Hispanics and Alcoholism
One large component of American popular culture today is alcohol, an addictive substance commonly used similarly as aspirin and caffeine. Alcoholism has no racial, sexual, or economical preference but instead is a malicious disease that attacks randomly. For most people who drink, alcohol is a pleasant accessory to societal leisures. Numerous people become troublesome due to their drinking. "Currently, nearly 14 million Americans-1 in every 13 adults-abuse alcohol or are alcoholic. Several million more adults engage in risky drinking that could lead to alcohol problems. These patterns include binge drinking and heavy drinking on a regular basis. In addition, 53 percent of men and women in the United States report that one or more of their close relatives have a drinking problem." Due to hereditary and ecological factors, alcoholism is inclined to run in families. "In 1990, 68.3 percent of whites, 64.5 percent of Hispanics, and 55.6 percent of blacks used alcohol." Alcoholism is a progressive, chronic disease that can be fatal without treatment. Alcoholism is defined as a pattern of incessant drinking in which harmful consequences often result for the drinker even though they continue to drin
Moderate drinking and social drinking are not necessarily the same. The Dietary Guidelines for Americans define moderate drinking as no more than one drink per day for most women and no more than two drinks per day for most men. A "standard drink" is 12 ounces of beer, 5 ounces of wine, or 1.5 ounces of 80-proof distilled spirits. Each of these contains about 0.5 ounces, or 12 grams, of alcohol. Women become more intoxicated than men at an equivalent dose, and there is a difference in enzyme activity in stomach tissues between males and females. Alcohol breaks down in males more quickly than in females, and since females have more fat and less body water, alcohol is more concentrated in the female body. Alcohol acts as an irritant and increases the amount of hydrochloric acid (a digestive juice) that is secreted from the stomach lining. Intoxicating amounts of alcohol cause the digestive process to stop, robbing the body of vital vitamins and minerals. Frequent and prolonged use of alcohol has many detrimental effects on the body. Heavy drinkers develop a tolerance for alcohol, which means that larger amounts of alcohol are needed to get the desired effect. A drinker is physically dependent if withdrawal symptoms are experienced when alcohol use is discontinued abruptly. Symptoms vary but include delirium tremors (the "DTs"), cramps, vomiting, elevated blood pressure, sweating, dilated pupils, sleep problems, irritability and convulsions. Most of these symptoms will subside in two to three days, though irritability and insomnia may last two to three weeks. Psychological dependence occurs when the drinker becomes so preoccupied with alcohol that it is difficult to do without it. Short-term memory loss and blackouts are common among heavy drinkers. A blackout, which is an amnesia-like period often confused with passing out or losing consciousness, results when the drinker appears normal and may function normally; however, the person has no memory of what has taken place. Research indicates that blackouts are associated with advanced stages of alcoholism, and there is a correlation between the extent and duration of alcohol consumption during any given drinking episode and the occurrence of blackouts. Liver disorders associated with heavy alcohol use are fatty liver and alcoholic hepatitis, two of the common liver disorders. But most prevalent with Hispanics is cirrhosis of the liver. Cirrhosis of the liver, a condition in which there is major destruction of liver cells and a build-up of scar tissue. One in 10 long-term heavy drinkers eventually develops cirrhosis of the liver. Because of the irreversible damage caused, a person with cirrhosis will most likely die within five years.
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Approximate Word count = 3183
Approximate Pages = 13 (250 words per page double spaced)
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