Is alcohol harmful to health?

It is an indisputable fact that excessive drinking is harmful to health. However, the view that "a small amount of drinking is good for health" is increasingly recognized by many people, and many researchers at home and abroad are also trying to find various evidences to support this view. However, a recent report in Nature magazine clearly declared that "even a small amount of drinking is harmful to health". Who is right and who is wrong? Please refer to the guidance experts: Li Yao, vice president and professor of the First Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang University School of Medicine, and Qu Yao, director and professor of Shanghai Hepatology Research Center, drink too much: although "no wine can't make a meal", at the same time, alcohol is also a kind of "enterotoxin", and excessive drinking brings a lot of harm. Every year, I don't know how many people have accidents because of drinking, how many people have ruined their lives, and how much health has disappeared between bottles and cans. According to a statistic by Peking University Institute of Mental Health, the number of drinkers in China has been on the rise in recent years. At present, the drinking rates of men and women in China are 84. 1% and 29.3% respectively, of which men 16. 1% and women 2.5% drink alcohol every day. 1982, the incidence of alcohol dependence in China was only 0. 16‰, which was more than three times that of 1990, and the alcoholics were younger and the proportion of women was increasing. According to a set of data from the World Health Organization, the mortality and morbidity caused by alcohol are the sum of measles and malaria, which is also higher than that caused by smoking. In China, 1 14 100 people die of alcoholism every year, accounting for1.3% of the total mortality; 2.737 million people are disabled, accounting for 3.0% of the total disability rate. Speaking of the tragedy caused by drinking, Professor Qu Yao, director of Shanghai Hepatology Research Center, told the reporter a story: a middle-aged patient with acute icteric hepatitis just returned to normal was discharged from the hospital, which coincided with the continuous wedding banquets during the Spring Festival. At first, he could still remember the doctor's repeated instructions when he was discharged from the hospital, and he didn't touch a drop of wine, no matter who advised him. But at a special dinner table, a close friend asked him what he smelled. He finally couldn't resist the temptation of Maotai, thinking that he would be fine if he only drank a small cup and tasted something new! But the day after drinking this cup of wine, he found that his urine was yellow, weak and disgusting ... It was this cup of wine that caused his hepatitis to recur and quickly developed into acute severe hepatitis, and eventually he lost his life because of ineffective rescue. Excessive drinking has not only led to countless tragic events, but also seriously affected the image of individuals and even countries. Former Russian President Yeltsin is one of them. It is said that one day in September, 1994, Yeltsin, then Russian President, flew back to Moscow from Washington and was scheduled to have a 40-minute meeting with Irish Prime Minister Reynolds. The day before he left Washington, US President Bill Clinton hosted a banquet for him. Although there is no wine on the table, there is everything in it. Yeltsin only ate a small piece of meat, but raised his glasses frequently, and the cups bottomed out. After the wine reached the top, Yeltsin talked a lot, saying a lot of rude words and "three-level jokes." The translator racked his brains to "purify" the dirty words he said. When the plane approached the Shannon airport, Yeltsin woke up, and his wife handed him a shirt, but his buttoned hand never listened. The accompanying officials saw something bad. After some discussion, they decided to let the Deputy Prime Minister have a brief meeting with Reynolds on behalf of the President. When the Vice Premier got off the plane, Yeltsin said to the accompanying officials in tears, "What you did made me lose face in front of the whole world." . Excessive drinking harms the health. "Excessive drinking hurts the liver." Professor Qu Yao pointed out: "The core chemical of wine is alcohol (namely ethanol), and drunkenness is actually alcoholism. Because more than 90% of alcohol enters the body through the liver, its metabolites and the metabolic disorder of hepatocytes caused by them are the main causes of alcoholic liver injury. According to research, normal people drink 40 grams to 80 grams a day on average, and alcoholic liver disease can occur in 10 years, such as cirrhosis in 160 grams a day and 8 ~ 10 years on average. What a sensational figure! " Professor Li Youming, vice president of the First Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang University School of Medicine, told the reporter that he led a scientific research team to make a survey on the alcohol intake of 20,000 people in urban and rural areas of Zhejiang Province. The results show that the prevalence rate of alcoholic liver disease in this population is 4.34%, and 48% of people who drink more than 40 grams a day for more than five years will suffer from alcoholic liver disease in different degrees. Alcoholic liver disease basically occurs in drinkers who have been drinking for more than 5 years and their total alcohol intake exceeds 100 kg. Studies have shown that excessive drinking is more than twice as high as non-excessive drinking, the incidence of thyroid cancer increases by 30% ~ 150%, and the incidence of skin cancer increases by 20% ~ 70%. The risk of breast cancer in women increases by 20% ~ 60%. Among patients with esophageal cancer, 60% drink excessively, and only 2% don't drink. Patients with hepatitis B are at greater risk of liver cancer. If they drink alcohol or drink too much, the incidence of liver cancer will increase greatly. In addition, excessive drinking will also have adverse effects on other parts of the body: excessive drinking in the brain will seriously damage memory, attention, judgment, function and emotional response. Drinking too much can lead to slurred speech, blurred vision and loss of balance. Alcohol in reproductive organs will reduce the sperm quality of men; For pregnant women, even a small amount of alcohol will increase the risk of physical defects of unborn babies. People who drink a lot of alcohol in the heart will develop cardiomyopathy, which can lead to the weakening and damage of muscle tissue of the heart, while the proliferation of fibrous tissue will seriously affect the function of the heart. A large amount of alcohol in the stomach will cause discomfort symptoms of acute gastritis, and continuous intake of alcohol will lead to more serious chronic gastritis. Tite for tat: Whether a small amount of drinking is good for health or not, the harm caused by excessive drinking seems as simple as 1+ 1 = 2. However, in real life, many people and even some researchers at home and abroad insist on the view that "a small amount of drinking is good for health" and try to find various supporting evidence. However, a recent report in Nature magazine clearly declared that "even a small amount of drinking is harmful to health". Traditional view: a small amount of drinking is good for health. According to Shuo Wen Jie Zi, wine can create both good luck and evil light. Although there is no wine and no table, wine is also poison. Hu Sihui, a medical scientist in the Yuan Dynasty, summed up the advantages and disadvantages of drinking as follows: "The wine tastes sweet and pungent, while the heat is toxic. It is better to give priority to medicine, eliminate all evils, dredge blood vessels, thicken gastrointestinal tract, eliminate sorrow and drink less; Drinking too much is harmful to life, easy to change people's nature, and its poison is even worse. Excessive drinking is the source of death. " Li Shizhen, a great medical scientist in the Ming Dynasty, also said, "If you drink too much, you will die in an instant." . In recent years, some studies at home and abroad believe that a small amount of drinking is good for your health: a small amount of drinking can improve your IQ. A study by the National Life Science Association in Aichi, Japan, found that the average IQ of men who drink less than 540 ml of Japanese sake or wine every day is higher than that of men who don't drink. The IQ of female drinkers is 2.5% higher than that of teetotalers. Drinking a small amount of alcohol can reduce the risk of heart disease. Dr ian wright from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine said: Drinking a glass of wine every day can reduce the risk of heart disease in men over 40 and postmenopausal women. In addition, alcohol can also increase the protective cholesterol in the body. At the age when drinking a small amount of alcohol is good for health, men will start at 35 and women will reach 55. This latest research shows that alcohol can only help the health of elderly men and women. Coincidentally, a new scientific research achievement of Montreal Heart Research Institute in Canada shows that moderate drinking can protect the heart and avoid 20% ~ 30% of coronary heart disease attacks. They believe that alcohol can control the level of total cholesterol and increase the level of high density lipoprotein for a long time. Alcohol can reduce platelet thrombosis, and alcohol in wine, spirits or beer can reduce the mortality of coronary heart disease. Drinking a small amount of alcohol can reduce the risk of dementia. Researchers from Eiras Morse University in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, conducted a six-year follow-up survey on 5395 elderly people over 55 years old (including 55 years old) who had no signs of dementia. The results show that people who drink 65,438+0 ~ 3 glasses of wine a day have lower risk of dementia than those who don't drink. Nature view: even a small amount of drinking is harmful to health. A report in Nature magazine pointed out that even a small amount of drinking is harmful to health. The researcher listed his supporting arguments: people under 35, as long as they drink alcohol, will increase the risk of many diseases; Men aged 35-65 drink more than 5 cups a week, and women drink more than 8 cups. The risk of illness increases with the increase of alcohol consumption. At the same time, some studies have come to a conclusion similar to Nature: a small amount of drinking will increase the incidence of 60 diseases. Epidemiological evidence shows that studies carried out around the world since 1970 have proved that a small amount of drinking (65438+ 0 ~ 2 cups a day) can reduce the risk of coronary heart disease in elderly men and women by about 20% ~ 30%, but even a small amount of drinking will increase. A small amount of drinking will have a bad effect on the brain. A study published by American scientists also shows that whether it is light or moderate drinking, it will inevitably have a negative impact on these people's brains. People who drink between 1 ~ 6 glasses a week are considered as light drinkers, while moderate drinkers drink more than 7 glasses a week. According to the results of magnetic resonance imaging, light and moderate drinkers do cause brain atrophy after drinking. The study also found that this situation does not distinguish between men and women, nor between races. No matter how much asthma attack it can induce, some data show that it is harmful to asthma patients, no matter how much alcohol they drink or how high or low their alcohol level is. This is because alcohol can not only cause allergic diseases, but also induce asthma attacks. A small amount of drinking will also vary from person to person. It can be seen that a small amount of drinking may be beneficial to some diseases (such as cardiovascular diseases), but it will also increase the chances of suffering from other diseases. Experts tell us that when deciding whether to drink alcohol for health, we should weigh the pros and cons according to our own situation and avoid blind obedience. A general view is that whether a person can drink or not and how much he drinks every day should be decided by a doctor, because everyone's physical condition is different. Judging from the current research, opinions on alcohol restriction are not uniform, but some institutions and researchers have put forward some standards. On June 5438+February, 2003, the International Wine Policy Center in Washington, D.C. determined that the standard drinking amount of different countries was 8 grams per day for British people and 14 grams per day for Americans, but Japanese people could drink 19.75 grams, and confirmed that a small amount of drinking 1 2 times per day could reduce the incidence of cardiovascular diseases by 20% ~ 30%. Professor Li Youming, who has been engaged in the research of alcoholic fatty liver for a long time, has found the incidence law of alcoholic fatty liver after years of epidemiological investigation and research, and recently formulated the "safe limit" for "drinking a little". They designed a simple formula to calculate alcohol intake, that is, alcohol consumption (grams) = alcohol consumption (milliliters) × alcohol concentration (%)×0.8. For example, if you drink 100 ml of 52-degree (52%) liquor at a time, the alcohol content = 100 ml ×52 %×0.8=4 1.6 g of alcohol. Drinking more than 40 grams a day for more than five years in a row, that is, accumulating more than 73 kilograms, 48% people will suffer from alcoholic liver disease to varying degrees. Professor Li Youming pointed out that "safe dose" is relative, because different people have different sensitivities to alcohol, and individuals vary greatly. Their investigation also found that no matter liquor, wine, beer or any other alcoholic beverage, as long as the total amount is too large, it is harmful to the liver. Long-term drinking is more harmful to the liver than occasional heavy drinking. Drinking every day is more harmful than intermittent drinking, and drinking in large quantities is more risky than drinking several times a day. Take precautions: minimize the harm of alcohol. "This wine looks like water. Eating spicy food in your mouth is haunted in your stomach. You stumble when you walk, get up in the middle of the night to find water, and get up in the morning to regret it! " This is the truest portrayal of excessive drinking. However, when drinking is inevitable, how can people minimize the harm of alcohol to their health? You can't ignore the preparation before drinking. Professor Qu Yao believes that there are two aspects to the preparation before drinking: "First, choose the best drink. Huaxia wine culture has a history of more than 5 thousand years. " Wine goes through three cycles and vegetables go through five flavors "is about the consistency of wine culture and food culture." It is an indisputable fact that bitter wine (drinking without food) hurts the liver and stomach. Besides, liquor can also be divided into distillation and brewing. The former, such as liquor, not only contains no nutrients, but also has obvious liver damage; The latter, such as red grapes, yellow wine and beer, all contain sugars, amino acids and vitamins, which can provide 8 kinds of amino acids necessary for human body, so they have certain nutritional value. According to the reports of animal experiments in recent years, red wine is the first choice, followed by yellow wine. Liquor is the most harmful alcohol to the liver. "The second is to get something to eat before drinking. Eat biscuits, cakes and rice before drinking to reduce the damage of alcohol to gastrointestinal tract and liver and reduce the occurrence of fatty liver. Judging from the metabolic law of alcohol, the best side dishes are foods with high protein and vitamins. Such as fresh vegetables, fresh fish, lean meat, beans, eggs and so on. Attention, it is forbidden to drink with salted fish, sausages and bacon, because this kind of smoked food contains a lot of pigments and nitrosamines, which react with alcohol, not only damaging the liver, but also damaging the oral and esophageal mucosa, and even inducing cancer. "In addition, in China's ancient books, there are also some so-called prescriptions for' drinking without getting drunk'. For example, an anonymous person in the Qing Dynasty wrote in Tiaoding Collection: "Those who want to drink alcohol but are not drunk, take a little borax powder and drink Getang and Gewan, which will have a late effect." Qian Jinfang: "On Qixi Day, you can pick Acorus gramineus, but if you don't take it at the end, you won't get drunk. "How to deal with drunkenness after drunkenness is common. How to sober up and let drunkards recover as soon as possible? Usually, the first thing people think of is to use various methods to sober up, and various methods to sober up have emerged. Of course, it is also important to take care of drunken people. Recommend folk hangover remedies. From ancient times to the present, people have summed up many effective anti-alcoholism remedies, which are introduced as follows: "Sugarcane juice for alcoholism" in Happy Annals. Zhao Xizhen in Song Dynasty: "Those who are drunk and not awake need to burn the skin slices with mung bean powder, pry open the tendons and send them to the subcutaneous throat with cold water, which is safe. Shi Xiong, the king of the Qing Dynasty, said, "When you are drunk, you can eat it in Ge Fen. You can drink sugar tea or sesame oil when you are drunk. Stir-fry glutinous rice and make tea. "2 prescriptions of water chestnut for relieving hangover" Compendium of Materia Medica: "(Water chestnut) relieves summer typhoid fever, quenches thirst and relieves hangover". Based on this, the posterity prescribed the simple prescription of water chestnut for hangover: ① 250g water chestnut, 60g sugar after mashing with shell, and taking it once after decocting in water, which can cure excessive drinking. (2) 50 grams of water chestnut powder, a small amount of sugar, boiled into a paste with water, has the effect of clearing alcohol toxicity, and is suitable for drinking after drinking. 5 cups (20 ~ 25 ml) of vinegar 1, drink slowly. Dip shredded radish in vinegar and add sugar (1 large bowl). Soak cabbage heart in vinegar and sugar (1 big bowl). 2 preserved eggs soaked in vinegar. 50 grams of vinegar, 25 grams of brown sugar, 3 slices of ginger, decocted in water. Three-bean hangover prescription: 50g mung bean, 50g red bean, 50g black bean, 50g licorice 15g, boiled in water, taken together with bean soup, can refresh and hangover. In addition, Professor Qu Yao specially introduced a kind of liver-protecting health care product-Hai Purui Bao, which was produced by American Marin Pharmaceutical Factory and has just been approved to enter the China market. Because it is a comprehensive formula of protein factor B and other factors, it has a certain effect on maintaining normal liver function as a dietary supplement. Four measures to deal with drunkards: First, keep the drunkards warm and turn your head to one side. If you vomit, clear the vomit in your mouth in time. Be careful that vomit is inhaled into trachea and causes lung infection. Second, when you are obviously drunk and can't cooperate with taking hangover food, you can try to make the drunken person feel sick and vomit (touch the patient's throat with your fingers, cotton swabs, chicken feathers, etc. ), spit out the contents of the stomach, and if necessary, you can also wash your stomach with warm water or 2% sodium bicarbonate solution. But be careful not to use strong tea and coffee to sober up, because tea and coffee can not only help sober up, but will aggravate the symptoms of drunkenness. Third, for people who walk unsteadily, they should prevent falling and avoid falling and being injured. Fourth, for those who are seriously drunk, people around them should call 120 in time, or send them to the hospital for emergency treatment immediately. Don't waste time. It must be noted that sedatives or anesthetics are not allowed to be used regardless of mild or severe drunkenness, so as to avoid adverse consequences. There are different reasons for how much to drink. Chen Mou, 59 years old, male, is a teacher. I don't drink. It's not that I don't want to drink, but that I can't drink. After drinking for half a second, my face turned red and my heart beat. What Wuliangye, Maotai, in my mouth, are bitter, spicy, numb and miserable. My attitude towards drinking is neither against nor advocating, let nature take its course. I usually have dinner with my friends. Out of courtesy, I also raised my glass, but when it comes, it will stop. My friends also know that I can't drink well, so I'm not forced. My son is a doctor. I asked him why some people don't get drunk after drinking a catty or two, and some people become red after drinking a little. He said that there are two kinds of enzymes in human liver, one is called alcohol dehydrogenase and the other is called catalase. If the content of these two enzymes in the liver is high, wine can be quickly oxidized into carbon dioxide and water and excreted, so it is not easy to get drunk; On the contrary, if the content of these two enzymes is low, alcohol is difficult to be oxidized, and alcohol stays in the liver for a long time, so it is easy to get drunk. I think everyone's situation is different. Whether to drink or not, we should proceed from our own reality, drink if we can, and drink less or not if we can't. Don't go to extremes. Of course, there is a limit to everything. If you can get drunk, don't get drunk, because once you get drunk, it will hurt your health, be rude and be inappropriate for others. Mou Wei, male, 50 years old, manager of a company. That's a good question I drink it every day, and I drink about 2 ounces every day at home. If it is a wine bureau, I usually drink more than half a catty, which has been 10 years. Occasionally, I drank a few times, and my head was very uncomfortable. I felt much better after that, and I didn't see anything wrong with my body. My wife is worried about my health and often advises me to give up drinking, but she can't convince me. Whether drinking is good for health varies from person to person. Newspapers often read that the secret of longevity is to drink alcohol at every meal. What you said about drinking a small amount of alcohol is also harmful to health. I haven't heard of it. I don't find it very convincing. However, I really hope you can understand this. Su Mou, male, 48 years old, a senior engineer used to drink, about eight years ago. There is no way. When the scientific research unit is restructured, he has to find a project in the society. In order to survive, he only has entertainment. " I would rather hurt my body than my feelings. "Maybe my detoxification function is very poor. If I drink more (about half a catty), I will feel very uncomfortable. My mind is clear, but my stomach is uncomfortable. I drank a few times and threw up badly. Later, I got stomach trouble and fatty liver, and the doctor said I couldn't drink any more. Maybe stomach trouble liberated me, and now there is an excuse on the wine table. Whenever a wine party is held, I must first declare that I won't drink today, so that I can drink more in the future, so that everyone will forgive me. Since my illness, I have often read some health magazines, including Family Medicine, and I have also seen that a small amount of drinking is good for my health. I dare not drink white wine occasionally. Nature magazine may have a point. It's best not to drink.