The popular website Eat This, Not That! recently ran an article titled “41 Ways Alcohol Ruins Your Health.”
Here is the article’s brief introduction:
If you like to have a drink once in a while, chances are you’re having a few more than usual, given the fact that we’re all self-isolating. But the reason why we’re self-isolating—to protect against the coronavirus—is all the more reason to drink less. You need your immune system at full strength to combat COVID-19. Read on to discover the ways alcohol ruins your health, and share this story with someone who needs to read it.
Then follows a list of 41 ways that alcohol ruins your health:
- Eating more
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- Circulatory issues
- Seizures
- Dehydration
- Diabetes
- Ulcers
- Belly fat
- You’ll eat more sugar
- Cancer
- Dementia
- Muscle cramps
- Lower immune system
- Decreased fertility
- Mental decline
- Pancreatic pain
- Depression
- Increased obesity risk
- Stroke
- Heavy carb intake
- Bloating
- Inherited alcoholism
- Decreased kidney function
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- Salty food cravings
- Muscle atrophy
- Nerve damage
- Medication complications
- Reduced sperm count
- Anemia
- GERD
- Gout
- Anxiety
- Increased breast cancer risk
- Insomnia
- High blood pressure
- Blood sugar spikes
- Increased heart attack risk
- Cirrhosis
- Drinking more than you intended
- Leaky gut
- Less sound sleep
- Exhaustion
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Each item includes a nice graphic and a short paragraph of explanation. For example, here is what the article says about item number 4, dehydration:
Alcohol is a diuretic, and when consumed in sufficient quantities, it leaches water from all over your body, including your brain. The result is often a crippling headache, muscle pain, and a thirst you just can’t seem to quench, no matter how much water or how many sugar- and calorie-packed sports drinks you guzzle down.
None of these 41 things should come as any surprise to anyone who drinks alcohol.
It should be noted that the authors of the article (the “Eat This, Not That! Editors”) approach the subject of alcohol from a health standpoint. They neither promote abstinence from alcohol nor government prohibition of alcoholic beverages.
I am pleased to see the publication of this article, but not because it’s about alcohol. I view this article as 41 arguments against the drug war.
If consuming alcohol ruins your health in this many ways and can ultimately lead to premature death, then why would the government spend billions of dollars waging war on drugs and not also wage war on alcohol?
Every bad thing that could be said regarding drug abuse could also be said of alcohol abuse—and even more so.
Alcohol abuse is a factor in many drownings, home accidents, suicides, pedestrian accidents, fires, car accidents, violent crimes, boating accidents, child abuse cases, sex crimes, and divorces.
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Alcohol abuse is one of the leading causes of premature deaths in the United States. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), short-term health risks include injuries, violence, alcohol poisoning, risky sexual behaviors, and miscarriages and stillbirths, while long-term health risks include high blood pressure, heart disease, stroke, liver disease, digestive problems, cancer, dementia, depression, anxiety, social problems, family problems, and unemployment.
It seems pretty obvious that the government is fighting against the wrong enemy or should, to be consistent, include alcohol in its war on drugs.
Yet, support for returning to the days of Prohibition is limited to some fundamentalist Christians and members of the Prohibition Party.
Drug warriors are some of the biggest hypocrites on the planet.
