An alcoholic beverage is a drink containing ethanol.
Ethanol is a psychoactive drug, a depressant, and many societies regulate or restrict its sale and consumption. Countries place various legal restrictions on the sale of alcoholic drinks to young people. The manufacture and consumption of alcohol is notably found (to some degree) in most cultures and societies around the world, from hunter-gatherer tribes to organized nation-states. The consumption of alcohol is often important at social events in such societies and may be an important aspect of a community's culture.
Uses:
In many countries, alcoholic beverages are commonly consumed at the major daily meals (lunch and dinner). Most early beers were in fact highly nutritional and served as a means of calorie distribution. Beer can be stored longer than grain or bread without fear of pest infestation or rotting, and drinking beer avoided the tooth-destroying grit that was present in hand-ground or early mill-ground flours.
In places and eras with poor public sanitation, such as Medieval Europe, consumption of alcoholic drinks (particularly weak or "small" beer) was one method of avoiding water-borne diseases such as cholera. Though alcohol kills bacteria, the low concentration in beer or even wine will have only a limited effect. Probably the boiling of water, which is required for the brewing of beer, and the growth of yeast, which would tend to crowd out other micro-organisms, were more important than the alcohol itself. In any case, the ethanol (and possibly other ingredients) of alcoholic beverages allows them to be stored for months or years in simple wood or clay containers without spoiling, which was certainly a major factor in their popularity.
In colder climates, strong alcoholic beverages such as vodka are popularly seen as a way to "warm up" the body, possibly because ethanol is a quickly absorbed source of food energy and dilates peripheral blood vessels (Peripherovascular dilation). This however is a dangerous myth, and people experiencing hypothermia should avoid alcohol - although it makes you feel warmer, the body loses heat and body temperature decreases, which may increase the effects of hypothermia, and eventually cause death. This is because of the dilation of blood vessels not in the core of the body; because of this increased bloodflow, the body loses its heat out of its less protected outer extremities.
In many cultures, both contemporary and historical, alcoholic beverages — mostly because of their neurological effects — have also played an important role in various kinds of social interaction, providing a form of "liquid courage" (those who consume it "gain" confidence and lose discretion). While other psychoactive drugs (such as opium, coca, khat, cannabis, kava-kava, etc.) also have millennial traditions of social use, only coffee, tea, and tobacco are currently as universally used and accepted as ethanol.
Alcohol consumption and health:
A 2001 report estimates that medium and high consumption of alcohol led to 75,754 deaths in the USA. Low consumption has some beneficial effects so a net 59,180 deaths were attributed to alcohol. Alcohol is carcinogen. "3.6% of all cancer cases worldwide are related to alcohol drinking, resulting in 3.5% of all cancer deaths." Alcohol is also potentially addictive substance to a small percentage of people.
Alcohol addiction can also lead to malnutrition because it can alter digestion and metabolism of most nutrients. Severe thiamine deficiancy is very common due to deficiancy of folate, riboflavin, vitamin B6 and selenium. Muscle cramps, nausea, appetite loss, nerve disorders and depression are some common symptoms. It can also lead to osteoporosis and bone fractures due to vitamin D deficiancy (Vitamin D helps in calcium absorption). Alcohol stimulates insulin production which speeds up the glucose metabolism and can result in low blood sugar.
Legal considerations:
Most countries have rules prohibiting the sale of alcoholic beverages to minors. European countries typically have a legal drinking age of 16 or 18. For example, in the Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland and Austria, one has to be 16 to buy beer or wine and 18 to buy distilled alcoholic beverages. Denmark however allows purchasing of all types of alcohol after the age of 16. Germany's law is directed toward sellers of alcoholic beverages, not toward minors themselves; German law puts control concerning the consumption of alcoholic beverage in the hands of custodial persons and persons with parental power.[4] In the UK, the minimum age for purchasing alcohol is 18, although minors are legally allowed to consume alcohol in the home from the age of five; in addition, shop workers under 18 may not legally sell alcohol by themselves. In France people must be 14 to buy beer, 16 for wine and 18 to buy distilled alcoholic beverage. In Australia, the age for the purchase and possession of alcohol is 18, but it may be consumed in the home or under adult supervision at any age. In the U.S., the legal age for purchase or possession (but not necessarily consumption) in every state has been 21 since the passage of the National Minimum Drinking Age Act in 1984, which tied federal highway funds to states' raising their minimum drinking age to 21. Forty states[specify] specifically permit consumption under the age of 21 for religious or health reasons or with parental approval. In Canada the legal drinking age is 18 in the provinces of Alberta, Manitoba and Quebec, and 19 elsewhere. In Iceland one has to be twenty to legally buy or possess alcoholic beverages, although one can drink them from the age of eighteen.
In law, sometimes the term "intoxicating agent" is used for a category of substances which includes alcoholic beverages and some other drugs. Giving any of these substances to a person to create an abnormal condition of the mind (such as drunkenness), in order to facilitate committing a crime (e.g., rape), may be an additional crime.
A number of countries forbid the commerce, consumption or advertising of alcoholic beverages, or restrict them in various ways. During the period known as Prohibition, from 1919 to 1933, it was illegal to manufacture, transport, import, export, or sell alcoholic beverages in the United States. Some communities in the United States (known as dry counties) still ban alcohol sales. Many Muslim countries, such as Saudi Arabia, prohibit alcohol for religious reasons. Drinking alcohol in public places, such as streets and parks, is against the law in most of the United States and in some European countries, but legal in others such as Belgium, United Kingdom and Germany.
Since the time Prohibition was tried, alcohol has never again been in danger of being banned in non-Islamic countries, despite the fact that its consumption results in more deaths than nearly all other drugs (except nicotine or tobacco). It is usually explicitly exempt from drug prohibition laws.
In the Nordic countries, except for Denmark, there is a government monopoly on the selling of hard alcohol in stores. In Sweden, beers with a lower alcohol content, called folköl (less than 3.5% alcohol), can be sold in regular stores to anyone older than 18, but drinks with a high content of alcohol can only be sold in the official government-run vendors by people older than 20, or in licenced facilities such as restaurants and bars, where the age limit is 18. The law states that alcoholic drinks bought at these licensed facilities must be consumed on the premises, and it is not allowed to consume alcoholic drinks bought elsewhere. For non-alcoholic drinks there is no such legal requirement, but individual facilities may still set their own restrictions.
The state-run vendor is called Systembolaget in Sweden, Vinmonopolet in Norway, Alko in Finland, and ÁTVR in Iceland. The governments claim that the purpose of this system is to cut down on the consumption of alcohol in these countries where binge drinking is an ancient tradition. The first such monopoly was in Falun in the 19th century. In the early 20th century, Sweden had a brief prohibition of strong alcoholic drinks, followed by strict rationing, and then more lax regulation, including being open on Saturdays. These measures have had success in the past, but since joining the European Union it has been harder to curb importation, legal or illegal, from other EU countries, making these measures less effective. There is an ongoing debate over whether or not to maintain the state-run alcohol monopolies.
Most countries have laws against drunk driving, driving with a certain concentration of ethanol in the blood. The legal threshold of blood alcohol content ranges from 0.0% to 0.08%, according to local law.
In many countries, production of alcoholic beverages requires a license, and alcohol production is taxed. In the U.S., individuals may freely produce wine and beer for personal or family consumption (but not for sale), while all production of distilled beverages is regulated and taxed.The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives and the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (formerly one organization known as the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms) enforce federal laws and regulations related to alcohol, though most regulations regarding serving and selling alcoholic beverages are made by the individual states. There also exist intrastate regulatory differences, as between Montgomery County, Maryland and the rest of the state. In the UK the Customs and Excise department issues distilling licenses.
