50 Scary Alcohol Statistics (It Gets Bad...)

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Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

Welcome to the Stop Drinking Podcast, where we help you make stopping drinking a simple, logical and easy decision. We help you with tips, tools and strategies to start living your best life when alcohol-free. If you want to learn more about stop drinking coaching, then head over to wwwsoberclearcom. Most people don't consider the damage that alcohol could be doing to them, but today we are breaking down 50 data-driven facts to help you reconsider the toll that alcohol is taking on your health, on our communities and, most importantly, our future. Number one in 2023, an estimated 28.9 million Americans had a drinking problem, ranging from binge drinking and alcohol abuse to full-blown alcoholism. This figure includes 757,000 underage drinkers between the ages of 12-17. 2. In the US, the alcohol market grew nearly 8% annually between 2020 and 2023. This was partly spurred on by a dramatic spike in drinking during the COVID pandemic, where alcohol-related deaths increased by 25%. 3. The average age at which Americans consume their first alcoholic drink has dropped from 17.5 in the 1960s to under 16 today. This has been the result of the alcohol industry's decade-long campaign to promote underage drinking through so-called flavoured malt beverages like supersized Alka-Pops. 4. A whopping 46% of calls to US poison centre control centres involve minors consuming these beverages.

Speaker 1: 1:34

5. Worldwide, alcohol is estimated to contribute to 1.5 million deaths annually, representing nearly 3% of all deaths. 6. Alcohol is the third leading lifestyle cause of death in the US, behind tobacco and poor diet. According to the CDC, 178,000 people die from alcohol-related causes annually in the US. This is a whopping 29% increase from 2017, when the estimate was 138,000 deaths. Here's the crazy statistic. Collectively, these deaths account for 4 million life years lost every single year. 8. On average, alcohol cuts the life of a person short by 24 years. This compares to only 10 years for tobacco. 9. In 2006, over 1.2 million emergency visits and 2.7 million visits to clinics were related to alcohol consumption.

Speaker 1: 2:25

10. Roughly 90% of heavy drinkers have fatty liver, a condition in which the liver swells due to an accumulation of fat. While fatty liver typically has no visible symptoms, it often sets the stage for more serious liver damage down the line. 11. About 37,000 people die annually in the US from alcohol-related liver complications, and this figure keeps getting worse. Between 1999 and 2016, the number of young people dying from cirrhosis of the liver rose by more than 10% annually. Twelve. According to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, 46% of all liver-related deaths and 50% of cirrhosis deaths involve alcohol. 13. The outlook for advanced liver disease is bleak, with 20-40% dying within 3 months being diagnosed.

Speaker 1: 3:12

14. Alcohol is a proven carcinogen in the same category as ionising radiation, tobacco and asbestos. Drinking has been proven to raise your risk of 8 different types of cancer the mouth, the throat, the larynx, the oesophagus, the colon, rectum, liver and breast. Different types of cancer the mouth, the throat, the larynx, the oesophagus, the colon, rectum, liver and breast. 15. With some types of cancer, the risk increase is staggering. Compared to abstainers, heavy drinkers have a 5-fold increased risk of oral cavity cancers, as well as 2.6-fold increased risk of larynx cancers. 16. By far the most common cancer in women is breast cancer, and for women who drink, the risk for this cancer starts to rise from their very first drink or beer. Slightly Heavy drinkers, on the other hand, have a 60% higher chance of developing breast cancer. 17. As a result of the alcohol industry's wildly successful lobbying and misinformation campaigns, the public is largely in the dark regarding these cancer risks. A survey in the UK found that only 13% of respondents named cancer as a potential health outcome of drinking.

Speaker 1: 4:07

18. Alcohol is a neurotoxin which will steadily kill off your brain cells, shrinking your brain in the process. By the time of their death, a heavy-drinking male brain will weigh, on average, 75 grams less. This dramatic reduction is associated with widespread deficits in more or less all cognitive domains. These include things like memory, executive functioning and social skills. 19. Memory is arguably the cognitive faculty that suffers the most. More or less 100% of chronic drinkers will show various degrees of memory impairment when tested by a neuropsychologist. Short-term working memory is typically hit the hardest.

Speaker 1: 4:42

20. Alcohol also severely disrupts the balance of the brain's neurotransmitters that underlie our mood and psychological well-being. Various studies place the co-occurrence of alcohol abuse or dependence and depression at between 16 to 68%. Roughly one out of two drinkers will also suffer from a various type of anxiety. These can be social anxieties, phobias, panic attacks or just a generalized anxiety disorder.

Speaker 1: 5:04

21. Eventually, the brain can give out altogether, leading to full-blown dementia. A weekly consumption of more than 14 units a week leads to a linear increase in the risk of dementia. Tragically, this type of dementia can affect even relatively young people in their 40s and 50s. 22. Heavy drinkers are at a fourfold increase of developing hypertension. Now this is commonly called the silent killer, as it has no other symptoms but dramatically increases your risk of an early death. According to the World Health Organization, 16% of all hypertensive diseases worldwide are alcohol-related.

Speaker 1: 5:38

23. Your risk of developing heart arrhythmias also rises steadily the more that you drink, starting with the very first drink. Massive meta-analyses involving tens of thousands of people all agree that the risk rises at about 8-10% with each daily drink, and that's starting from the very first one. The data is pretty black and white. So if you're hoping that drinking in moderation will do your heart any kind of favours, I'd just strongly recommend that you reconsider things. At 24, alcohol will also increase your risk of stroke, with heavy drinkers having a more than 60% higher risk. Roughly 30% of these stroke victims will be left permanently disabled. At 25, heavy drinking for a minimum of five years eventually sets the stage for the complete destruction of the heart muscle itself. In alcoholic cardiomyopathy, the heart weakens to the point of becoming physically deformed and unable to properly pump blood through the body, and the outlook is bleak, with up to 80% of cases dying within a decade.

Speaker 1: 6:34

26,. Aside from its direct cardiotoxicity, part of alcohol's burden on the heart is down to how overweight and sluggish it can make you. An alcoholic beverage can contain up to 250 calories, and for reasons that are not yet clear, your brain will not adjust for these calories when you eat real food, so you get the calories from booze as well as the food calories that you would have consumed in the first place. 27. Alcohol will also devastate your bones as it upsets our body's natural balance of bone creation and destruction, which is so-called bone remodeling. One to two drinks a day will increase your risk of osteoporosis by 34%, and anything over that will increase it by over 60%. 28. The end result of this generalized bone destruction is a dramatically higher risk of fractures. A classic study looked at 100 consecutive patients with fractures admitted to a hospital in Seattle. A whopping 62% of patients who had at least three fractures were heavy drinkers. Often these people will be walking around with undiagnosed fractures for years, often to their ribs.

Speaker 1: 7:31

Twenty-nine regardless of your sex, drinking will also dramatically affect your fertility. A study with male heavy drinkers found that only 12% had normal sperm parameters, compared to 30% for a control group. Women who are alcohol dependent in their late 20s have a 73% decrease likelihood of giving birth. 30. Studies with identical twins that lead different lifestyles found that alcohol is the third most important risk factor for facial aging after smoking and exposure to the sun. The skin damage accumulates steadily through the years and by the age of 70, drinkers will look, on average, two years older than non-drinkers. 31. This is a best-case scenario, as drinkers are also far more likely to engage in other unhealthy habits, most notably smoking. While only 6.5% of non-smokers are heavy drinkers, the figure rises to 20% amongst smokers, setting the stage for a cumulative and devastating effect on your skin. 32. Researchers have identified seven ways alcohol ages a female drinker's face. These are the creation of forehead lines, crow's feet, under-eye puffiness, visible blood vessels, as well as loss of cheek volume and wrinkles in the corners of the mouth and between the eyebrows.

Speaker 1: 8:38

Thirty-three up to one in four children in the United States are exposed to alcohol abuse or dependence in their family. Thirty-four compared to their peers, these children are two to ten times more likely to develop drinking problems as adults. Thirty-five these are often best-case scenarios, as a whopping 14% of pregnant women report they continue to drink and 5% admit to binge drinking, and a number of these cases will lead to fetal alcohol syndrome, an irreversible condition that can involve permanent physical and psychological problems. 36. The link between alcohol and violent crimes is terrifying. Alcohol clouds the person's judgement predisposes them to dramatic mood swings and removes their inhibitions. According to the FBI, 48% of convicted murderers were drinking before or while committing the crime. 37. Two-thirds of victims of violence from their partners report that their perpetrator had been drinking. 38. Four out of ten people who abuse children confess to being under the influence of alcohol at the time. 39. The World Health Organization estimates that 16.5% of all crimes in the US are linked to alcohol.

Speaker 1: 9:47

40. The overall cost to the economy is staggering. The last estimate from 2006 put the total bill at $223 billion, which today would be equivalent to $347 billion. 41. Only 11% of these costs are healthcare related. The vast majority over 70% are down to lost productivity, either due to incarceration or absenteeism and reduced work performance. 42. The upfront costs also add up quickly. If you drink only two glasses of wine a day, you could be spending around $3,000 per year. That's just the purchase price, not considering the healthcare and productivity losses.

Speaker 1: 10:22

43. Drinking and joblessness go hand in hand. According to one study, 58% of unemployed people binge drink, compared to 33% of full-time workers. 44. Add the direct and indirect costs and you have a recipe for disaster. A branch of the US Department of Health and Human Services estimated that 38% of homeless people were dependent on alcohol. This compares to only 26% who are addicted to other drugs.

Speaker 1: 10:47

45. Rehab does not come cheap. A one-month inpatient program can typically range from anywhere from $5,000 to even $50,000. Me and my team have spoken to people who have spent over $150,000 on rehab and they still drink. Which leads me to 46. In spite of the price tag, traditional rehab treatments have appalling success rates. According to some estimates, just 40% actually complete their programs and by the end of the first year, up to 80% will relapse.

Speaker 1: 11:15

47. Approximately 20% of the US population engage in drunk driving. According to the FBI data, police arrested more than 443,000 people on suspicion of drunk driving in 2021. 48. Every day, between 30 to 40 people in the US die from drunk driving accidents. This works out to over 13,000 deaths annually nearly one-third of all car crash deaths. 49. The cognitive distortions and loss inhibition that accompany heavy drinking increase the risk of suicide by up to 90 times. Between one to two-thirds of people who take their lives test positive for alcohol in their system. 50. Now, after 49 shocking statistics, I've left one of the most disturbing for last.

Speaker 1: 11:57

Federal regulation requires that cigarette packages must carry health warnings comprising of at least the top 50% of the package and the rear sides. The warnings must be in colour and in the same orientation as the rest of the text. By contrast, alcoholic beverages need only carry a tiny warning text. This is typically on the reverse, in fine black and white print, ensuring that nobody will notice. This pathetic little piece of text only carries two warnings. Are you ready? These are A that pregnant women should avoid drinking and B that drinking impairs your ability to drive or operate machinery and may may cause health warnings Listen. Don't become a statistic. If you want help, head over to SoberClearcom. Have a great day. Thanks for checking out the Stop Drinking podcast by SoberClear. If you want to learn more about how we work with people to help them stop drinking effortlessly, then make sure to visit wwwsoberclearcom.