Some people say that people who drink a lot of alcohol still have alcohol in their bodies even if you don't drink for a year. Is this right?

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". Right and wrong, please see.

Tutor: Li Youming, vice president and professor of the First Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang University School of Medicine.

Qu Yao, Director and Professor of Shanghai Liver Disease Research Center

Excessive drinking: the harm is not shallow

Although "nothing can be achieved without wine", at the same time, wine is also "intestinal poison", too much.

Drinking also does 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.

Heartbreaking, excessive drinking breeds tragedy.

According to a statistical data of 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 is harmful to health.

"If you drink too much, it is the liver that hurts the most." 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:

Drinking more alcohol in the brain has serious damage to 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.