Alcohol
Dependency
Alcohol is a potent nonprescription drug sold to anyone over the
national legal drinking age. This drug is a tranquilizer and a member of the
family of sedative-hypnotic drugs.
Temperate and occasional users of alcohol who are in normal health do
not appear to suffer negative effects from use of alcohol.
Consumed in substantial amounts, alcohol's toxicity may be because it
acts as a foreign substance in the body's metabolism. The short-term expression
of this toxicity is felt as a hangover. The long-term toxicity may develop into
alcoholism and alcohol-related diseases such as cirrhosis.
Unlike carbohydrates, fats, and proteins, which can be manufactured
by the body, alcohol is an introduced substance that is not synthesized within
the body. It is a food because it supplies a concentrated number of calories,
but it is not nourishing and does not supply a significant amount of needed
nutrients, vitamins, or minerals—these are empty calories.
Most foods are prepared for digestion by the stomach so that their
nutrients can be absorbed by the large intestine, but 95 percent of alcohol is
absorbed directly through the stomach wall or the walls of the duodenum and the
small intestine.
The drinker's physical and emotional state (fatigue, stress) and
individual body chemistry unpredictably affect absorption.
Alcohol moves from the bloodstream into every part of the body that
contains water, including major organs like the brain, lungs, kidneys, and
heart, and distributes itself equally both inside and outside of cells. Only 5
percent of alcohol is reduced from the body through the breath, urine, or
sweat; a larger portion is oxidized or broken down in the liver.
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