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Alcohol Consumption In The United States

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Alcohol consumption is the third leading actual cause of death in the United States.
This actual cause of death leads to some of the leading deaths in the United States such as heart disease, cancer, and others. It is now the question that everyone would ask, why would someone consume alcohol if it doesn’t do any good and just bad? The terms good and bad relates to ones health. Public health goal is to protect and better the health of the entire population. In order to approach this problem public health came up with disciplines and plans that will help this problem. The disciplines of public health are the epidemiology, biostatistics, biomedical basis, environmental factors and social and behavioral factors. There is also other thing that …show more content…

Alcohol consumption leads to much damage to the body. Damage to the body depends on how much alcohol one is drinking, size, age, gender and other ways. The way alcohol goes into ones body is the same for everyone. It goes into the body by first, through the stomach and small intestine. After, going through the stomach and small intestine it goes into the blood stream, and towards ones body organs such as the liver, brain, heart, and others. According to NIH(2012), “Alcohol is metabolized in the liver” (p. 1). The liver is what cleans and also removes toxins from the blood. Ethanol, the intoxicating substance will now be inside ones liver when consuming it. Once someone keeps on consuming alcohol overtime, it can lead to liver failure and it will also not be able to metabolize alcohol anymore. This then can lead to diseases such as cirrhosis, cancer, and others. Next, the brain is one of the most important organs of the body. This is because the way someone can be considered dead is by being brain dead. According to NIH(2012), “Alcohol can damage the parts of the brain that control ones memory, speech, and movement. It can also damage the brain by shrinking frontal lobes, which is in charge of thinking, memory, personality and more” (p. 1). Moving on to the heart, the organ assosicated with the number one leading cause of death in the United States. Alcohol …show more content…

One of the main reasons alcohol conusmption is the third leading actual cause of death is because it is accepted by society. Alcohol is sold at social events such as resturants, bowling alleys, baseball games, and then present at family events, etc. Examples are; at a lunch with friends, alcohol is available to order, at a wedding with family there is a champagne toast, while watching a baseball game there are people coming around selling beer to order, etc. The key in this is that since it is accepted by society, it is used as a main drink when socializing. Alcohol consumption is also based on ones behavior, and consuming alcohol would be a behavioral risk factor. It is considered a behavioral risk factor because it is the cause leading up to many different deaths in the United States as seen. It is hard to control ones behavior, because it is based on what they are so used to doing like a habit. Examples include; when someone is depressed, stressed, sad, trying to escape reality, much more, they drink. It is already mentioned that alcohol relaxes and puts one to ease. This is why those consuming alcohol feel that this is the best thing to do to overcome their

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