Health Effects of Alcohol consumption Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Health Effects of Alcohol consumption - Essay Example Irrespective of what the studies that simply focus on the bad effects of alcohol, there is evidence that light drinking or consuming alcohol in very moderate quantities can actually have several health benefits. Alcohol produces both short as well as long-term health and behavioral problems, while on the other hand there has been experimental research which has highlighted the positive results that alcohol consumption might have on the health. Therefore in spite of the bad effects that consumption of alcohol might have on the drinker, there are also a few positive sides to drinking as well especially on diseases such as cancer, diabetes, and cardiovascular diseases. As soon as alcohol enters the bloodstream of the drinker it initiates certain reactions. Most of these reactions are however acute and short-lived such as slurred speech, motor impairment etc. However, it has been seen that regular intake of alcohol has several detrimental effects on the human body. Since different beverages have different alcohol percentages the risks posed by each beverage is different. Many researchers have drawn a relation between alcohol intake and risk of heart diseases. According to some studies conducted in Great Britain, regular and heavy drinkers had a higher risk of developing coronary heart ailments. In America, heart failure remains one of the major public health issues. Almost 500,000 American citizens die because of heart failure (Djousse et al, 2008). Alcohol drinking has been associated with heart failure since heavy drinking can cause cardiomyopathy.