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Summary
Ethyl alcohol is toxic for the organism but taken sporadically and at low
doses its effects are quickly reversible.
High doses in the digestive tube lead to esophageal motility disorders, the
appearance of gastroesophageal reflux with all its possible consequences,
gastritis, gastric emptying abnormalities and diarrhea. At a cardiovascular level,
acute consumption leads
to a sharp reduction in the contracting function of the heart and the
appearance of cardiac arrhythmias; the former being the result of a negative
inotropic effect of the ethanol on the cardiac muscle although this effect is
generally masked by an indirect positive chronotropic and inotropic secondary
effect from the release of catecholamine’s. More important is the
relationship between alcohol consumption and cardiac arrhythmias,
popularly known as “holiday heart” which must be considered as a preclinical
form of alcoholic myocardiopathy.
In addition to inebriation, it has other notable effects on the central ner
vous system on, for example, cerebral electrophysiology (visual and
auditory evoked potentials) cerebral metabolism and cerebral circulation.
There are possible beneficial effects from the consumption of moderate
quantities as a gastric and intestinal antiseptic, on the cardiovascular system
(reduction o f o v e r a l l mortality and of coronar y mortality) and on
Alzheimer’s disease.