Why the effects of alcohol get worse with age

Most of us enjoy a glass of something alcoholic now and then. The only problem is - as we grow older - the effects of alcohol on the body are more potent.

So, for those of us who are serious about slowing down the aging process - it’s important to understand just what the aging effects of alcohol are.

Most of us already know that excessive consumption of alcohol causes liver damage - but did you know that that drinking alcohol makes you more likely to develop osteoporosis?

Alcohol interferes with the body’s ability to absorb calcium so the more alcohol you drink - the greater the risk of brittle bones and other related calcium deficiency problems will be.

Alcohol also has an aging effect on the skin. Alcohol causes the small blood vessels to widen, producing flushed skin and often broken veins.

The older we become, the higher the likelihood of alcohol related skin problems. And what’s more, because alcohol is dehydrating, those of us who enjoy a regular drink will also be more prone to premature wrinkling.

Consume a lot of alcohol and you are getting ‘dead’ calories - so alcohol isn’t great for the figure either. In fact - as a rough calculation - we need to walk one mile for every unit of alcohol we drink in order to walk off those added calories. If we don’t rid ourselves of alcohol calories, they’ll most likely be stored as fat around the abdomen, hence the term “beer belly”.

One beer or a full unit of alcohol every evening adds 15 pounds to your stomach in a year. On top of that - drinking alcohol is likely to stimulate your appetite causing you to eat more than you need.

Women fare worse than men when it comes to managing alcohol. Alcohol doesn’t need to be digested. It’s quickly absorbed into the blood where it remains until it’s broken down by the liver.

Sadly, lighter people - and that’s usually us - are more likely to become drunk because heavier people have more blood and water in the body to dilute the alcohol.

It’s also a fact that the it takes women longer to process alcohol - as alcohol is stored in fat which women have more of. As we get older of course we store more fat so - over the age of 40 - we find that it takes even longer to process and eliminate the alcohol.

But it isn’t all bad news when it comes to drinking as the French have proved. French people eat a diet that contains one of the highest levels of fat in the world and despite this they have a staggering 42% lower incidence of heart disease than Americans.

They owe their increased resistance to heart disease largely due to wine consumption - although it is probably true that the healthier French diet has something to do with these statistics. French people eat a much higher proportion of fruit, vegetables and wholefoods with much less heavily processed food than the average American.

Scientists have linked the protective effects of wine to an organic compound known as ‘resveratrol’ that’s found in red wine. A glass or two of this wonderful substance taken daily decreases the likelihood of atherosclerotic disease occurring. And the wine with the highest concentration of resveratrol in the world - Californian red of course!

Drink wisely and the aging effects of alcohol on the body can be positive. Drink unwisely and your health and looks will suffer.

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