Drinking

My other post on alcohol has proven to be very popular... it's on the second page of Google if you type in "Alcohol allergy!"  :)

 

Here's some other facts about alcohol that you probably should know:

 

12-ounce bottle of beer = a 5-ounce glass of wine = a 1.5-ounce shot of 80-proof liquor = 11-14 grams of alcohol.

 

>60 grams per day for ~2-4 weeks leads to fatty liver (steatosis)

>80 g/d for ~2-4 weeks leads to alcoholic hepatitis

>160 g/d for ~2-4 weeks leads to cirrhosis

 

Drinking a six pack of beer a day can turn your liver from an efficient energy producing machine into a fatty sludge.

 

A beer gut might just be a superficial symptom of underlying pathology.  While steatosis is reversible, cirrhosis is not.  When your liver starts building up scar tissue, blood that normally comes from your gut is shunted to other places.  Blood waste products build up in your blood stream and you might turn a sickly shade of yellow (jaundice) or start having mental difficulties (hepatic encephalopathy.)  You might bleed into your stomach and start vomiting up a lot of blood (hematemesis due to esophageal varices.)  You might get hemorrhoids and you bleed out of your rectum.

 

Not pleasant.

The lesson -- if you decide to drink, drink in moderation.