is processed.
However, the liver can only process a little alcohol at a time. How long will depend on how much you drink and your size, plus other factors, including how much water you hold (muscle is thinner than fat).
As a general rule, most people will clear a drink (like a quickly consumed glass) in two hours or less. But if a person is drinking heavily, downing four or five drinks in a few hours, it will take about six to seven hours for the football-sized liver to metabolize that alcohol.
During this time, a lot of alcohol in the “queue” is pouring into our bloodstream, running around the body and penetrating the brain, asking for time until the liver is ready for it. This is how people get drunk.
“Once your blood alcohol level reaches a certain level, it becomes a ubiquitous substance in every part of your body,” Dr. Stephen Holt, who directs the addiction recovery clinic at Yale School of Medicine. “It basically goes to every organ in your body. It goes to your heart, your kidneys, your liver, of course, your brain, it goes to your bones.”
About 15-30 minutes after a drink, the alcohol that enters the brain begins to change the way we feel.
Inside the brain, alcohol binds to several different receptors, calming the sympathetic nervous system, reducing stress, fear and anxiety – helping to stop life’s worries. It also increases feelings of euphoria, caused by a release of dopamine, which can motivate people to reach for another drink. And finally, there is a release of beta-endorphins, our natural pain relievers, for both physical and emotional problems.
The next day
After processing alcohol, the brain overcorrects, causing illness and increased anxiety. nicoletaionescu/Getty Images
The first chemical produced when our liver breaks down alcohol is acetaldehyde, a known cancer cause.
Acetaldehyde plays a big role in hangovers: it causes nausea, which works in conjunction with the anxiety, restlessness, and restlessness people feel as their brain overcorrects for the chemical imbalances of the last drunken night.
Some people are very efficient at converting acetaldehyde into a vinegar-like substance (acetate) that we can get rid of. Other people, including many people of Chinese, Korean, and Japanese descent, have genetic factors that slow down the processing speed of acetaldehyde, causing their face to flush.
Scientists are more concerned about acetaldehyde’s long-term effects on the body: the potential for DNA damage, chronic inflammation, liver scarring, heart disease.
People with the ALDH2 gene mutation (about 8% of us) are at greater risk of developing problems like cancer from drinking, due to the toxicity of acetaldehyde. But they’re also less likely to become addicted to alcohol because they feel so awful after having a drink.
Over time, there is evidence that regular drinking can lead to changes in:
Alcohol affects every corner of the body – but certain areas are more prone to long-term damage than others. iStock; Chelsea Jia Feng/BI
Head and neck:
As alcohol begins its journey in a person’s throat, it can damage the DNA in the cells of the mouth.
People who smoke are able to absorb more of the carcinogenic chemicals in tobacco if they smoke at the same time, as the tissues become more permeable.
“A carcinogen will affect people individually in different ways,” said American Cancer Society chief scientific officer Dr. William Dahut during a recent press conference. “It’s clear that there are patients at higher risk for cancer, whether it’s because of inherited genetic mutations, whether it’s previous radiation, tobacco use.”
Heart:
Controversially, there is some evidence that moderate alcohol consumption may be good for the heart, improving HDL cholesterol and acting as a blood thinner. Federal data suggests that while approximately 178,000 Americans are killed by alcohol each year, there are an estimated 16,000 more people across the U.S. whose lives are saved by drinking by avoiding the deadliest heart disease, high blood pressure and stroke. brain.
The dose here can make the poison: heavy drinking can increase a person’s risk of developing irregular heartbeat problems like atrial fibrillation (AFib) and raise blood pressure, increasing the chances of a heart attack.
Breasts:
Breast cancer accounts for the majority (60%) of alcohol-related cancer deaths in women.
The risk becomes stronger as a woman goes through menopause, and also increases the more she drinks. This is because drinking alcohol increases the production of estrogen in the body, increasing the chances that cancer cells will grow.
The risk of developing breast cancer for a woman who drinks once a week is ~11%. But that goes up to 13% for women who drink one drink a day and 15% for women who drink two.
Colon:
Gut irritation is perhaps the most important part of the disease risk associated with alcohol consumption.
“It irritates the gastrointestinal lining,” Aaron White, senior science advisor at the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, told BI. “This causes widespread inflammation.”
Acetaldehyde and oxidative stress from drinking also promote DNA damage and cell proliferation, which can lead to cancer.
Alcohol can also interfere with gut microbiome, increasing intestinal permeability and suppressing the immune system.
Additionally, drinking alcohol can affect a person’s nutrition, preventing the body from absorbing folic acid, which is critical for all of our cells. It can also block the absorption of important nutrients such as B12 and zinc.
Liver:
Regular and heavy drinking can lead to cirrhosis, irreversible scarring and hardening of the liver.
Brain:
People often say that drinking can shrink your brain, and this is somewhat true.
“By bathing all your neurons in a somewhat toxic substance, you’re losing some neurons,” Holt said. This, over time, can lead to early dementia.
The good news is that there is pretty strong evidence that even lifelong heavy drinkers, once they stop drinking, see much of their brain recover in just six months, after an initial period of withdrawal.
“At any age, if you stop drinking, a lot of that damage seems to be reversible,” White said. “You are not condemned.”
