An average daily intake of 30g of alcohol increases the chance of developing liver disease by five to 11 times compared with people who do not drink alcohol, the Health Promotion Administration (HPA) said last month, citing a Swedish study.
A survey in 2017 showed that the percentage of Taiwanese adolescents consuming alcohol was 27.7, or 415,000 people, up 2 percentage points from 2009, the HPA said on Oct. 29.
The increase in the number of adolescents consuming alcohol is directly related to its sale at 24-hour convenience stores, Stanford University School of Medicine Center for Asian Health Research and Education senior research scientist Chen Che-hong (陳哲宏) said.
Other countries have service-hour regulations for alcohol sales, Chen said, adding that the government should look into establishing similar regulations.
Adolescents are not the only group who should abstain from drinking alcohol, he said.
About 45 percent of Taiwanese have alcohol intolerance, which is characterized by flushing of the face, dizziness, headache, an increased heart rate or vomiting caused by consuming small amounts, he said.
The condition is caused by a lack of aldehyde dehydrogenase-2 in the genetic sequence, he said.
While most people believe that blushing after drinking is a sign of health, it is actually a warning sign from the body, Chen said.
Residual ethanol in the body that cannot be processed is a confirmed carcinogen, he said, adding that if a person consumes one glass of alcohol every day, it could not only shorten their lifespan, but also put their liver at greater risk.
It also increases the risk of the person developing symptoms of dementia, Chen said.
Alcohol is also the primary cause for oral and esophageal cancer, which are among the top 10 cancers among Taiwanese males, he said.
Commenting on the habit of consuming “ginger duck stew” and other similar foods amid falling temperatures, Chen urged people not to add alcohol to the meals during preparation, as residual alcohol would be left no matter how long the broth is boiled.
HPA Director-General Wang Ying-wei (王英偉) said that the WHO’s latest guidelines show that there is no “safe amount’ of alcohol a person can consume.
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