A Matter of Life and Death!

Some people say,

"Unless it is really a matter of life and death, always refrain from giving out un-asked-for gyan".

This blog has been written with full understanding of the above statement.

Ever since I got a drivers' license, I have had friends who like to make me their "designated driver"! And it was surely fun. The gyaan from the inebriated would make the drive back very enlightening! I have many fun stories I can share only in person. Stories right from my engineering days in Mumbai to recent times at California bay area...

"The Drinking Damsels"

Nearly every bar or lounge in SF where desis visit, one may spot, surrounded by a bunch of burly dudes, this cute Indian girl, (trying to be) all hep and cool sipping from a cold colored glass! If you stick around long enough and are unfortunate enough, you may even see the poor thing regurgitate stomach fluids silently on the floor when no one is looking. But still she would continue to hold on to that glass like it is her very chalice of life... her holy grail of existence.

Sitting next to her might be this bulky guy wearing a shirt such that the intentional absence of a baniyan is very evident! From his super-clean-shaven face, one can even guess the brand of razor that he had painstakingly swiped or his brand of cologne that is enough to short-circuit the entire olfactory system for days. Now, an otherwise care-free dude, suddenly before this girl, he can't but help become the kindest of Samaritans, holding on to the drinking damsel like Mother Theresa nursing an injured leper!

"Simple Facts - Good or Bad - You Decide" - UCB Prof

I once got to audit a lecture at University of California Berkeley on a basic introductory course called Nutritional Sciences (NS-10). One beautiful thing, in general, about courses taught in world-renowned places like this, is that they will never pass value judgements. They seldom tell if something is good or bad. They just give you the unbiased facts. It is up to you to figure the rest out. Here is a small excerpt from what I remember the Professor talking about...

"The human liver takes part in most of the processes that happen in the body and can handle over 500 chemical reactions. But when alcohol enters the digestive system, it is treated as a priority food. The liver will want to break it down first before other things. Alcohol will be broken down into Acetaldehyde in the mouth and then broken into acetic acid radicals by the liver with an enzyme called ALDL and then perhaps into fatty acids to be used for energy. Now acetaldehyde which is the first metabolite of alcohol made in the mouth can interact with cell membranes to make them stiff and resistant to DNA damage repair. Such cells with damaged DNA cannot be repaired and may multiply and become cancerous. Acetaldehyde is toxic to human organs in several other ways. Folate is one of the Vitamin B that is needed by human body to create new DNA to repair damaged ones. Alcohol reduces available folate making this harder for cells. Any amount of alcohol consumed will be metabolized the same way. Cancerous cells, once formed, may take even decades to cause noticeable harm."

"Alcohol - A Racist and Male Chauvinistic Food!"

If an Asian lady goes drinking with an American guy in a bar, chances are the lady would be seeing stars right after her second drink while the white guy would be capable of solving calculus even after his third! The reason is Alcohol Dehydrogenase or ALDL which is needed by the human body to break down the toxic acetaldehyde is not produced equally in all humans. A man will have nearly twice as much as a woman. A white Caucasian have an usable form that many Asians do not. The reasons are historic and genetic. Which simply means women and non-white folks would get 'high' sooner. Which also means women and non-white folks have a much higher risk of cancer from alcohol consumption.

"Even Road Accidents Kill - So? Stop Driving?"

A proposition's Risk is evaluated by a simple formula - 

Riskiness = Probability of Occurrence x Severity of Consequences

Now both road accidents and cancer from alcohol may have somewhat similar chances of happening but is the severity the same? Both may result in death right? So what's the difference?

To answer here is a small conversation from Harry Potter series between two main wizards as they duel...

Voldemort: You do not seek to kill me Dumbledore? Above such brutality are we?

Dumbledore: There are things far worse than death.

Voldemort: Death is the worst, Dumbledore!

Dumbledore: Indeed, Your failure to acknowledge that there are things far worse than death has been your greatest weakness!

Cancer or AIDS are one of those terminal illness that are far far worse than death from a plane crash or even being hit by a meteorite. Most of these patients reach a point where death becomes the most desired luxury. Any risk factor must be kept as low as possible because the severity of the consequence is far worse than anything else today. Alcohol and its link to cancer is not new. It has been proved repeatedly in numerous studies across the world.

I am definitely not against anyone who drinks. The last thing I want to do from this blog is to alienate my friends who do. I publish this in the hope that the few who do read, understand the risks clearly before they take up that glass of alcoholic beverage and ironically say "Cheers".