drinking is that for some people it will lead to heavy
alcohol consumption, alcohol abuse, and alcohol
dependency. Twin and family studies indicated that
there is an inherited tendency for some individuals to
develop alcohol abuse disorders.Risks of heavy alcohol consumption
Heavy alcohol consumption is defined for men as
consuming 15 or more alcoholic drinks per week and
for women as consuming 8 or more drinks per week.
Between moderate and heavy alcohol consumption is
a gray area of potentially problem drinking that
includes binge drinking.
Binge drinking is heavy alcohol consumption that
occurs intermittently. Bingeing for men means con-
suming 5 or more drinks in a period of about twohours. For women, it is consuming 4 or more drinks
in the same time period. About 60% of men ages 18–25
binge drink.
Heavy alcohol consumption leads to two alcohol
abuse disorders that are recognized in theDiagnostic
and Statistical Manual for Mental Disorders Fourth
Edition (DSM-IV-TR) published by the American
Psychiatric Association. More men abuse alcohol
than women, and these men begin drinking at an ear-
lier age than women.
Alcohol dependence is diagnosed when one or
more of the following occur within a 12-month period.
Repeated alcohol use causes failure to fulfill obliga-
tions at work, home, or school.
The individual repeatedly performs hazardous activ-
ities such as driving or operating machinery while
under the influence of alcohol.
Alcohol use causes legal problems.
Alcohol use continues despite problems it causes in
relationships.
These symptoms do not rise to the level of alcohol
dependence.
Alcohol abuse, or alcoholism, is diagnosed when
three or more of the following occur within a 12-
month period.
Tolerance to the effects of alcohol develops.
Stopping drinking causes, or would cause, physical
symptoms of withdrawal.
More alcohol is regularly drunk than is intended.
Efforts to reduce alcohol consumption are unsuccessful
Getting alcohol, drinking, and recovering from drink-
ing alcohol consumes a great deal of time.
Work, social, and recreational activities are replaced
by drinking or recovering from drinking.
Alcohol use continues despite its causing obvious
physical and/or psychological problems.
On any given day, about 7% of Americans, or
more than 17 million people, are alcohol dependent or
have alcoholism. Costs related to alcohol disorders are
estimated to be more than $185 billion annually. Alco-
hol disorders are related to increased rates of motor
vehicle deaths, homicides, suicides, and domestic vio-
lence. About 34% of Americans never drink alcohol.
People with alcoholism do not eat healthy, bal-
anced diets. When 30% or more of an individual’s
calories come from alcohol, serious nutritional deficien-
cies develop. Not only do people with alcoholism fail to
get theprotein,vitamins,andmineralsthey need, alco-
hol interferes with the absorption of the nutrients they
do eat. People who abuse alcohol develop malnutritionKEY TERMS
B-complex vitamins—a group of water-soluble
vitamins that often work together in the body.
These include thiamine (B 1 ), riboflavin (B 2 ), niacin
(B 3 ), pantothenic acid (B 5 ), pyridoxine (B 6 ), biotin
(B 7 or vitamin H), folate/folic acid (B 9 ), and coba-
lamin (B 12 ).
Essential amino acid—an amino acid that is neces-
sary for health but that cannot be made by the body
and must be acquired through diet.
Folic acid—also called vitamin B 9 , a stable syn-
thetic form of folate that is found in dietary supple-
ments and is added to fortified foods such as flour
and cereal.
Mineral—an inorganic substance found in the
earth that is necessary in small quantities for the
body to maintain a health. Examples: zinc, copper,
iron.
Peripheral vascular disease—diseases of any blood
vessels except those that supply blood to the heart.
Tolerance—adjustment of the body to a drug so
that it takes more and more to produce the same
physiological or psychological effect
Type 2 diabetes—sometime called adult-onset dia-
betes, this disease prevents the body from properly
using glucose (sugar).
Vitamin—a nutrient that the body needs in small
amounts to remain healthy but that the body cannot
manufacture for itself and must acquire through
dietAlcohol consumption