For a long time, acetaldehyde was thought to be a harmless intermediate in the breakdown of ethanol and was pretty much ignored. Then its sinister edge began to emerge. It started in the 1980s when alcohol researcher Victor Preedy of King’s College London found that acetaldehyde is a powerful muscle poison, roughly 30 times more toxic than ethanol itself.
It has since become clear that acetaldehyde is the real demon in the demon drink. For 30 years researchers have known that excessive alcohol intake causes serious long-term damage to virtually every internal organ: brain, kidneys, gonads, skeletal muscle, liver, heart, uterus and digestive system. The assumption was that ethanol itself was to blame, but the mechanism was unclear. Now, as we find out more about how drink wreaks long-term havoc, the spotlight is increasingly moving away from ethanol and towards acetaldehyde.
It’s not just our boozing habits that are to blame. Tobacco smoke, exhaust fumes and foods all contribute to your acetaldehyde load. The bacteria living in your mouth and guts churn it out in bucket loads. The onslaught on your body comes from within and without.What is becoming increasingly clear is that almost any exposure to acetaldehyde can do serious damage. Acetaldehyde attaches itself to amino groups in proteins to form stable compounds called adducts. According to Onni Niemel? of the University of Tampere in Finland, these cause irreversible damage by messing up protein structure and function. In the wake of a drinking bout, a whole range of adducts are formed in the liver, muscles, heart, brain and gastrointestinal tract.
…Skeletal muscle is particularly badly affected. Preedy has found that rats given a single dose of ethanol end up with significant muscle damage as a result of acetaldehyde attacking proteins. The changes persist for more than 24 hours, long after the chemical itself has disappeared from the system (Alcohol and Alcoholism, vol 40, p 485). “It’s a common misconception that the brain and the liver are the two organs most affected by alcohol abuse,” says Preedy. “Muscle damage is the most common.” Among alcoholics, he says, muscle damage is five times more common than cirrhosis of the liver."
[quote]BFBullpup wrote:
Thank you, because I really need a scientific article to tell me that drinking too much is bad for my progress at the gym.[/quote]
[quote]sharetrader wrote:
It’s not just our boozing habits that are to blame. Tobacco smoke, exhaust fumes and foods all contribute to your acetaldehyde load. The bacteria living in your mouth and guts churn it out in bucket loads.
[/quote]
[quote]
What is becoming increasingly clear is that almost any exposure to acetaldehyde can do serious damage. [/quote]
That’s not really a good argument to stop drinking.
[quote]uberswank wrote:
sharetrader wrote:
It’s not just our boozing habits that are to blame. Tobacco smoke, exhaust fumes and foods all contribute to your acetaldehyde load. The bacteria living in your mouth and guts churn it out in bucket loads.
What is becoming increasingly clear is that almost any exposure to acetaldehyde can do serious damage.
That’s not really a good argument to stop drinking.
[/quote]
I never said it was. It is a good argument against excessive drinking, though.
[quote]sharetrader wrote:
uberswank wrote:
sharetrader wrote:
It’s not just our boozing habits that are to blame. Tobacco smoke, exhaust fumes and foods all contribute to your acetaldehyde load. The bacteria living in your mouth and guts churn it out in bucket loads.
What is becoming increasingly clear is that almost any exposure to acetaldehyde can do serious damage.
That’s not really a good argument to stop drinking.
I never said it was. It is a good argument against excessive drinking, though.[/quote]
While I think everyone here agrees that drinking to excess is not in any way healthy, I’m not sure its a nuclear salvo to your muscles. I knew plenty of Rugby players and Frat Boys in college who hit the sauce hard and often but seemed to just fine in the gym - throwing down on some large weights. Its like everything else - moderation is the key, esp as one get older.