How alcohol can be harmful to people who don’t drink

Alcohol may harm those who don’t drink more than those who do, according to a New Zealand study recently published in Addiction.

The study examined data from New Zealand hospital admission records and survey data to estimate the number of healthy years of life lost due to living with disability or premature deaths. According to the study, 78,277 healthy years of life were lost in New Zealand in 2018. More than 90% of the years lost were due to fetal alcohol spectrum disorder, followed by 6.3% due to traffic accidents and 3.4% due to interpersonal violence.

Importantly, according to the study, 18,000 more years of healthy life were lost in those who did not drink, compared to those who did drink alcohol. Most research on alcohol focuses on its harmful effects on those who do drink, but the aforementioned research sheds light on how alcohol can adversely affect even those who do not drink, but directly or indirectly affects those who do drink.

It is well known that alcohol can damage health and that no amount of alcohol is safe for an individual. According to the American newspaper, alcohol has no health benefits American Public Health Association. For those who do drink, the long-term effects of alcohol can lead to high blood pressure, heart disease, liver disease, weakening of the immune system and mental disorders such as depression and anxiety. CDC. Alcohol has also been linked to a number of cancers, including but not limited to the breast, mouth, colon, liver and rectum.

The effects of alcohol on people who don’t drink can be more profound than those that occur in drinkers. Fetal alcohol spectrum disorders, which accounted for the vast majority of healthy years of life lost in the aforementioned study published in Addiction, represent a group of conditions that can occur in a person exposed to alcohol by their mother before birth.

A child with FASD may have a small head, shorter than average height, low birth weight, poor memory and coordination, problems paying attention, speech and language delays, vision and hearing problems, as well as problems with the heart and kidneys , to name several symptoms. . Children live with this condition their entire lives as there is currently no cure. The American Academy of Pediatrics estimates that 40,000 babies are born with FASD each year in America, and that all 40,000 cases of FASD are completely preventable by alcohol abstinence.

Alcohol-related traffic accidents also pose a significant threat to life. Every day, 37 people die in the United States as a result of a drunk driving accident National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

Interpersonal violence can also be a devastating consequence of alcohol for those who don’t drink. This includes sexual assault, intimate partner violence, murder and suicides. An estimated 88,000 Americans die each year from alcohol-related interpersonal violence US Addiction Centers.

Alcohol is literally paralyzing American society and remains a leading cause of preventable deaths in the United States. No amount of alcohol is beneficial, for an individual or for those around them. Given alcohol’s public health implications for both the individual and society, perhaps it is time for everyone to reexamine their relationship with the drug, which kills three million people worldwide every year.