Ethanol is highly water-soluble and diffuses passively throughout the entire body, including the brain. One standard drink is sufficient to almost completely saturate the liver’s capacity to metabolize alcohol. Acetaldehyde is then further metabolized into ionic acetate by the enzyme aldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH).
- However, those with a lower socioeconomic status majority of minorities are less fortunate.
- Alcohol consumption is fully legal and available in most countries of the world.138 Home made alcoholic beverages with low alcohol content like wine, and beer is also legal in most countries, but distilling moonshine outside of a registered distillery remains illegal in most of them.
- Motor vehicle fatalities in the United States are reported by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).
Standard drink
- However, in 2023, the World Health Organization published a statement in The Lancet Public Health that concluded, “no safe amount of alcohol consumption for cancers and health can be established.”2122 In high amounts, alcohol may cause loss of consciousness or, in severe cases, death.
- The concentration of alcohol in blood is measured via blood alcohol content (BAC).
- The consumption of alcohol is deeply embedded in social practices and rituals, often celebrated as a cornerstone of community gatherings and personal milestones.
- While some religions strictly prohibit alcohol consumption, viewing it as sinful or harmful to spiritual and physical well-being, others incorporate it into their rituals and ceremonies.
However, spiritual use of alcohol is found in some religions and schools with esoteric influences, including the Hindu tantra sect Aghori, in the Sufi Bektashi Order and Alevi Jem ceremonies,67 in the Japanese religion Shinto,68 by the new religious movement Thelema, in Vajrayana Buddhism, and in Vodou faith of Haiti. The rum ration (also called the tot) was a daily amount of rum given to sailors on Royal Navy ships. It started 1866 and was abolished in 1970 after concerns that the intake of strong alcohol would lead to unsteady hands when working machinery.
Depression
Cessation can lead to a marked reduction in anxiety symptoms, including the common post-drinking anxiety often termed hangxiety, list of deaths through alcohol wikipedia and contribute to a more stable and positive overall emotional state, with fewer pronounced mood swings.133135134 This newfound emotional equilibrium can significantly enhance quality of life. The consumption of alcohol is deeply embedded in social practices and rituals, often celebrated as a cornerstone of community gatherings and personal milestones. Drinking culture is the set of traditions and social behaviours that surround the consumption of alcoholic beverages as a recreational drug and social lubricant. The world’s religions have had different relationships with alcohol, reflecting diverse cultural, social, and religious practices across different traditions. While some religions strictly prohibit alcohol consumption, viewing it as sinful or harmful to spiritual and physical well-being, others incorporate it into their rituals and ceremonies. Throughout history, alcohol has held significant roles in religious observances, from the use of sacramental wine in Christian sacraments to the offering and moderate drinking of omiki (sacramental sake) in Shinto purification rituals.
Timeline of benefits
This is about six times the level of ordinary intoxication (0.08%), but vomiting or unconsciousness may occur much sooner in people who have a low tolerance for alcohol.31 The high tolerance of chronic heavy drinkers may allow some of them to remain conscious at levels above 0.40%, although serious health hazards are incurred at this level. Alcohol is known to potentiate the insulin response of the human body to glucose, which, in essence, “instructs” the body to convert consumed carbohydrates into fat and to suppress carbohydrate and fat oxidation.6061 Ethanol is directly processed in the liver to acetyl CoA, the same intermediate product as in glucose metabolism. Because ethanol is mostly metabolized and consumed by the liver, chronic excessive use can lead to fatty liver. This leads to a chronic inflammation of the liver and eventually alcoholic liver disease. The short-term effects of alcohol consumption range from a decrease in anxiety and motor skills at lower doses to unconsciousness, anterograde amnesia, and central nervous system depression at higher doses.
Common health-related illnesses that stem from AUD but are prevalent in African American communities are liver disease, cirrhosis, hypertension, heart disease, oral cancer, stroke, and more. In 2020, heart disease ranked number 3 in the leading cause of death for African Americans ages 15–24.122 However, on the, contrary African Americans have been proven to consume less alcohol than other counterparts. According to American’s Health Rankings, 15.4% of blacks reported excessive drinking, 19.4% of Hispanics, 19.2% of whites and 16.9% of Native Americans.123 In the United States, social economic status affects, one’s ability to access basic necessities to support one’s health, life, and survival. If one has a higher socioeconomic status, their income is higher, they are able to support their living needs and have better access to healthcare. However, those with a lower socioeconomic status majority of minorities are less fortunate.
Where sources are able to indicate, deaths are specified as ‘suicide’, ‘accidental’, ‘undetermined’, or otherwise in the ’cause’ column. Where sources do not explicitly state intent, they will be listed in this column as ‘unknown’. Deaths from accidents or misadventure caused by drug overdoses or intoxication are also included on this list. Deaths from long-term effects of drugs, such as tobacco-related cancers and cirrhosis from alcohol, are not included, nor are deaths from lethal injection or legal euthanasia. Disulfiram inhibits the enzyme acetaldehyde dehydrogenase, which in turn results in buildup of acetaldehyde, a toxic metabolite of ethanol with unpleasant effects. The medication or drug is commonly used to treat alcohol use disorder, and results in immediate hangover-like symptoms upon consumption of alcohol, this effect is widely known as disulfiram effect.
The sugars are commonly obtained from sources like steeped cereal grains (e.g., barley), grape juice, and sugarcane products (e.g., molasses, sugarcane juice). Alcohol consumption is fully legal and available in most countries of the world.138 Home made alcoholic beverages with low alcohol content like wine, and beer is also legal in most countries, but distilling moonshine outside of a registered distillery remains illegal in most of them. Motor vehicle fatalities in the United States are reported by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). The NHTSA only includes deaths that occur on public roads and excludes parking lots, driveways, and private roads.7 It also excludes indirect car-related fatalities. The Bratt System was a system that was used in Sweden (1919–1955) and similarly in Finland (1944–1970) to control alcohol consumption, by rationing of liquor. Every citizen allowed to consume alcohol was given a booklet called a motbok (viinakortti in Finland), in which a stamp was added each time a purchase was made at Systembolaget (in Sweden) and Alko (in Finland).136 A similar system also existed in Estonia between July 1, 1920, to December 31, 1925.137 The stamps were based on the amount of alcohol bought.
When fomepizole is not available, ethanol can be used to treat or prevent methanol or ethylene glycol poisoning.4041 The rate-limiting steps for the elimination of ethanol are in common with these substances, so it competes with other alcohols for the alcohol dehydrogenase enzyme. Ethanol is produced naturally as a byproduct of the metabolic processes of yeast and hence is present in any yeast habitat, including even endogenously in humans, but it does not cause raised blood alcohol content as seen in the rare medical condition auto-brewery syndrome (ABS). It is manufactured through hydration of ethylene or by brewing via fermentation of sugars with yeast (most commonly Saccharomyces cerevisiae).
Long-term effects
Although ethanol is the most prevalent alcohol in alcoholic beverages, alcoholic beverages contain several types of psychoactive alcohols, that are categorized as primary, secondary, or tertiary. Primary, and secondary alcohols, are oxidized to aldehydes, and ketones, respectively, while tertiary alcohols are generally resistant to oxidation.128 The Lucas test differentiates between primary, secondary, and tertiary alcohols. The tertiary alcohol tert-amyl alcohol (TAA), also known as 2-methylbutan-2-ol (2M2B), has a history of use as a hypnotic and anesthetic, as do other tertiary alcohols such as methylpentynol, ethchlorvynol, and chloralodol. After oral ingestion, ethanol is absorbed via the stomach and intestines into the bloodstream.
The prohibition in the United States era was the period from 1920 to 1933 when the United States prohibited the production, importation, transportation, and sale of alcoholic beverages. The nationwide ban on alcoholic beverages, was repealed by the passage of the Twenty-first Amendment to the United States Constitution on December 5, 1933. Ethanol is only one of several types of chemical alcohols, and has a variety of analogues. Most other alcohols are considered poisonous.14 In general, higher alcohols are less toxic.125 Alcoholic beverages are sometimes laced with toxic alcohols. Metronidazole is an antibacterial agent that kills bacteria by damaging cellular DNA and hence cellular function.97 Metronidazole is usually given to people who have diarrhea caused by Clostridioides difficile bacteria.
Patients who are taking metronidazole are sometimes advised to avoid alcohol, even after 1 hour following the last dose. Although older data suggested a possible disulfiram-like effect of metronidazole, newer data has challenged this and suggests it does not actually have this effect. Acetaldehyde, is a DNA damaging metabolite that can interact with DNA to crosslink the two strands of the DNA duplex.47 The mechanisms the cells use for repairing these crosslinks are error prone,47 thus leading to mutations that in the long term can cause cancer.
This list of unusual deaths includes unique or extremely rare circumstances of death recorded throughout the 19th century, noted as being unusual by multiple sources. The Andrew Johnson alcoholism debate is the dispute, originally conducted among the general public, and now typically a question for historians, about whether or not Andrew Johnson, the 17th president of the United States (1865–1869), drank to excess. New deaths articles are added to their respective month (e.g., Deaths in October 2025) and then linked below. Sportspeople who died during their careers are covered in lists by sport, and in the case of motorsports by location. This is an index of lists of people by cause of death, in alphabetical order of cause.
When a certain amount of alcohol had been bought, the owner of the booklet had to wait until next month to buy more. Alcohol also limits the production of vasopressin (antidiuretic hormone) from the hypothalamus and the secretion of this hormone from the posterior pituitary gland. It also causes a high concentration of water in the urine and vomit, and the intense thirst that goes along with a hangover.
They are faced with poverty, low income, unemployment, and lack of access to healthier food options, which then contributes to poor health and higher AUD risk. The correlation between levels of socioeconomic status is prominent in alcohol-related health illnesses between cultures. The concentration of alcohol in blood is measured via blood alcohol content (BAC). The amount and circumstances of consumption play a large part in determining the extent of intoxication; for example, eating a heavy meal before alcohol consumption causes alcohol to absorb more slowly.28 Hydration also plays a role, especially in determining the extent of hangovers. After binge drinking, unconsciousness can occur and extreme levels of consumption can lead to alcohol poisoning and death (a concentration in the blood stream of 0.40% will kill half of those affected29medical citation needed). The median lethal dose of alcohol in test animals is a blood alcohol content of 0.45%.