Fancy a drink...or two ....or five?

So I recently did a speech for a class on how alcohol effects your body and what happens in your body after it is consumed.  Here is some of the info...enjoy!
Beer is the worlds most widely consumed alcoholic beverage and is produced by the saccharification of starch and fermentation of the resulting sugar.
When you consume alcoholic beverages (such as beer) 20 percent of the alcohol is absorbed in your stomach and 80 percent is absorbed in your intestines.  After the alcohol is absorbed it enters your blood stream and then 10 percent of it it removed through your kidneys (urine) and lungs (breath) which is why they can use breathalyzers to find out your blood alcohol level. (side note: please dont drink and drive or do anything that requires coordination where you could hurt yourself or others).  The other 90 percent is broken down in the liver and goes from alcohol to acetic acid.
When the alcohol reaches the liver it is broken down in the liver by alcohol dehydrogenase enzymes by removing hydrogen in 2 steps.  Women actual have less of this enzyme which is why woman will often gte drunk faster then men (ladies please down try and drink a guy under the table...you will most likely lose unfortunately)  In the first step the alcohol dehydrogenase oxides the alcohol to acetaldehyde.  Step 2 uses the acetaldehyde dehydrogenase and oxidizes the acetaldehyde to acetyl CoA and produces hydrogen ions.  The vitamin Niacin now picks up these hydrogen ions (drinking tip: if you take some Niacin or a B complex before a night of drinking and it will detox the hydrogen ions faster so you wont be hungover in the A.M) which leads to an accumulation of NADH which slows the cycle and results in a build up of pyruvate and acetyl CoA.  This results in fatty acid synthesis and over time the fat will clog the liver resulting in a fatty liver.

How your six pack turns into a keg?
When you drink alcohol your liver works on detoxing the alcohol from your body so when you consume food it doesn't use the fuel from the food it just stores it away as fat.  Your appetite will increase when you drink alcohol and because of how it affects your blood glucose levels you usually dont crave a salad while your drinking.  As you age your calorie intake should decrease so if you continue to drink the same amount of calories in alcohol you will be increasing your weight.  And where this fat will go on your body is different based on gender, women have more subcutaneous fat and store the weight in their thighs whereas men who don't have as much subcutaneous fat will store the weight in their stomachs.

Finally just some facts on how alcohol effects your health!
Arthritis -Increases risk of gouty arthritis
Cancer -Increases the risk of cancer in the liver, pancreas, rectum, breast, mouth, pharynx, larynx and
esophagus
Fetal Alcohol Syndrome -Causes physical and behavioral abnormalities in the fetus
Heart Disease -Raises blood pressure, blood lipids and the risk of stroke and heart disease in heavy
drinkers. Heart disease is generally lower in light to moderate drinkers.
Hyperglycermia -Raises blood glucose
Hypoglycemia -Lowers blood glucose, especially for people with diabetes
Kidney Disease -Enlarges the kidneys, alters hormone functions, and increases the risk of kidney
failure
Liver Disease -Causes fatty liver, alcoholic hepatitis and cirrhosis
Malnutrition -Increases the risk of protein-energy malnutrition,; low intakes of protein, calcium, iron,
vitamin A, vitamin C, thiamine, vitamin B6 and riboflavin, and impaired absorption of calcium,
phosphorus, vitamin D and zinc.
Nervous Disorders -Causes neuropathy and dementia; impairs balance and memory
Psychological disturbances -Causes depression, anxiety and insomnia

CHEERS! (be safe)