Medical experts debate value of alcohol use_美文

Medical experts debate value of alcohol use

Dr. Dennis says whether drinking alcohol is a good choice for you will depend on several things.

“If a person has risk factors for developing alcoholism -- family members with alcoholism, difficult early life experiences, other addictive disorders - - the risk to benefit ratio of drinking alcohol for that person would be very, very high.”

Excessive alcohol use has been linked to chronic conditions like cirrhosis of the liver, pancreas disease and cardiovascular disease. It has also been linked to many forms of cancer, including cancer of the mouth, throat, larynx, esophagus, breast, colon and rectum.

The World Health Organization says the harmful use of alcohol results in two million five hundred thousand deaths each year. This number includes more than three hundred thousand people between the ages of fifteen and twenty-nine. The WHO says alcohol use is the world’s third leading cause of disease, after childhood malnourishment and unsafe sex.

One recent study involving alcohol could lead to more effective methods for treating alcohol abuse.

Researchers at the University of California, San Francisco, believe they may have found why so many people are dependent on alcohol. Researchers at the university’s Ernest Gallo Clinic and Research Center were able to prove scientifically what many have long believed: drinking alcohol increases the release of endorphins in the brain.