• Age.
• Gender.
• Race or ethnicity.
• Physical condition (weight, fitness level, etc).
• Amount of food consumed before drinking.
• How quickly the alcohol was consumed.
• Use of drugs or prescription medicines.
• Family history of alcohol problems.

Older people tend to react to alcohol more than young adults. Since many seniors are on prescription medicines thus making them more at risk. And young adults are just as much as risk as older people since they tend to drink a lot more.

Excessive alcohol use, either in the form of heavy drinking (drinking more than two drinks per day on average for men or more than one drink per day on average for women), or binge drinking (drinking 5 or more drinks during a single occasion for men or 4 or more drinks during a single occasion for women), can lead to increased risk of health problems such as liver disease or unintentional injuries.

According to the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) survey, more than half of the adult U.S. population drank alcohol in the past 30 days. Approximately 5% of the total population drank heavily, while 15% of the population binge drank.

According to the Alcohol-Related Disease Impact (ARDI) tool, from 2001–2005, there were approximately 79,000 deaths annually attributable to excessive alcohol use. In fact, excessive alcohol use is the 3rd leading lifestyle-related cause of death for people in the United States each year.

One is that alcohol (from beer, wine, hard liquor or other sources) does not appear in the body in any other form (i.e. gas) that would cause ambiguities or false positive results. The other is that, unlike drugs which are deposited directly in the hair, these alcoholic substances break down into ethanol. The AbuseCheck™ Hair Alcohol Abuse Test is unique in that the procedure looks for direct byproducts of ethanol metabolism, and not just ethanol itself. Thus, the presence of other forms of alcohol such as isopropanol (rubbing alcohol) or ethylene glycol (antifreeze) do not have an influence in the results.

To that end, AbuseCheck™ conducts two distinct types of hair alcohol tests called FAEE and EtG hair testing, which test for different types of markers and report on alcohol abuse over different periods of time. The most common use for these products is in child custody cases, where one or both parents are being accused of regularly consuming excessive amounts of alcohol. Both the FAEE and EtG Hair Alcohol Abuse Test are well established and proven science which leads to an accurate result for proving whether a person has been drinking alcohol excessively.

To find out more about How AbuseCheck™ Works.

The AbuseCheck™ Hair Alcohol Abuse Test is a non-invasive testing procedure which provides a definitive timeline of alcohol abuse from one to six months depending on the test administered, to identify individuals with recent histories of alcohol abuse. While blood tests are used when a person is intoxicated, the Hair Alcohol Abuse Test has a longer detection window than urine, blood or saliva, and yields accurate usage history needed to prove alcohol abuse and/or dependency, which is defined as average levels of alcohol consumption in excess of 60 grams of alcohol per day -which is the level at which the World Health Organization (WHO) believe there is a high probability of suffering from related medical problems if sustained over a significant period of time.

The Hair Alcohol Abuse Test is convenient because hair samples are easily acquired; and since hair cannot be adulterated, the test delivers accurate results that determine whether or not the subject is an abusive alcohol drinker. All work is done by an accredited laboratory that processes 1000s of Hair Alcohol Abuse Tests tests each year, and growing! Results are available within two weeks.

Learn more about Hair Alcohol Abuse Test.

Drinking is a problem if it causes trouble in your relationships, in school, in social activities, or in how you think and feel. If you are concerned that either you or someone in your family might have a drinking problem, talk to your doctor. If you rink everyday with every meal, you probably should check with your doctor. Also drinking is a cutural thing. In Japan, every man is expected to drink after long hour at work. So their alcoholics probably need much higher dose to qualify as an alcoholic.

The fact is that families, friends, and healthcare workers often overlook their concerns about older people drinking. Sometimes trouble with alcohol in older people is mistaken for other conditions related to aging. But, how the body handles alcohol can change with age. Seniors may have the same drinking habits, but their bodies have changed.

Alcohol abuse can make seniors more likely to have accidents, including falls and fractures and car crashes. Family members should pay special attention to the seniors if they notice any sign of abuse.

Source: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

Because alcohol mixes with body water, a given amount of alcohol is less diluted in a woman’s body than in a man’s. Women become more impaired by alcohol’s effects and are more susceptible to alcohol–related organ damage. That is, women develop damage at lower levels of consumption over a shorter period of time.

Pregnant women should not consume any alcohol at all to avoid birth defects. Woman who drinks regularly should limit the amount that she consumes.

Source:National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism

• Stomach or intestinal bleeding if you take aspirin with drink.
• Antihistamines with alcohol will make you very sleepy.
• Alcohol with large doses of  acetaminophen, a common painkiller, may cause liver damage.
• Using alcohol with sleeping pills, pain killers, and anti-depression medicine can be deadly.

Source: National Institute on Aging

Researchers are finding that drinking also may be associated with an increased risk for breast cancer. Scientists reported that risk increases when a woman consumes 1 ounce or more of absolute alcohol daily. However, more research is needed to explore the relationship between drinking and breast cancer.

Source: NIAAA

Why do you want to drink less? There are many reasons why you may want to cut down or stop drinking. You may want to improve your health, sleep better, or get along better with your family or friends. Make a list of the reasons you want to drink less.

2. Set a drinking goal.

Choose a limit for how much you will drink. You may choose to cut down or not to drink at all. If you are cutting down, keep below these limits:

Women: No more than one drink a day

Men: No more than two drinks a day

A drink is:

• a 12-ounce bottle of beer;
• a 5-ounce glass of wine; or
• a 1 1/2-ounce shot of liquor.

These limits may be too high for some people who have certain medical problems or who are older. Talk with your doctor about the limit that is right for you.

Source: Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA). Reprinted with permission.