How much alcohol until someone starts injuring themselves (permanently)?

[Wesley Clark]

I drink about 12oz of ethanol a week in the form of 25oz whiskey and about 4 beers a week. I usually drink about 4oz ethanol (maybe 8oz whiskey and a couple beers) in one sitting and i do that usually 2-3 times a week.

At this level of alcohol intake am i doing any real damage to my body? Any irreversible damage?

i've never had a hangover, even when i drank close to 16oz whiskey in one setting. i dont know if thats good or bad (id assume good) but figured id throw that out. I dont know if that means my liver is more effective at destroying ethanol or not but i am 'guessing' that that could be a cause.

[talking head]

I'm not an authority on the subject Wesley, but I think that building up a tolerance to alcohol is a bad thing just like any other poison you introduce into your system. Your body is used to being abused-what age range are you in? I read a study at work that says that 500 ml per day over a 20 year period can cause permanent liver damage, The fact that you are only drinking 2-3 times per week probably doesn't make a difference. You're just bombarding your liver all at once. If I were you, I would ditch the whiskey and perhaps the beer as well, depending on how long you have been at it.

[Xema]

Originally Posted by Wesley Clark

i've never had a hangover, even when i drank close to 16oz whiskey in one setting. i dont know if thats good or bad (id assume good)

I'm not sure that's a valid assumption. I've known at least two serious drinkers whose ability to put it away with few noticable outward effects was striking (one guy could drink a quart of whiskey in an afternoon -- an amount that I'm pretty sure would kill me -- with only a modest effect on his behavior). But both these guys developed major liver problems, and died in their forties.

[MadScientistMatt]

It's not the ethanol that causes hangovers from what I hear, but other byproducts of fermentation. Not being a big drinker, I'm not sure which types of booze are more likely to give hangovers, but the hangovers are not quite the same thing as the effects of alchohol itself.

[talking head]

It's my understanding that it's not the type of alcohol you consume, but the quantity of ETOH. It starves the brain of oxygen which creates your hangover and kills brain cells, also. Correct me if I'm wrong.

[Ilsa_Lund]

Originally Posted by talking head

It's my understanding that it's not the type of alcohol you consume, but the quantity of ETOH. It starves the brain of oxygen which creates your hangover and kills brain cells, also. Correct me if I'm wrong.

I am almost certain that ethanol is not neurotoxic.

Wesley, unless you weigh five hundred punds and are eleven feet tall, I'd cut back.

[Ilsa_Lund]

Originally Posted by Ilsa_Lund

I am almost certain that ethanol is not neurotoxic.

Wesley, unless you weigh five hundred punds and are eleven feet tall, I'd cut back.

Ilsa_Lund, you are an idiot. Of course ethanol is neurotoxic, you big dodo.

Don't listen to Ilsa_Lund, listen to me.

[Wesley Clark]

Originally Posted by Ilsa_Lund

Wesley, unless you weigh five hundred punds and are eleven feet tall, I'd cut back.

im halfway there Ilsa.

[KarlGauss]

First, recognize that there is NO difference among beer, wine, or spirits, in their (potentially) dangerous effects.

One beer (10 oz @ 4% alcohol) = 0.4 oz pure alcohol
One wine (4 oz @ 10% alcohol) = 0.4 oz pure alcohol
One "shot" or mixed drink (1 oz @40% alcohol) = 0.4 oz pure alcohol

All of the above are equal to one unit of alcohol Usually we deal in grams and say that 1 unit = 0.4 oz = 10 gm alcohol

For men, having more than 50 units per week can lead to cirrhosis and other nasty complications.

For women, the figure is lower, about 35.

NOTE: The 10 gm figure is for SMALL drinks. Most "drinkers", heavy or casual, take more alcohol per drink (eg. a 6 oz glass of wine, a 1 1/2 oz shot of Scotch, e\tc). For such imbibing, the figures above are reached after 33 and 23 drinks for men and women, respectively. In other words 4 to 5 drinks of any sort per day for men, and 3 drinks per day for women!

Women are generally smaller than men, have proportionately less body water (into which the alcohol dissolves), and have less of the enzyme needed to breakdown alcohol.

[Wesley Clark]

Originally Posted by KarlGauss

First, recognize that there is NO difference among beer, wine, or spirits, in their (potentially) dangerous effects.

One beer (10 oz @ 4% alcohol) = 0.4 oz pure alcohol
One wine (4 oz @ 10% alcohol) = 0.4 oz pure alcohol
One "shot" or mixed drink (1 oz @40% alcohol) = 0.4 oz pure alcohol

All of the above are equal to one unit of alcohol Usually we deal in grams and say that 1 unit = 0.4 oz = 10 gm alcohol

For men, having more than 50 units per week can lead to cirrhosis and other nasty complications.

For women, the figure is lower, about 35.

NOTE: The 10 gm figure is for SMALL drinks. Most "drinkers", heavy or casual, take more alcohol per drink (eg. a 6 oz glass of wine, a 1 1/2 oz shot of Scotch, e\tc). For such imbibing, the figures above are reached after 33 and 23 drinks for men and women, respectively. In other words 4 to 5 drinks of any sort per day for men, and 3 drinks per day for women!

Women are generally smaller than men, have proportionately less body water (into which the alcohol dissolves), and have less of the enzyme needed to breakdown alcohol.

That means i drink about 30 units a week. However i drink them in 3 sittings, and each sitting is barely 1-2 hours long so im sure that makes it alot more destructive than just drinking 1 beer an hour. I know for a fact that this is how much i drink because i try to drink enough to get to a certain level of drunkenness, so i measure out how much i will drink beforehand.

Also, i have alot more lean body mass than most people. mine is about 194 lbs, most men my height have about 150 lbs most women about 100 so im assuming that the figure number may be even higher for me in regards to cirrhosis development.

im more worried about cardiovascular damage, vitamin/mineral depletion, addiction and brain damage though, and wondering if my binge drinking (if 8 drinks counts as binge drinking) is very harmful. That 50 unit a week rule sounds reasonable but what if you drink 30 units over 4 hours (in 3 different sittings, usually 48 hours or more apart) out of the 168 hours a week.

[gbrohman]

Anyone that drinks any ETOH and doesn't suffer for it is;(hangover)<>

Gifted?____________________________________________________

Birth Defect?_______________________________________________


I can get sick (violently sick) from one glass of beer. Miller Light is the worst, I love a good beer, and only drink dark ales. I will get a headache from even one, and yes a worse one from more. Also the first couple taste great, but the more i drink the worse they taste.
I drive friends home, as i switch to soda.
Now friends say the opposite, the more they drink the better they taste. I wonder who is better off?

[Wesley Clark]

ill take gifted rather than deformed. the closest i ever came to a hangover was a mild headache the day after a 750ml bottle of red wine and 8oz whiskey in a couple hours. I think it was the red wine though as i've had that much ETOH before and didn't get a hangover. It could be the fact that i try to remain hydrated throughout the whole experience.

The vast majority of alcoholic drinks taste like acid and urine, but when you are drunk enough you stop being able to taste them, at least in my case.