What are the long-term effects of drinking alcohol?
How alcohol affects you in the long term depends on how much and how often you drink. For middle-aged and older adults, as little as one drink of alcohol every other day can help protect against heart disease. On the other hand, heavy drinking raises blood pressure and puts people at risk of stroke and heart failure. Heavy alcohol use can result in appetite loss, sexual impotence or menstrual irregularities, vitamin deficiencies and infections. Alcohol irritates the lining of the stomach, which can be painful and is potentially fatal. Alcoholic liver disease is a major cause of illness and death in North America. Alcohol also increases the risk of liver, throat, breast and other cancers. Chronic use of alcohol can damage the brain, which can lead to dementia, difficulties with co-ordination and motor control, and loss of feeling or painful burning in the feet. Alcohol dependence often results in clinical depression, and the rate of suicide among people who are alcohol-dependent is six
