Alcoholism & Nutrition

[Ricardo]

I think the typical alcoholic person probably pays very little attention to eating well.

I'm curious as to how much of the problem a bad diet is to an alcoholic?

[britjojo]

The body craves things that it needs, and this has been shown in many studies. I think it possible, though I have nothing to back this up, that the body of an alcoholic might crave something it genuinely needs, in the beginning and the alcoholic misreads that signal. Just the same as a pregnant woman might crave coal or laundry starch when she really needs something else. This is called pico.

[mtajim]

Right said, body finds a way to adapt with every type of situation, it finds way to adapt with alcoholic person

[brindal]

my partner is drink dependent and has to take vitamin supplements to stop the onset of mentel and physical problems occuring which have a knock on effect to different parts of the body and mind , most do not eat enough good food to get the main neutrients the bodyand brain need to function properly .as most alcoholics spend quite secret lives as to not let others see how much they actually drink.

[mtajim]

I heard that an alcoholic doesnt feels hunger so he eats less and less

[britjojo]

This is new to me but I guess that it could be something as simple as the person constantly having their stomach full of liquid surpresses the appetite. I know that when I have been drunk in the past that I still felt hungry-more hungry than other times in fact!

[Ricardo]

I agree britjojo. In my experience a few drinks can spark my appetite, sometimes including a bit of hunger that lingers the next day as well.

[ozzie]

I think the typical alcoholic person probably pays very little attention to eating well.

I'm curious as to how much of the problem a bad diet is to an alcoholic?

I think you're right in that most alcoholics don't pay a lot of attention to eating well. My dad was fortunate because my mom put well rounded meals on the table every day for him to eat, so he did....before he started his evening of drinking.

[britjojo]

That probably did way more good for him than he would ever realise and he may never have appreciated that fact. If nothing else he probably has a far lower risk of stomach ulcers because of it.

[QuietLunatic]

Doesn't alcohol interfere with the absorption of certain vitamins and things, though? So eating properly AND continuing to drink heavily isn't going to help all that much.

[aima123]

This is really proven. Since my father is an alcoholic one, he lost his apettite. He even prefer to drink and drink more alcohol than eat his meals. So no wonder that alcoholic person becomes so thin and more skinny. Like my father.

[mtajim]

It is not only the loss of apettite that makes person thin but the alchola too decays the body parts which make person look thin

[addiction]

It is quite obvious that an alcoholic do not pay any attention to food. All he wants is alcohol, which creates severe nutritional problems. But an alcoholic do not understand it.

[rapistt]

An alcoholic never pay much attention to his health. He always looking are waiting for the chance to drink. All that he want is alcohol and nothing else.

[easternbrain]

Well I am really amazed because I have always seen a person's diet increasing after consumption of alcohol and that has been my personal experience as well.

This is the first time I've come across a case where a person diet suffers coz of alcohol.

[Roxy]

It is quite natural when person is alcoholic he is not going to care about his eating habits. It is true that person diet increases but he is not able to assimilate the food efficiently.

[Belucci]

They are really not care of their diet but they want alcohol everything. I have seen my friend who is an alcoholic and loosing is health to drinking, earlier he use to be the most healthy guy in our group.

[easternbrain]

Well it benefitted for me atleast. I am kinda skinny guy and I ate like a hungry wold after drinking, which has helped me to regain my shape a bit.

[VietXKosuke]

Hmmm. Well I'm assuming that they don't really care too much, as they're really too stupid (when they're drunk) to actually realize it. And they're sober very little anyway.

[marlboro]

Alcoholics often suffer from nutritional problems like obesity or mulnutrition. The reason for this is that they often neglect their diet and keep drinking alcohol whenever they get chance.

[attagirl]

It is unfortunate that drinking does this to the body, but it is not the only addiction that does this and causes a persons nutritional diet to be breached. Most of society does not eat properly and when you add an addiction such as alcholism that is even worse.

[easternbrain]

What is it with alcohol that people are so fond of? I mean that you get "better kick" with many other addictions then why alcohol which is sure to damage your liver.

[marlboro]

Alcohol get absorbed directly from the stomach so it do not need digestion. Due to too much intake of alcohol liver start breaking glycogen into glucose ( Glycogenolysis ) instead of storing glycogen. It leads to fibrosis of liver and damaging it.

[easternbrain]

@ marlboro

I think as far as I know Alcohol gets absorbed through small intestine mainly instead of stomach. From where I've read, it said so......

[rafael]

Alcohol get absorbed directly from the stomach so it do not need digestion. Due to too much intake of alcohol liver start breaking glycogen into glucose ( Glycogenolysis ) instead of storing glycogen. It leads to fibrosis of liver and damaging it.

Everything that will be absorbed directly or indirectly to blood is done in small intestine rather then stomach. The wall of stomach is made of such tissues which do not allow anything to get absorbed directly from stomach except some drugs.

[Mess]

Alcoholics suffer from malnutrition, there is no doubt about it but many people have the notion in their mind that alcoholism improves health of alcohol that is why he look fat.