subject: How Alcohol Dependency Impacts The Consumption Of Essential Nutrients [print this page] When a person experiences alcoholism, he may have a nutritional problem because alcohol tends to reduce appetite. As most alcohol addicts consider alcohol as their food substitute, they are likely not to obtain the important nutrients that their body requires. This is the reason a lot of alcoholics become malnourished.
Alcoholism can interrupt the absorption of nutrients and digestion of foods in the body. People who drink alcohol moderately use alcohol in addition to their regular food intake. These individuals tend to have the "beer belly" or a central obesity. An excessive amount of amount of alcohol will not be metabolized which produces heat to the body. According to rehab center for alcohol professionals, poor nutrition in heavy drinkers starts when they don't take in regular amount of foods.
Unnecessary Calories
A person can get about 4 calories per gram of carbohydrate and protein while they get 7 calories for every gram of alcohol. However, calories from alcohol do not consist of vitamins and minerals. In general, when a person gets more calories from alcohol he will have less amount of calories that he could spend on nutritious foods.
Metabolic Process
Drinking too much amount of alcohol will affect the metabolism of the consumed nutrients. For example, alcohol dependency may not enable the liver to absorb folate that allows the kidneys to generate more of this B vitamin in the urine. This may lead to the development of folate deficiency which damages a person's digestive system. Moreover, alcohol may also impact the function of folate to process homocystine which may lead to the development of heart disorders because of an excess level of the substance. A person who doesn't have a good folate status and has alcoholism can have a colorectal cancer. Also, when a person has thiamin deficiency, he may have an impaired coordination and memory, weakened nerves as well as Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome, which impacts the muscles of the eyes.
Toxicity
The toxic effects of abusive drinking can result in poor nutrition. Many rehab center for alcohol experts say that alcohol can result in the secretion of histamine and gastric acid from the stomach cells. With an excessive amount of gastric acid, the linings of the esophagus and the stomach can be irritated and histamine can cause inflammation. The stomach irritation makes an alcohol addict vulnerable to ulcer formations.
Too much intake of alcohol will affect a person's nutrition as they tend to ingest more alcohol than foods. Heavy drinkers can be noticed because of their evident weight loss and malnutrition.
