The Real Cost of Alcohol

How is our country affected by alcohol?  Increased health insurance costs, increased crime, increased automobile accidents, increased death rates, cancer and liver disease.

What are the stigmas for getting help and why aren't more Americans helping themselves reach this point?

It is estimated that alcohol abuse costs the United States over $100 billion!

So why aren't more people getting help?  Even in areas where help is available, it isn't part of certain cultures to obtain help for alcohol.  Families may cover up alcohol abuse and insist the alcohol problem is not bad enough for help.  

The rising cost of workplace loses due to alcohol abuse is on the rise. Lost work time, on job injuries, sickness, and reduced productivity are some of the challenges businesses today are facing in this country.

References:

Alcohol Alert from NIAAA. Estimating the Economic Cost of Alcohol Abuse. Retrieved from http://alcoholism. about.com/cs/alerts/l/blnaa11.htm

More Alcohol for Poor Minorities

Studies have actually shown that liquor stores are on the rise in poor black neighborhoods. That means that the alcohol industry is relying on people with little money to spend it on their products.  Malt beverages are fairly cheap and can be obtained for less than a gallon of milk.  The increase of malt beverage sales has led to higher crime and more alcohol related problems in these already run down areas.

These areas also have higher unemployment rates and are filled with people that do not have health care and can not receive the proper treatment for alcohol related problems whether health related or not.  Alcoholism is a disease that can be cured, but not if the highest areas being affected also are the areas with the lowest amount of help available.  White rich people are the ones that take advantage of treatment facilities and get the help they need.  Many health care plans have treatment help written into their policies so if a worker is afflicted they can get help through their job.

How can we reduce alcohol abuse in low income areas and reduce the consumption?  The government is supposed to regulate the number of liquor stores, but some of these areas are reporting more liquor stores than churches. Where is the breakdown occurring?  When will low income communities stop being targeted?

References:

deLuzuriaga, Tania (2008). Boston Globe. Alcohol more available in poor, black areas. Retrieved from http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2008/04/03/ alcohol_more_available_in_poor_black_areas/

Alcohol Knows No Race or Does It

When you think of alcohol, it is hard to associate it with a particular group of people.  Alcohol spans across, men, women, blacks, whites, hispanics, asians, young, old, and religions across the world. Alcohol has the ability to bring people together or tear people apart, it affects everyone differently no matter who you are or where you come from.

Your race can actually play a part on how alcohol affects your body.  It has to do with enzymes and how they break down the alcohol once it enters your system.  There are certain races like Asians, that have more trouble processing alcohol and therefore get sick on low levels and tend to drink less.  If you are an American Indian, your body is more likely to be missing some of these enzymes and you are at a higher risk of becoming an alcoholic.  Since this does not apply to everyone in the race, you don't hear about these generalizations very often.

When looking at different races, Blacks and Hispanics have the highest alcohol related side effects over Whites, Asians and Native Americans. Blacks and Hispanics appear in studies to have more non-health alcohol related problems. This could also be related to other social aspects like lower income brackets, unhealthy environments, and poor peer influence.  Medically, liver disease is more prevalent, cancer is wider spread, fetal alcohol syndrome, and mortality rates are highest for blacks over all other minority races.

References:

Chartier, Karen & Caetano, Raul. National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. Ethnicity and health disparities in alcohol research. Retrieved from http://pubs.niaaa.nih.gov/publications/ arh40/152-160.htm

Lords of the Drinks (2013). Why indians are alcoholics and asians can't drink. Retrieved from http://lordsofthedrinks.com/2013/06/24/why-indians-are-alcoholics-and-asians-cant-drink/

Alcohol Around the World

Why do different countries view alcohol differently?  Why in some countries is it normal to consume alcohol on your lunch break but in others it is frowned upon?  France, Spain, and Peru have lower drinking related problems in their countries and drinking while working is not out of the ordinary. The similarities between countries lies in alcohol being linked to rituals and rights of passage. Alcohol is associated with things of celebration around the world. Drinking facilities around the world also tend to be social places where people can come together. Societies that view drinking as positive tend to have less alcohol related problems than societies that view drinking and alcohol consumption as negative.

All 3 forms of alcohol have spanned across the world and appear to have been around since the Old Testament. Alcohol has always been associated with religion. In many religions it is seen as a gift from God, and only heavy consumption is viewed as a sin.

Spirits took the longest to become popular for drinking and were mostly used for medicinal purposes until the 18th century. People consumed all forms of alcohol in hopes that it would fend off illnesses and plagues.

Throughout the centuries alcohol has always been associated with food. Whether it was a staple to go along with bread in the early ages or a food enhancement, alcohol was consumed more rapidly in the past than today.

 References:

Hanson, David. (1997-2015). Alcohol Problems and Solutions. History of Alcohol and Drinking Around the World. Retrieved from http://www2.potsdam.edu/ alcohol/ Controversies/ 1114796842.html #.VL1XXtHQPIU

Social Issue Research Center. (1997-2014). Social and Cultural Aspects of Drinking. Retrieved from http://www.sirc.org/publik/drinking3.html

DUI - Driving Under the Influence

Have you ever received a DUI or driven while under the influence of alcohol, but never been caught? If you are a female who has had more than one to two drinks before driving and a male who has had more than two to three drinks before driving than the answer is probably yes. In order to determine if you are unable to legally drive home you need to be aware of your BAC or Blood Alcohol Concentration.  Since most people are not able to test their BAC, there is a chart based on your sex, weight, number of drinks and how many hours have passed to help you determine whether or not you should drive.

So what exactly is BAC?  Blood alcohol concentration measures how much alcohol is in your bloodstream. The amount of alcohol in the blood will affect a person's brain, body, and behavior. Pennsylvania's BAC was lowered from .10 to .08 in 2003.  So .08 is equal to 80mg% of alcohol in 100ml of a person's blood.

The cost of a DUI doesn't just affect the person that receives it, but is having a strain on our country and everyone in it.  Alcohol accidents do not target race, and are related to someone dying at least every 30 minutes.

References:

Hartney, Elizabeth. (2014). About Health. What is bac (blood alcohol concentration)? Retrieved from http://addictions.about.com/od/substancedependence/f/BAC.htm

Pennsylvania Department of Transportation. Retrieved from http://www.dmv.state.pa.us/legislation/dui.shtml

What is Alcoholism?

What is Alcoholism?  Do you know someone that may be an alcoholic?  Are you an alcoholic?  As drinking becomes more of a norm and is socially acceptable for just about any occasion these are good questions to ask yourself.  What once was depicted in movies as a violent, loud, drunk that always had a drink in hand in their own home is no longer the only form of alcoholism effecting people today.  What about the friend that drinks a couple of times a year, but once they start they can’t stop.  The night becomes a wild ride of alcohol with no thought of consequences and closing time will be the only stopping point for this friend.  Convincing a person like this they have a problem isn’t easy.

The Mayo Clinic defines alcoholism as chronic and often progressive disease that includes problems controlling your drinking, being preoccupied with alcohol, continuing to use alcohol even when it causes problems, having to drink more to get the same effect (physical dependence), or having withdrawal symptoms when you rapidly decrease or stop drinking. If you have alcoholism, you can't consistently predict how much you'll drink, how long you'll drink, or what consequences will occur from your drinking.

Now that you have read the definition, think about your own life.  Does alcohol control any aspect of your life?  What if someone told you never to drink again, could you do it?  Have you ever walked out that door to meet a friend for a drink and it turned into 4 or 5 drinks?  How about after your night ended, did you drive home after drinking that much because you didn’t make an alternate plan?  Look around, you aren’t the only one.

What about at home?  You have a glass a wine with dinner and it makes you sleepy.  You have had a rough week and the kids are driving you crazy so you decide to have just one more.  You sleep really well that night so a pattern starts and you are now drinking every night just to cope.  Can you stop?  It might not seem like a big deal until you ask yourself that question.  If you can’t, you might have a problem.

People don’t want to admit they are an alcoholic, and for good reason.  It is a negative label that most people don't want associated with themselves.  As long as they are getting up and going to work and doing otherwise responsible things they don’t have a problem.  That is what a potential alcoholic could be telling himself or herself.

If you think your friend or spouse is an alcoholic and you know they don’t want to believe it, help them out.  Don’t create activities that revolve around alcohol, limit your own alcohol intake when around them, or get rid of the alcohol in the house.  Talk to others about your concerns so you aren’t alone.  Helping someone else can help you too.  Maybe you are headed down that road too and reflecting on others behavior might rope you back into reality.  Life doesn’t have to revolve around alcohol.  And whatever the reason a person chooses to drink, all forms of alcohol can be involved in alcoholism.   

References:

Mayo Clinic Staff (2014). Diseases and Conditions Alcoholism Definition. Retrieved from http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/alcoholism/basics/definition/con-20020866

People's perceptions differ in regards to forms of alcohol and what they choose to drink

The three forms of alcohol: beer, wine, and spirits are not equal in their measurements and do not effect women and men the same way.  Age and weight are also factors in the amount of alcohol it takes for side effects to begin.

The breakdown for one drink is as follows:
          
          Spirits = 1.5 fluid ounces
          Wine = 5 fluid ounces
          Beer = 12 fluid ounces

Whether or not a person chooses to drink may have to do with the activity they are going to be participating.  Maybe a glass of wine with dinner, a few beers after work, or a night out drinking with friends.  There are different factors that may contribute to which form of alcohol a person chooses. Taste, price, personal preference, availability, or peer choice can lead to consumption of one of the three forms of alcohol.

Regardless of what type of alcohol you prefer, over 80% of people have had a drink in their lifetime. Beer is the highest consumed form of alcohol in the United States, wine wins out in France and Portugal, and spirits are consumed more than the other two in Russia and China for example.  This interactive map is an interesting perspective on each country and how much of each form of alcohol is consumed. http://ghostinthedata.com/alcoholmap/

The latest polls show beer is chosen 41% of the time over wine and spirits in the United States. In the early 1990s, beer was chosen almost 50% of the time, but due to wine's increasing popularity this number has decreased.  Sex and age come into play when determining which alcohol is consumed the most.  Women consume wine almost three times more than men and in adults age 55 and over wine is consumed more often than beer or spirits. It is not a surprise that beer rates at 48% for Americans age 18-34.

People's perceptions on alcohol may also have to do with environment and past experiences relating to alcohol. Were you raised by an alcoholic, do you have a friend with a DUI, did you go away to college or start working right after high school, do your parents drink, are you religious?  These and many more factors can lead to your knowledge and perception on drinking and may shape your views on consumption and choice of alcohol.

References:

National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. (2014). Alcohol facts and statistics. Retrieved from http://www.niaaa.nih.gov/alcohol-health/overview-alcohol-consumption/alcohol-facts-and-statistics. doi: 301.443.3860

Saad, Lydia. (2014). Beer is americans' adult beverage of choice this year. Retrieved from http://www.gallup.com/poll/174074/beer-americans-adult-beverage-choice-year.aspx

World Health Organization. (2014). How much - and which - alcohol is drunk in the world during a week? Retrieved from http://ghostinthedata.com/alcoholmap/.