Experts call it “Binge Drinking”. It is the mechanism that leads to consuming large quantities of alcohol in a short time, obviously overloading the liver which is therefore in non-optimal conditions. There are risks with this trend. Especially for young people, who do not yet have an optimal alcohol metabolization system.
So the repetition of this bad habit, especially among young people but not only, can be extremely fearful for the health of what is the “laboratory” of our body. This was remembered by the experts present in Rome on the occasion of the congress of the AISF – Italian Association for the Study of the Liver.
Risks on the rise with the pandemic
In the pandemic period, according to the PASSI d’Argento data of the Istituto Superiore di Sanità, 57% of adults aged 18-64 said they had consumed alcohol in the 30 days prior to the interview. Overall, 17% of the interviewees consumed alcohol at greater risk to health, in terms of quantity and method of consumption: 3% consumed it regularly, exceeding the average daily consumption thresholds indicated by international guidelines, 8% is a binge drinker and another 9% mainly consumed alcohol between meals. The consumption of alcohol at risk remains a prerogative of the most socially advantaged classes, in terms of income or education, residing in Northern Italy and is greater among men.
In addition, in 2020, the SISMA Monitoring System of the ONA-ISS, the ISS processing of the ISTAT Multiscopo data and the detection systems of the Ministry of S. It is on this aspect that the attention of the experts is concentrated, especially concerned for the very young. In fact, it worries the increase in consumption among minors: between 16 and 17 the frequency of at-risk consumers (40.5%) reaches that of male peers (43.8%); 10 out of 100 minors between 11 and 15 are at risk. More generally, however, the phenomenon of concentrated consumption of large quantities of alcohol in a short time appears to be widespread.
Over 4 million consumers abused in 2020, 930 thousand between 11 and 25 years of age, with 120 thousand intoxicated minors. “During the pandemic there was an increase in alcohol consumption measured by sales, which led to an increase in hospitalizations for alcoholic hepatitis in the US and an increase in liver transplant cases for alcohol-related diseases in Northern Europe – underlines Alessio Aghemo, AISF Secretary.
In Italy we do not have updated data yet, but it is reasonable to assume that there will be a prolonged impact over time. The increase in complications will probably occur in the next 5-10 years, as these are not always acute, and sometimes take a long time to emerge ”.
That’s when you overdo it
Beware of bad habits, experts recall. And to understand how much alcohol you can consume, even if giving up certainly doesn’t hurt, here are the observations of Manuela Merli, Full Professor of Gastroenterology at the Sapienza University of Rome: “Currently, the quantities of alcohol that are not considered harmful in those who have a healthy liver are respectively 3 units of alcohol in men and 2 in women during the day. One unit of alcohol corresponds to a glass of wine or a can of beer. Moreover, under the age of 18 you should not drink as the enzymes are not yet ripe for metabolizing alcohol.
These same enzymes too after the age of 65 they are experiencing a reduction in activity, which suggests that the elderly population should considerably moderate their alcohol consumption. However, alcohol is more and more widespread among young people, sometimes through the phenomenon of binge drinking, for which it is not usually consumed, but on special occasions more than 5 alcoholic units are consumed in a few hours, causing an important toxic effect on the liver. , with the risk especially on the youngest of causing an ethyl coma “.