Alcohol is a common beverage, made and drank for centuries across the world. You produce alcohol by fermenting ingredients with yeast, which breaks down the sugars to create carbon dioxide and alcohol. Alcohol can be made using a range of different ingredients, including hops and barley (to create beer and lager), grapes (wine), and even potatoes (certain types of vodka). In chemistry, the term alcohol refers to a group of different hydrocarbon chains. When people talk about alcohol in drinks, they are referring to the hydrocarbon ethanol.

Alcohol is a chemical that affects the brain system and is classed as a depressant. Curiously, however, alcohol often has a stimulating effect on a person when it is first drunk. It causes the brain to release dopamine: a chemical that causes several changes in the brain.

It is involved in pleasure-seeking behavior, making us want to experience the effects of it. Everything from food to sexual activity can trigger a release of dopamine. Because alcohol causes dopamine to be released, this gives drinkers a feeling of reward. Dopamine release raises the blood pressure and increases the heart rate, giving drinkers a flush. The effects are felt the quickest when drinking strong spirits, such as brandy, rum or vodka, and is slowest when drinking wine, giving drinkers a ‘glow’.

Alcohol is consumed in a variety of ways. Beers, lagers and wines are often drunk on their own, while spirits such as brandy, whiskey and vodka can be drunk on their own, but are often mixed with other things. As well as mixed together with cocktails, alcohol is often added to coffee and used in cooking.

Alcohol usage and effects in America

Alcohol is a huge contributor to the US economy, with 2013 revenue for the sale of beer, wine, and spirit totaling $308 billion. Half of all the alcohol consumed in the United States is beer, contributing around $250 billion to the economy. By 2011, per capita drinking in America had reached 35.2 liters. Vodka is a particular favorite among American consumers, with 122 new flavored vodka products entering the market in 2013 ^(1).

Sadly, alcohol can also have serious problems. The positive effects of dopamine realized when alcohol is drank can cause people to constantly crave another drink. Because alcohol also works as a depressant, people find it useful to relax and cope with stressful situations. This can lead to people drinking alcohol in order to deal with tough situations, such as a heavy workload in their job or a stressful family life. Emotional situations, such as the loss of a job or the death of a loved one.

More than half of people in the United States report that a close family member has an alcohol problem. There are around 50,000 cases of alcohol overdose per year. In 2007, there were 14,406 alcohol-caused deaths involving liver disease, while alcohol-induced deaths (excluding homicides and accidents) were 23,199. There are 2.6 million binge drinkers under the age of 17 in the States.

Alcoholism does not just affect the drinker themselves: it has a serious effect on their family, too. Non-alcoholic people with alcoholic family members take ten times as many sick days from work as workers without an alcoholic in their lives, and 80% of them report reduced performance at work thanks to living with an alcohol abuser ⁽²⁾.