Alcohol and Health

 What is Alcohol

Alcohol is a kind of drink that grown-ups sometimes have, like beer, wine, or special drinks at parties. It’s not like juice or soda — it can make people feel dizzy, sleepy, or silly if they drink it. If someone drinks too much, it can even make them sick.

That’s why only adults are allowed to drink it, and even they have to be careful. For kids, alcohol isn’t safe at all — it can hurt your body while you’re still growing, kind of like trying to use grown-up tools that aren’t made for you yet.

So think of alcohol like a “grown-ups only” drink, sort of like coffee or super-spicy food, but with extra rules because it can be dangerous if people don’t use it wisely.

The chemical structure of alcohol molecule

There are many types of alcohol, some of them are poisonous. The alcohol people drink is called ethanol with chemical formula CH3CH2OH.

In the picture above, the white atoms are hydrogen, black atoms are carbons, and the red one is oxygen.

How alcohol damage health

Alcohol is a liquid that can hurt the body if people drink too much of it, especially over many years. Here’s how:

1. Your body sees alcohol as poison.
   When someone drinks it, their liver (a part inside your body that cleans your blood) has to work extra hard to get rid of it. If the liver works too hard for too long, it can get damaged — kind of like a sponge that wears out if you scrub too much with it.

2. It can hurt the brain.
   Alcohol makes it harder to think clearly, remember things, or control your actions. If someone drinks a lot for many years, their brain can stop working as well — sort of like when your game console overheats if it runs too long.

3. It can hurt other body parts and even cause cancer.
   Alcohol doesn’t just stay in one place — it travels through the whole body. It can damage cells in the mouth, throat, stomach, liver, and other areas. If cells keep getting hurt, sometimes they grow the wrong way and turn into cancer cells. That’s one reason doctors tell people to be very careful with alcohol.

4. It can make the heart weaker.
   Drinking a lot can make it harder for the heart to pump blood — kind of like if you blow up too many balloons in a row, your cheeks get tired.