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Thus, there remains lingering doubt about the mechanisms of ethanol listed here, even for the GABA A receptor, the most-studied mechanism. [24] In the past, alcohol was believed to be a non-specific pharmacological agent affecting many neurotransmitter systems in the brain, [25] but progress has been made over the last few decades.
First, methanol (whether it enters the body by ingestion, inhalation, or absorption through the skin) can be fatal due to its CNS depressant properties in the same manner as ethanol poisoning. Second, in a process of toxication , it is metabolized to formic acid (which is present as the formate ion) via formaldehyde in a process initiated by ...
Ethanol fermentation, also called alcoholic fermentation, is a biological process which converts sugars such as glucose, fructose, and sucrose into cellular energy, producing ethanol and carbon dioxide as by-products. Because yeasts perform this conversion in the absence of oxygen, alcoholic fermentation is considered an anaerobic process.
The term alcohol originally referred to the primary alcohol ethanol (ethyl alcohol), which is used as a drug and is the main alcohol present in alcoholic drinks. The suffix -ol appears in the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) chemical name of all substances where the hydroxyl group is the functional group with the ...
Cell membranes are highly permeable to alcohol, so once alcohol is in the bloodstream it can diffuse into nearly every cell in the body. The concentration of alcohol in blood is measured via blood alcohol content (BAC). The amount and circumstances of consumption play a large part in determining the extent of intoxication; for example, eating a ...
Most physicians agree that when alcohol breaks down in the body it can bind to DNA, damaging cells and fueling tumors. There is also robust evidence that alcohol can drive inflammation, which is ...
A growing body of evidence has shown links between cancer and drinking alcohol. In a warning Friday, U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy said cancer risk increases with the number of drinks, but ...
Murthy said alcohol use is the third leading cause of preventable cancer in the US, after smoking and obesity, and that alcohol products should carry warning labels similar to cigarettes.