The festive season is around the corner. Along with other activities, alcohol will be consumed in huge quantities for celebration. For some it is binge drinking for celebrating Christmas and new year, otherwise they may not touch it. While for some, it is part of their daily routine, only change would be drinking more than everyday for enjoying. Most of these individuals never give a thought to how it affects their nutrition.

Alcohol tends to improve appetite in some, because of its euphoriant effect on brain. But in majority, it reduces appetite and hence quantity of food taken. It has high amount of calories, about 7 Kilo calories/gram, but no other nutrients. Thus individuals are deprived of essential nutrients and suffer from chronic malnutrition sometime after drinking.

Because of the high calories provided, alcohol tends to cause obesity. Blood levels of fat and glucose are increased which becomes the cause for increase in hypertension, diabetes and heart problems.

Alcohol has a direct irritant, inflammatory effect on the protective inner lining of the stomach. This causes burning pain in the upper part of stomach and chest with nausea and or vomiting. Chronic use of alcohol causes inflammation of the pancreas. This leads to severe pain in upper abdomen which is relieved by bending forwards. Due to these problems, a person is not able to eat adequately and the overall food intake is reduced. This contributes to physical weakness and malnourishment.

Regular alcohol intake tends to drive out some essential nutrients from the body. The most vital being folic acid (a component of vitamin B.complex). Normally liver contains adequate folate to meet the requirement of the body. But alcohol drives out folate from the liver. Thus folate levels rise in the blood and it is expelled from the kidneys. Resultant deficiency damages the cells of the intestine and impairs digestion. Thereafter, the person is unable to eat food adequately, which harms his overall nutritional status. Folate deficiency also causes deficiency of blood and impairs the body’s ability to regenerate damaged cells. This is a risk factor for cancer of the colon and rectum and augments weakness. Alcohol deprives the body of Pyridoxine (vitamin B6), This results in damage to the nerves causing burning sensation in the feet and palms.

Alcohol also causes malnutrition due to its interference with absorption and metabolism of essential nutrients of the body. Cells of the intestine fail to absorb vitamins B.complex causing deficiency in the body. This manifests as ulcers over the tongue and lips and around mouth, dryness of the skin, abnormal sensations in the limbs and muscular weakness. One can also develop photophobia, i.e. headache occurring after exposure to sunlight,

As alcohol damages liver cells, they lose their ability to metabolise vitamin D. The result is weakening of the bones. In elderly , this can cause pathological fractures i.e. spontaneous breaking of the bones without any trauma.

Normally cells of the retina (curtain of the eye where an image is fixed) convert retinol (a component of vitamin A) into aldehyde which is needed for vision. But due to interference by alcohol, these cells start converting retinol to acetaldehyde which contributes to malnutrition. The vision is impaired due to direct damage to retina.

Thus that over a period of time, regular use of alcohol greatly impairs the nutrition of a person and results in chronic malnutrition. An alcoholic never feels as energetic and fresh as his counterparts who are not alcoholics. He/she remains more prone to develop infections and other diseases as well because body’s immunity is lowered due to malnutrition. This happens irrespective of the type of alcohol taken.

It is a myth that some types of drinks are safe because alcohol content is low. But this is a false belief. Any type of alcohol taken regularly is harmful for overall nutritional status of a person.