Drinking too much alcohol is bad for you and those who do run the risk of developing some very serious diseases. Here are which ones.
Drinking too much alcohol is bad and we all know that. It being understood that the damages can be verifiable even in the short term – and often they start from the behaviors assumed by those who have drunk too much – we must also consider those in the long run.
For example, we know that consuming too many alcoholic beverages it can eventually lead to stroke and brain aneurysms, heart failure, aortic aneurysms and hypertension.
And again, alcohol also increases the risk of contracting some cancers, like that of the liver in primis, but also to the mouth, esophagus and larynx, and, to a lesser extent, to the stomach, colon and rectum.
But it doesn’t end there either, because a recent study – published in the journal PLOS Medicine – revealed that consuming at least seven units of alcohol per week could lead to a very serious illness. Here’s which one.
Here is the risk of those who drink too much alcohol
His at least seven units of alcohol per week it can increase the risk of neurodegenerative disorders and cognitive decline.
This means that anyone who drinks too much alcohol will be at risk to develop diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s.
Because? Because increases the iron levels in the brain and this is precisely associated with the risk of developing neurodegenerative disorders.
To arrive at this thesis, the researchers they looked at 21,000 people with an average age of 55. Il 48.6% of these – therefore less than half – were women.
Their aim was to first understand how alcoholic beverages affect iron levels in the brain and then whether these in turn are really capable of increasing the risk of developing cognitive deficits.
We must immediately clarify that the average alcohol intake of the people examined was 18 units per week.
Scholars eventually found that alcohol consumption greater than seven units was associated with higher iron markers in the basal ganglia.
What are? A group of subcortical structures responsible for example for choosing which behaviors are appropriate, for controlling voluntary movements, executive functions, reward, motivation.
These perform many functions, therefore – including control of voluntary movements, procedural learning, memory, eye movements, cognition – and therefore, when damaged, some of these functions can also be irreversibly altered.
So in short, as emerged from the study, the accumulation of iron in these brain regions can represent the first step towards cognitive decline.
Speaking of dangers, even those who take the birth control pill run a very serious risk.
In any case, that alcohol was very bad for your health was already clear for various reasons, this is just more proof.