why is alcohol legal: the george best/opening hours thread

That it is. Long term negative consequences of moderate drinking (a loosely defined concept, but could be considered two standard drinks a day for the average person) is only the possibility that it can lead to heavy drinking. On the other hand, health benefits include (and I'll be happy to back up any of these):

1. Increased HDL count
2. Reduced symptoms of diabetes
3. Reduced risk for heart disease
4. Reduction of plaque formation associated with LDL oxidation
   

The benefits of heavy drinking, however, don't exist. As a college student, I used to be a pretty heavy drinker, and even did the 21-shot challenge on my 21st birthday. Coming across this information (I wrote a term paper on beer), however, made me realize that heavy drinking isn't only incredibly unhealthy, but it ruins the benefits of what has the potential to be a very good thing.If it weren't for the potential for addiction, drinking beer wouldn't be much different than drinking milk. If, for example, you had 21 12oz cans of milk on your 21st birthday, you would likely suffer from the many symptoms associated with calcium poisoning, including the potential for a coma. On the other hand, long term negative side effects for use of milk are rare.

Some people simply handle alcohol better than others. It's not just a weight or gender issue; the actual metabolism of alcohol varies greatly from person to person.There are several enzymes that metabolize alcohol, but most notable are ADH (alcohol dehydrogenase) and cytochrome P450. ADH converts alcohol into acetaldehyde, which produce the negative symptoms associated with a hangover. Not only does cytochrome P450 not produce significant negative side-effects, but the production of this enzyme increases with consistent drinking.But before you get too excited, I wanted to point out some of the negative side effects of excessive drinking:

1. Pancreatitis
2. Livir cirrhosis
3. Degenerative central nervous system disorders
4. Abnormal sleep patterns
5. Impaired ability to think abstractly (this can last a couple months off of a single binge!)
6. Cardiomyopathy
7. Hemorrhagic Stroke
8. Depression
9. Lowered sperm count
10. Impaired sexual stimulation
    

I'll just stop there...

List of potential side-effects(continued):

1. Fetal syndrome
2. Car Accidents
3. Homicides
4. Suicides
   

Er...well what do you know.
Maybe it'll make you feel better to know that permanent side-effects of alcohol can be minimimized if handled responsibly in the future. Brain tissue, for example, might not be able to reform, but already existing neurons can branch out to increase your thinking power once again. Hell, eating some fish to supply your brain with polyunsaturated fat over a long period of time might even compensate for your previous drinking habits.Moral of the story: Don't drink like the fish; eat the fish.
It's too bad that it's so much more fun to drink like the fish....