faster to meet the higher demand.

For example, if your sanitation men can pick up only 2 bags of garbage a week, but you continuously set out 2 bags of garbage every day, then you get a huge accumulation of garbage in front of your house! And the sanit men can still pick up only two bags. It’s the same way with the liver… it can only process at the same rate, regardless of the demand to process more and more alcohol.

Extended drinking binges put the liver under constant and severe strain, and that is why many alcoholics develop a disease known as cirrhosis of the liver, in which many liver cells are actually dead or non-functioning. As the alcoholic’s disease progresses, the liver is less and less equipped to deal with the strain. The liver’s inability to detoxify other substances in the body becomes compromised as well. It’s a vicious cycle of consuming more and more toxic substances which cannot be processed or excreted. When the liver can no longer efficiently process these toxic substances, they get secreted into the fatty tissue and lymph nodes of the body, leading to cysts, growths, and tumors as they build up over time.

In addition, prolonged alcoholism may cause weight gain because the body cannot deal with the excessive sugars consumed with alcohol, nor can it excrete toxic waste matter.

The liver of the average non-alcoholic person can oxidize one half to one ounce of whiskey, or six to twelve ounces of beer every hour. If you drink three 8-oz. glasses of beer and three shots of whiskey in one hour, you have already given your liver three hours of oxidation to perform for it to process and eliminate the alcohol byproducts.

From this formula you can figure that for every drink you take your body should have one hour to process it before you drive. If you go to a party or bar and have three drinks, wait three hours until you can safely drive home again. Better still, always have a responsible designated driver to take you home.

Effects of Alcoholism on the Skin

The skin is actually an organ of elimination weighing about 13 pounds in the average sized person. Only a small portion of alcohol is sweated out through the skin – the liver bears the major brunt of detoxifying the alcohol.

However, the skin will suffer from the effects of alcoholism in many ways:

Drinking alcohol causes a sudden flush effect in the face and skin, making it appear red. The presence of “gin blisters” on the noses and face of alcoholics is merely damage from the repeated sudden dilation of the small capillaries in the skin, which over time, get broken. The initial rush produces a feeling of warmth, which is why many people in cold climates take to drinking. However the repeated rush of blood to the small capillaries in the skin takes its toll over time.
Drinking alcohol robs the skin and body of much-needed moisture. Premature aging can be linked to lack of such moisture in the body tissues. Translation: a chronic drinker will age more quickly, develop grey hair more quickly, and develop skin wrinkles and creases more quickly. For this reason many alcoholics look much older than their chronological age. Lack of proper moisture to the skin may also cause skin discoloration, paleness of complexion, or a grayish cast to the skin.

Can anything reverse the dangerous effects of alcoholism? It depends on the length and severity of the disease. Substance abuse centers offer

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