Good reasons to drink alcohol.
Alcohol is generally perceived as a dangerous beverage for human consumption. It is a risk factor, for example, for a host of human diseases including cirrhosis of the liver, hepatitis, and cancer. Drink driving in which a driver consumes alcohol excessively is also associated with road accidents and heavy fatalities. Although it is often associated with this cost to consumers, alcohol can provide a number of health benefits to consumers.
Alcohol has the potential to decrease mortality rate, which is a measure of the number of deaths (in general, or due to a specific cause) in a population. A major cause of early mortality is heart
diseases such as stroke and artherosclerosis associated with build up of fatty substances (bad
cholesterol) on the arteries walls and thickening of these walls. Consuming alcohol in moderation has been
found to decrease mortality rate by inhibiting or preventing the build up of bad
cholesterol which is responsible for build up of plaques on the artery walls
and enhancing the production of good cholesterol needed by the body. In the United Kingdom moderate drinking of
alcohol can be interpreted using the recommended safe limits for alcohol
consumption.
The recommended safe limits for alcohol consumptions in the United
Kingdom is between 3 – 4 units of alcohol per
day for men, and between 2 - 3 units of alcohol per day for women. In addition, the Royal College of Physicians
(RCP) advises that men should drink not more than 21 units of alcohol per week
and women should drink not more than 14 units per week. In other words, adults should have 2 – 3 days per week
free of alcohol consumption. In
the United Kingdom, a unit of alcohol is defined as 10 millilitres of the
substance. The number of units in any
given alcohol is obtained by multiplying the volume of drink (usually in millilitres)
by the percentage of Alcohol by Volume (ABV).
This means that 285 ml of beer at 7 % ABV is:
285 x 7 = 2 units
1000
Adhering to this recommended level of alcohol consumption can be beneficial to the body. it can help for example in preventing diabetes. Diabetes is usually triggered by high levels
of insulin in the blood which cannot be absorbed by the body. Consuming alcohol in moderation helps in metabolism
of sugar in the body and reduces the build up of insulin responsible for
diabetes.
It must be stated that this article is not trying to use
these benefits to advocate for alcohol consumption in one way or another. Instead it is highlighting the good things about
alcohol which are often neglected by the general public. As you have seen above, alcohol is only
beneficial to consumers if it is consumed in moderation. Excessive consumption of alcohol is harmful to health and causes early mortality. People who are not alcohol consumers should
not use because of the aforementioned benefits to begin to consume the
beverage. Lastly, alcohol consumption is
not recommended for certain categories of people including those with high
blood pressure and former alcohol addicts.
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