COMMUNITY
Stay Safe…
People tend to drink more during the
holidays. With Christmas on the
horizon, we thought we’d take a
minute or two to highlight the risks of
alcohol abuse, especially to women.
Highlighting the risks of alcohol abuse to women.
This article has been produced with
permission from information culled
from the National Institutes of
Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism.
Risks of Alcohol Abuse:
Drinking and driving: It doesn’t take
much alcohol to impair a person’s
ability to drive. The chances of being
killed in a single-vehicle crash are
increased at a blood alcohol level
that a 140-lb. woman would reach
after having one drink on an empty
stomach.
Medication interactions: Alcohol can
interact with a wide variety of
medicines, both prescription and
over-the-counter. Alcohol can reduce
the effectiveness of some
medications, and it can combine with
other medications to cause or
increase side effects.
Alcohol can interact with medicines
used to treat conditions as varied as
heart and blood vessel disease,
digestive problems, and diabetes. In
particular, alcohol can increase the
sedative effects of any medication
that causes drowsiness, including
cough and cold medicines and drugs
for anxiety and depression. When
taking any medication, read package
labels and warnings carefully.
Breast cancer: Research suggests
that as little as one drink per day can
slightly raise the risk of breast cancer
in some women, especially those
who are postmenopausal or have a
family history of breast cancer.
It is not possible, however, to predict
how alcohol will affect the risk for
breast cancer in any one woman
JASMINE'S PLACE
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