Mini Thesis

While alcohol may have damaging effects to one’s body, many benefits exist if one drinks responsibly. Many studies and cases do show alcohol can damage the liver and other parts of the body; however, when one drinks in a moderate manner many health benefits may exist. Alcohol helps to fight against various health conditions and risks common among many people,

In an article published by WebMD, written by Jurgen Rehm, PhD, and chairman of the University of Toronto’s department of addiction policy states “Habitual drinking increases the risk of cancer.”

The pathophysiology of Alcohol affects virtually every organ system in the body. Therefore, consuming to much alcohol in high

African Americans are the third largest racial or ethnic population, totaling 13.2% of the United States population (CDC, 2015). Giger (2013) states, some health disparities associated with African Americans is due to discriminatory practices and inequalities in social, economic, and educational opportunities, rather than biological factors. Statistics identifies higher health disparities for this population reflected in overall mortality rates compared to other populations. According to the Office of Minority Health (2014), the adult mortality rate is higher in African Americans for heart disease, stroke, cancer, asthma, influenza, pneumonia, and diabetes, as well as higher rates of infant mortality. For instance, the overall adult mortality rate for African Americans is 860.5 per 100,000 population compared to 731.0 per 100,000 population in Caucasian Americans according to 2012 data (KFF, 2015).

Alcohol is also problematic for the African American population. Alcohol is one of the most significant problems among African Americans and leads to more violence, abuse, isolation and social consequences among black women when compared to white women (Donatelle, 2003). African Americans tend to have more of an alcohol problem as a population whole compared to whites but tend to consume less alcohol overall (Donatelle, 2004). Excessive, long term alcohol intake can lead to enhanced risk of developing cancer, a damaged central nervous system and harmful effects to the cardiovascular system (Donatelle, 2004). Since African Americans are already at more risk for developing cancer and cardiovascular disease, alcohol would enhance the risk of developing these disease and thus would reduce their overall health.

The medical consequences of AUDs affect minorities disproportionately. For example, AI/AN, African Americans, and Hispanics have the greatest risk of developing liver cirrhosis, alcohol related esophageal cancer, and pancreatic cancer. Minorities also have the highest risk of fetal alcohol spectrum disorders and the highest risk of alcohol-involved suicides (Russo, Purohit, Foudin, & Salin, 2004).

Similarly in the article it state, “The masculine response has both positive and negative aspects that can be channeled to either support or undermines diabetes self-management,” (326). Masculinity is taught since birth so the norms of social would have a positive or negative aspect to their behaviors. Such behaviors could mean eating the right food, exercising and realizing that in taking fatty food could potentially harm their health. Their manhood is question and they feel that they must not show emotions or vulnerability because it shows a sign of failure to thrive and show weakness. The threat that diabetes may take certain aspects away from them is enough for people to not report their sickness or seek treatment. This lead to notion that they must dismissive such disease in go on living as if nothing is wrong. These alone causes problem I believe because in order to lessen diabetes first we must understand it and acknowledge it. . The thing that stand out to me is when Mr. Ingram stated that.” because if you fears tends to turn into stress and the stress can actually become more troublesome than the disease itself,” (328). The black male community have to be more aware and comfortable to change. They must be able to realize that it is not only a genetic problem, but also the fact that they intake high amount of fat every

In the United States, epidemiological data suggest that the rates of FAS tend to higher in African American and Native Americans than whites of similar socioeconomic status. A survey complied by the centers for disease control and prevention reviewed more than 4.6 million births in approximately 1,200 hospitals and showed considerable differences in occurrence of FAS among racial groups. The reason for variance among these groups remains unclear. Among Native Americans, rates of FAS even varied between the different tribes. This may be attributed to nutrition, fertility, or metabolic differences in the genetic makeup of each tribe. Also Native American family culture can influence drinking patterns often leading to a higher rate of alcohol consumption.

The risks of drinking alcohol are health issues, your body wouldn’t stay fit if you are drinking too much. Health issues for drinking can be a serious and damageable for you.

Alcohol and hypertension are two rising concerns in national and global health. According to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (2014), 56.9% of adults in the United States have participated in drinking in the last month. Furthermore, 24.7% adults reported to participating in heavy or binge drinking. The World Health Organization (WHO) reports that in 2012, 3.3 million deaths or 5.9% of all global deaths were linked to alcohol consumption and within the United States 88,000 people died from alcohol related causes making it the fourth leading preventable cause of death in the United States (Stahre, Roeber, & Kanny, 2014). The abundance of alcohol consumption has shown to lead to high rates of hypertension.

My community assessment project focused on adults with chronic renal disease who are receiving peritoneal dialysis under the care of the Davita Dialysis Clinic located in Dothan, Alabama. This modality of artificial kidney replacement minimizes the disruption of the user’s daily life by allowing them to remove waste products from their bodies on daily basis during their ordinary sleeping hours. According the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, it was estimated that as many as 10% of adults or more than 20 million people in the United States may be suffering from chronic kidney disease, and in 2011 alone 113,136 of these individuals began treatment for their end stage renal disease ("National chronic kidney disease fact sheet, 2014," 2014).While chronic kidney disease is most commonly seen among individuals of African American descent and in adults over the age of 70, this harsh and deadly disease is not a respecter of age, gender, or race. More than 70,000 people die each year as a result of kidney disease, and Alabama has been ranked fifth in the nation for kidney disease occurrence ("Kidney Facts : Alabama Kidney Foundation," n.d.)

There are many serious consequences that come with drinking alcohol. We only have one life and one body, therefore taking care of it is very important. When people say treat your body like a temple, binge drinking

Alcohol has no beneficial attributes on a person’s health. Alcohol can have several harmful effects on human organs. Some organs in the human body that are damaged by alcohol consumption are the brain, kidneys, and liver. The human liver is the one organ that suffers the most damage. As stated in an article published by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, “Because the liver is the chief organ responsible for metabolizing alcohol, it is especially vulnerable to alcohol – related injury” (NIAAA, 2005). Regular use of alcohol can lead to alcoholic liver disease (ALD). The severity of ALD can vary based on several different factors. Some of these factors include gender, age, the amount consumed, and how often alcohol is used. “ALD includes three conditions: fatty liver, alcoholic hepatitis and cirrhosis” (Alcohol Alert, 2005).

In the above mentioned studies, alcohol was found to