Alcohol is a toxic, psychoactive substance with a high addiction potential.
In many modern nations, alcoholic beverages have become an integral part of social life for a sizable proportion of the population.
This is notably visible in high-profile social settings, both domestically and globally, where alcohol is frequently consumed. In such situations, the negative impacts of alcohol on health and society are easily underestimated or ignored.
Alcohol drinking kills 2.6 million people worldwide each year and has a substantial impact on millions more’s health and well-being. Globally, harmful alcohol consumption accounts for 4.7% of the total illness burden.
Harmful alcohol use accounts for 6.9% of the worldwide illness burden in men and 2.0% in women.
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It is the main cause of premature death and disability in people aged 20 to 39, accounting for 13% of all fatalities in this demographic.
Alcohol-related mortality and hospitalisation rates are higher among disadvantaged and vulnerable populations.
Because any alcohol usage is associated with certain short-term and long-term health concerns, it is difficult to determine globally applicable population-based standards for low-risk drinking.
Alcohol is an intoxicant that affects a variety of structures and processes in the central nervous system, increasing the risk of both intentional and inadvertent injury, as well as bad social outcomes.
It also has adverse effects on the digestive and cardiovascular systems.
The International Agency for Research on Cancer defines alcoholic beverages as carcinogenic, indicating an increased risk of different types of cancer.
Furthermore, alcohol suppresses the immune system, making people more susceptible to infectious diseases such as tuberculosis and HIV.
The risk of health and social harm from alcohol is impacted by both total lifetime consumption and drinking behaviours, such as context, frequency, and amount drunk per occasion.
These dangers increase in a dose-dependent manner with the volume and frequency of alcohol consumption, and they grow exponentially with large amounts drunk in a single session.
Toxic impurities in illegally produced and surrogate alcohols add to the risk.
Given that any level of alcohol consumption has both short- and long-term health consequences, establishing uniform, population-based limits for low-risk drinking is difficult.
