HOW ALCOHOL AFFECTS THE ORGANS OF YOUR BODY

From your brain, to your reproductive organs, alcohol

has a huge impact on almost every aspect of your system.

Here is a brief rundown of the impact of booze on your

body. (Information from Alcohol Change UK;

alcoholchange.org.uk)

1 BRAIN

The immediate effects of drinking on your brain can include slurred speech, slow reactions, impaired memory and blackouts. Over the longer term, heavy drinking can cause a number of different types of brain damage. Overuse of alcohol can also worsen the symptoms of many mental health problems. In particular, it can lead to low mood and anxiety

2 MOUTH AND THROAT

If you regularly drink more

than 14 units a week you are increasing your risk of

developing cancer of the mouth, larynx (voice box), pharynx (upper throat) and oesophagus (gullet or food pipe). This risk increases

further if you smoke

3 HEART

There is increasing evidence that low-to-moderate alcohol consumption is associated with a lower risk of cardiovascular disease

and some other heart conditions. However, this risk starts to rise when you are consuming more than 14

units per week. Heavy drinking is also associated

with both hypertension (high blood pressure) and increased risk of stroke

4 BREASTS

More than 50 studies have confirmed that alcohol is a particular risk factor for breast cancer. Alcohol seems to increase production of the female hormone oestrogen,

and excess oestrogen can make breast cells cancerous

5 STOMACH

Drinking too much alcohol can cause gastritis (inflammation of the stomach lining) and also stomach ulcers.

It can lead to uncomfortable reflux – where digestive contents are forced up into your

oesophagus (food pipe). Heavy drinking can also increase your risk of stomach and bowel cancer

6 LIVER

Most alcohol that goes into your body is processed by

your liver, and if it has to break down too much alcohol the health of your liver will suffer. In the long term, drinking too much alcohol

can lead to a fatty liver, hepatitis (inflammation of the liver), cirrhosis (scarring of the liver) and also liver cancer

7 REPRODUCTIVE SYSTEM

Men may suffer temporary impotence after a bout of heavy drinking. Over the

long term, dependent drinking – when the individual is unable to stop or significantly reduce drinking without withdrawal symptoms – can cause the sexual organs to shrink in

both men and women

small intestine passes into your bloodstream and from there it can have an impact on the brain.

“Alcohol is basically an anaesthetic agent,” says Prof Gilmore. “It suppresses brain activity. But the first bits of the brain that it works on are the elements that relate to common sense and keeping calm. It’s why when you’re in a room where people are drinking, the volume increases as they drink.

“The inhibitory centres of the brain are anaesthetised first, so you become less inhibited. If you drink more and more, your cerebral cortex is anaesthetised – and that’s why you may lose memory. If you drink enough, it can affect your brain stem and the centres that keep you breathing.”

While all this is going on, your liver – the next stop after the small intestine – is trying to process the alcohol using enzymes to change it from ethanol into acetaldehyde and subsequently into acetic acid, then into carbon dioxide and water.

The alcohol in your bloodstream is also having an impact on your heart, as London-based GP Dr Zoe Watson explains. “Alcohol increases your heart rate and expands your blood vessels, making more blood flow to the skin, causing you to feel warm and look flushed,” she says.

How much is too much?

So is it the case that alcohol in moderation is fine and if you are sticking to the government guidelines of no more than 14 units a week, you’re in the clear?

“The guidelines are a risk calculation based on the best data that we have,” says Prof Gilmore. “Roughly speaking, your chances of dying from an alcohol-related condition are one in 100 or less if you don’t drink more than 14 units a week, although that doesn’t mean that there’s no risk at all if you drink less than that.”

In fact a new study published just this week in the journal Clinical Nutrition says that even those sticking to the guidelines ran an increased risk of cardiovascular problems.

There have been suggestions that not drinking at all could be worse than drinking a small amount, although researchers are not sure why this is the case. The evidence is not good enough to suggest that teetotallers start drinking to protect their health and this latest study actually says that this is “the biggest myth since we were told smoking was good for us.”

And forget the suggestion that red wine and microbrewery beers packed with antioxidants can be considered health foods. “While they’re probably better for you than other alcoholic drinks, I’m not sure that you could really argue that they’re better for you than leafy greens or tomatoes,” says Dr Parker.

While we are on the subject of how ingredients other than alcohol can affect the body, it is worth bearing a few things in mind.

“The scientific evidence that certain drinks cause worse hangovers is a bit spurious,” says Dr Parker. “Your hangover is mainly down to dehydration, withdrawal symptoms from alcocharity Drinkaware last June – after the lockdowns had eased – found that around one in six people planned to reduce their drinking. However, when these people were asked in December how they had got on, less than half – 46 per cent – had managed to cut down consistently. Those hol and the unbalancing effect that the alcohol has had on your brain chemicals. But it’s also possible that what you may be feeling are the after-effects of your body processing the other ingredients.”

If, for example, you have been consuming drinks that contain a lot of sugar – whether in the mixers, or the drinks themselves – you could be expe- riencing a sugar comedown. Similarly, drinking gallons of anything carbonated will have an impact on your gut as it can cause bloating and increase acidity. It would be very rare for us to drink six or seven pints of any liquid, so you might also feel the after effects of the body working to process that.

There is a small amount of evidence that histamines (compounds that can induce an allergic reaction) which occur naturally in wine, but in larger quantities in red wine, can affect how some people react to reds. While sulphur compounds added to wines to stabilise them, although usually in larger quantities in white wine, might be responsible for severe reactions to whites. However, this type of sulphite sensitivity is only estimated to affect about one in 50 people, so if you are not also having the same reaction to dried fruit and balsamic vinegar, chances are you have just drunk too much.

And that is where the problems start, because there is good evidence that “saving” your 14 units for a single night out is much more damaging than spreading them through the week.

“Binge drinking is classified as drinking more than seven units in one go,” says Dr Parker. “That can be three quarters of a bottle of wine, or three cans of lager. Drinking in this way can cause irreparable damage to the liver. The liver metabolises alcohol, but that process causes chronic inflammation and that can prevent the liver from regenerating – this is kno wn as cirrhosis.”

Drinking like this can also cause inflammation in the brain, as well as increased risk of heart-related issues, including high blood pressure, stroke, cardiomyopathy (any heart disease in which it loses its ability to pump blood effectively) and atrial fibrillation (abnormally fast heart rate). And then, of course, there is the fact that alcohol is incredibly calorie dense, so you may well find that drinking to excess results in weight gain and all the health risks associated with that.

Nobody is saying that you should never let a drop of alcohol pass your lips again. It is more that, if Dry January has given you space to reconsider how you drink and you are looking for the best way to enjoy a drink while minimising the negative impact alcohol can have on your body, it is – boringly – all about balance: not exceeding 14 units a week, spreading your units out over the week, and trying to have a few days where you don’t drink at all.

How lockdown changed our drinking habits

Stuck at home during lockdown, we needed something to mark the passage from day to night and “locktail” hour did exactly that. Whether your chosen drink was an Old Fashioned, a glass of merlot, a beer, or a classic G&T, it was all too easy – with no commute to get up for the following day – to let that one drinking daily and you now have three days a week where you’re not drinking, the chances are that you will drink less,” says Professor Ian Gilmore.

Dr Zoe Watson is a fan of opting for good-quality alcohol-free and low-alcohol alternatives that don’t feel like second best. “The website lamaisonwellness. com is brilliant,” she says. “It’s all about mindful consumption of alcohol, with lots of ideas that teach you how to remove, replace and reduce alcohol in drinks.”

For Dr Matt Parker, a drinking diary is a really good way of keeping tabs on your consumption. “A lot of people don’t think about it,” he says. “But if you go for a quick drink in the pub after work, and then come home and have a few glasses of wine over dinner, you can easily hit eight units in a day without noticing. There are various apps that help you keep track, or you can just scribble it down, but it does make you think about how much you’re drinking.”

He also suggests trying to switch your end-of-day drink habit for something healthier. “We know stress is a big trigger for drinking and while there’s this preconception that a glass of wine will help you unwind, at low levels, alcohol is actually a stimulant, putting you into fight or flight mode,” he says. “You actually need to drink quite a lot to get the sedative effect. However, because alcohol activates the brain’s reward system, it makes you feel that something good is happening.”

In short, you think you are feeling more relaxed, but actually you’re not. Instead Dr Parker suggests something that really is scientifically proven to relax you and reduce stress. “Go for a brisk, half-hour walk at the end of your day,” he recommends. “Not only can it mark the shift from your work day to your evening, but it will boost endorphins, help with mental health and promote good sleep.” sundowner drift into two, three, or more. And it seems that that’s been a hard habit for many of us to kick.

Earlier this month, Professor Julia Sinclair, chairwoman of the addictions faculty at the Royal College of Psychiatrists, warned that these changes in drinking habits could mean millions of people are at risk of what she called “silent harm” from dangerous levels of alcohol consumption. Figures from February 2020 suggest that around 12.4 per cent of the population were drinking at a level that indicated increasing or higher risk. By October 2021, the number of people drinking at that level had increased to around 18 per cent.

And experts don’t anticipate that changing any time soon. “The best-case scenario would be that suddenly everyone goes back to drinking as they were doing at 2019 – but we’ve discounted that because people aren’t going to do that,” says Prof Sinclair. “Our most realistic scenario is that the higher-risk drinkers go back over the next probably five years to where they were.”

Dr Parker says we are now at a point where we can clearly see the impact that lockdown and the pandemic has had on drinking habits – and how that has translated into health issues. “We predicted there would be an increase in harmful drinking in the first lockdown,” he says. “But actually, we found that most people were drinking the same or less. We put that down to the fact that the majority of harmful drinking tends to be in social situations, but when pubs and clubs are closed, that reduced.”

However, they did find that an estimated one in five people were drinking more, and generally those people would be categorised as those who had characteristics that put them more at risk of this. “In common parlance, you might call it an addictive personality,” says Dr Parker. “But we might also talk about someone who has impulse control or decision-making issues.

“People with these types of problems are often more likely to be sensitive to the stress of the pandemic, whether that’s the existential threat of living through a global pandemic, job insecurity, financial insecurity, family problems – it’s all stress that can lead to an increase in drinking. Compounding this was that fact that lockdown meant social support networks – whether friends, family or professionals, something that we know is critical when dealing with addiction issues – were not as accessible. The result was a perfect storm for these susceptible people.”

And although these individuals were a minority, Dr Parker points out that they have had a significant impact in hospital settings. “Speaking to colleagues in hospitals, looking at the Office for National Statistics figures and figures from other observers, we can see that the number of deaths related to alcohol, and the number of people presenting with alcohol-related liver disease and other alcohol-related problems, is the highest on record.”

The combination of this data and Professor Sinclair’s stark warnings paints a gloomy picture about the impact that the pandemic has had on our drinking culture and the ongoing repercussions we will see for years to come.