Effects, Use and Abuse of Alcohol

The alcohol, also called ethanol, is a chemical compound that can be obtained in various ways, mainly by the fermentation of sugars derived from plants and grains. The earliest records are from the fermentation of fruit are in the year 800 BC, in Arabia, then in the Middle Ages used the alcohol derived from the fermentation of fruit to cure disease.

At the same time it began to be used as medicinal and religious purposes, diversified sources of which was obtained alcohol, to encompass a wide variety of fruits and grains and is mixed with different ingredients to create a variety of alcoholic beverages. Currently, the main use of alcohol is recreational, and together with the snuff is the legal drug that is sold around the world.


The amount of alcohol that is ingested in beverages is highly variable. It ranges from relatively low-alcohol beverages such as beer, in which for every 100 milliliters of liquid, between 4 and 7 are my alcohol-to-distillates such as tequila, mezcal or the whiskey, whose concentration alcohol is 40 'per 100 milliliters.
Alcohol has many effects on various organs and apparatuses of the human body. Due to their chemical characteristics, is absorbed rapidly in the stomach and small intestine, so soon after reached a high level of alcohol in blood, as well as other effects on the body. Although alcohol has an effect on virtually all of the bodies, devices and systems, the most important are the changes that occur in the brain and behavior in the cardiovascular system and the liver.
Alcohol has important effects on the esophagus and stomach, as it directly harms the layer of mucus that protects them, and also causes lesions in the outer layer of cells in the mucosa, which favors the occurrence of ulcers and gastritis.
In the brain, changes caused by alcohol are directly proportional to the dose that is ingested, and become completely opposite: low doses cause a state of joy that comes to the euphoria, while high doses cause drowsiness, sleep and even state of coma or death (see box). The amount of alcohol that causes the symptoms varies, as each person is processed in a different way: there are people with very little data are experiencing alcohol poisoning, while others may consume large amounts without apparent symptoms of severe alterations.
The consumption of small amounts of alcohol in several of its forms, wines, beers, liquors, has been shown to have beneficial effects on health, since it helps process fats and stimulates the digestive system and brain. However, consumption of high doses of alcohol is associated with an increased risk of many diseases, and with a greater likelihood of having an accident.
Alcohol abuse is very serious consequences, not only physical but mental and even social. One is that the body needs ever larger amounts to achieve the desired effects felt, which means that levels of alcohol are increasingly unsafe and toxic. Alcoholism is when an individual can not control himself the amount of alcohol consumed and can not help but take up almost lost consciousness. It is a public health problem because it causes serious damage to the health of individuals and affects society where they live. The intoxication with alcohol is a problem that may endanger the life of an individual; for the treatment of these cases there are drugs to counteract the effects of alcohol and thus reduce their toxicity. In such cases, it is always necessary to go to a hospital to seek professional care.
Eye with the breath
In recent months, in many cities throughout the country have introduced measures that include road loss by detecting people who are operating a vehicle driving in a state of drunkenness, with the "breath". With this simple measure has prevented many traffic accidents, mainly the dawn of the holidays. What is done is to subject the driver of the car to a simple test in which he blows into a device that measures the level of alcohol is in the air leaving their lungs, the level of alcohol in the blowing is equivalent to the level blood alcohol level, and from a certain point it is considered that such a person can not drive a car, as his reflexes and his mental state in general are not optimal and may cause an accident (see box). The breath does not measure the level of alcohol is in your mouth, so the use of pills or gums to try to fool the device is useless, since what is detected is the alcohol that comes from the lungs.
Methanol, danger in sight
It is a compound very similar to alcohol, not only in terms of molecular, but also physically: both lack the color and evaporate and dissolve in water easily. Despite their strong similarities between these two composites exist very important differences, the main one is that if the methanol comes in contact with the agency (either the skin or ingested in adulterated drinks) cause alterations in blood and irreversible damage in The retina of the eye, causing blindness. 15 enough to cause my blindness, and between 70 and 100 to cause my death if the patient does not receive timely care. Methanol is cheaper than alcohol, so it sometimes is used illegally in the production of alcoholic beverages to lower costs and increase profits. So it is very important not to take drinks that are not bottled and labeled properly.
The alcohol from the pharmacy is not for drinking
Many times we think that alcohol that is sold for clinical use (at pharmacies), also called alcohol 96, "you can drink and did not: even if it is derived from sugar cane (such as rum and some spirits), the industrial process in which it is subjected during its production is to add a highly toxic substance (the glutaraldehyde) to be able to produce large quantities quickly. This type of drinking alcohol can cause irreversible damage to the liver and kidneys.