Alcoholism: Insights

Risks of drinking too much alcohol.

- Kasturi Rangachari

AIcohol is the most commonly used and misused chemical worldwide. The highest level of alcohol consumption occurs in the developed world. This fact is not surprising since the history of alcoholic beverages is linked to the history of mankind. For centuries, alcohol consumption has been part of our culture and society.

Drinking alcohol is a social activity, embedded today in traditional and sociocultural contexts. Probably, the main reason for alcohol consumption is its ability to produce positive moods and stress-relieving effects.

Over the past twenty years, per capita alcohol consumption around the world has remained stable. Currently, everyone in the world aged 15 or over drinks an average of about 6 liters of pure alcohol per year. However, not all people in the world drink alcohol.

Specifically, 61.7 per cent of the world’s population aged 15 years or older has not consumed alcohol in the past 12 months. This means that people who drink alcohol consume an average of 14.63 liters of pure alcohol annually.

Consumption of alcohol has become a status symbol not only for men but also for women. Studies show that the effects of alcohol are more in women than in men and that women, who drink a lot are more likely to have significant alcohol problems than men.

In addition, women who have a problem with alcohol have a more than twice as high death rate as men due to suicide, accidents, and other health problems.

Blood alcohol levels in a woman who drinks the same amount of alcohol as a man will be higher because women are generally smaller, have less body water, and metabolise alcohol more slowly than men.