What Are the Short-Term Health Effects of Alcohol Use?
The Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommend that women consume no more than one alcoholic beverage per day and men consume no more than two alcoholic drinks in a day. Since the human body does not gain any nutritional value from alcohol, the liver works quickly to break alcohol down and eliminate it. If a person consumes alcohol faster than his liver can metabolize it, the alcohol enters his bloodstream and infiltrates his body’s tissues, including his brain. This produces several negative short-term health effects that can have lasting consequences.
