I recently calculated my rate of alcohol intake and confirmed that I average three drinks per day, mostly beer, and it has been quite consistent at this level both in the short term (day to day) and over the long term (year after year). I rarely drink more than five or six beers, and have had perhaps three hangovers in the past decade. I have not drank to the point of vomiting in years, and have only gone that far a couple of times in my entire lifetime.
I do not appear to be ‘addicted’, as I could easily stop at any time, but so far I have not stopped because 1) I like to drink, and 2) it has not caused me any negative effects as far as I can tell. However, I have not ruled out the possibility that I could suffer ill effects at some point in the future.
If I were to continue drinking at this rate over the course of my lifetime, what effects might I suffer? Could this level of alcohol consumption be harmful to my liver??
Does alcohol actually ‘kill brain cells’, as I was taught in school? Could alcohol consumption make me effeminate??
You are at increased risk for developing both alcoholic hepatitis and subsequent cirrhosis of the liver.
It’s tough to quantify just exactly how much greater your risk is than someone who drinks less, but statistically many studies suggest you are at significantly elevated risk for getting alcoholic hepatitis, based strictly on the amount you state you drink. 15-20% of people with chronic alcoholic hepatitis go on to get cirrhosis (which is not a good thing).
That’s the most concrete side-effect I’d worry about, if otherwise your alcohol consumption is not causing life problems.
If you’re concerned, ask your doctor who may order liver function tests on you. If, while still drinking, a person’s liver function tests (particularly the ALT) are elevated, then they probably have some alcoholic hepatitis going on at that moment. The treatment for this disorder is abstinence from alcohol.
BTW, alcoholic hepatitis does not mean the person who suffers from it is an alcoholic. Merely that the alcohol has caused their hepatitis (tho most people with chronic alcoholic hepatitis are indeed alcoholics).
Sure alcohol kills brain cells. But only the weak ones!
I think I average maybe 1 1/2 a day myself, over a month, never drinking to the point that I feel it the next day. Maybe 2-3 beers every other day, or some bourbon if I haven’t had any beer that day. With my body mass I never feel more than a slight buzz with that dosage.
If the “three alcoholic beverages” in question consist of thin, watery domestic swill allegedly known as beer in this country or worse, the “light” version of thin, watery domestic swill, I really don’t think you have anything to worry about regarding cirrhosis of the liver or anything like that. Just the hazards associated with frequent urination.
All that matters is the amount of ethanol in the drink for purposes of alcoholic hepatitis and cirrhosis. Said “light” versions tend to have all the ethanol of their full-caloried counterparts.
No, not always, albeit sometimes they are even stronger! Domestic swill in general tends to be lower alcohol than european beers, not to mention food value and flavor. A single serving is generally sold by the half-liter or liter, no wimpy 12oz servings there, no sir.
I think we’re witnessing a little mission creep here, if the “consensus” holds as in the above link, that more than one 12oz thin, water rice-derived “beer” a day is “moderate” consumption.
Also, allow me to chime in that it’s hard to make any hard and fast statements about your increased risk in things like liver disease nor about the potential protective effects of mild-to-moderate alcohol consumption. You cannot ethically run experiments where you randomize your study and feed one group of your study three cans of Keystone-Light (the NIH ain’t funding no Miller High Life!) and leave the others alone.
Here’s an interesting meta-study that looked at a lot of the studies examinging the “protective cardiac effect” of mild to moderate alcohol consumption. They argue that the studies that found a beneficial effect from, “one glass of red-wine a day,” failed to control adequately for age or other risk factors of cardiovascular disease.
“The majority of prospective studies on alcohol use and mortality risk indicates that abstainers are at increased risk of mortality from both all causes and coronary heart disease (CHD). This meta-analysis of 54 published studies tested the extent to which a systematic misclassification error was committed by including as ‘abstainers’ many people who had reduced or stopped drinking, a phenomenon associated with ageing and ill health. The studies judged to be error free found no significant all-cause or cardiac protection, suggesting that the cardiac protection afforded by alcohol may have been over-estimated. Estimates of mortality from heavier drinking may also be higher than previously estimated.”
I’m not citing this article to say that you’re an alcoholic or that you’re sprinting towards a grave, just pointing out the difficulty in establishing the exact changes in risk from moderate alcohol consumption. Like Qadgop said, “It’s tough to quantify just exactly how much greater your risk is than someone who drinks less.”
Just do us a favor and don’t go out and start using IV drugs to catch hepatitis B.
I know someone who has some sort of liver problem. I don’t know all the details, but there’s been plenty of suspicion that her issues are caused by alcohol. She’s had fluid drained from her abdomen at least twice. I saw her the other day, and she looked pregnant, but she’s not. She’s been jaundiced, and she’s told us that her doctor wants to put her on a list for a liver transplant.
She claims they don’t know exactly why this has happened to her. She says her doctors say that it’s probably a combination of a fast metabolism, not eating well, maybe some antibiotics, and waaaaay down the list is “maybe alcohol.”
The nurses I know claim this is a bunch of crap, and there’s only two reasons she’d be like this: hepatitis (which the person in question has claimed is definitely NOT the reason) and alcoholism.
Is the statement that only two things cause liver disease like I’ve described true? Or is the sick person correct - can someone live a fairly normal lifestyle, drink moderately, and still be at risk of liver disease?
For what it’s worth, there’s been suspicion that she’s an alcoholic, and according to her husband she “drinks plenty” but noone knows for sure just how much she drinks. (I assume her husband does, but nobody so far has been brave enough to ask “so is she a stinking alcoholic?”)
Or Hep C. I see a lot more chronic Hep C than I see chronic Hep B, and have had 3 patients die from its complications just in the last 8 months. Of course, they kept drinking alcohol on top of their Hep C infection.
But the most common causes are alcohol and infections.
By the sound of it, the person you describe likely has cirrhosis of the liver.
The most common causes for that are infectious hepatitis (C is most likely, followed by B) and alcoholic hepatitis. Or a combo of infection and alcohol, as noted in my previous post.
Surreal, just one question. When was the last time you went for an entire day without drinking? 3 days in a row? Reasons? Were you ok? (you don’t have to answer me here, of course, answer yourself)
That’s unfortunate. How do they get the alcohol in prison? Is it moonshine? Is moonshine (which I presume has a lot more methanol than store-bought liquor) more dangerous for people with liver damage?
All 3 of these guys had been out of prison for a while, got revoked (or a got a new sentence) for alcohol violations, and were found to have advanced hepatic cancer on top of their alcoholic/hep C liver disease.
Not that toilet hooch/prison wine (scroll down a ways to volume #8) isn’t available from time to time, but most guys do their damage when they’re back on the street.
I read somewhere about daily alcohol consumption/life expectancy being on a curve. 1 to 2 drinks a day can be beneficial, whereas 4 or more is bad. I imagine 3 would just about be the “break even” point where the good effects cancel out the bad.
